Dealing with lazy or unreliable colleagues?

[Tryhard]

Part of my third year project in university and we're meant to design a website over the period of two semesters in randomized groups. The preliminary documentation stage went fairly okay, but when we moved into actually implementing the website I've had pretty much no assistance in either the design of the website or the underlying back-end, and we have to demonstrate it sometime this week.

We have seven people in the group including me and two are involved with other subjects so I don't expect them to take part in implementing PHP as much but I have received pretty much no front-end which was allocated to some of the members to go ahead with and almost no assistance in the back-end, as for this demonstration I have done 100% of it. If I didn't do anything we would have absolutely nothing to show. I've asked for assistance in both the design of the website (which I've stayed out of doing because I'm focusing on the PHP coding) and help in the back-end, since there is four other computer science students in the group, but I've received either pretty much nothing to help me or very little. I'm meant to be taking charge of the technical aspects but I think it would be fair to say that the implementation is the primary part of the project, and should have the most people working on it. That, and some of them can't be bothered to turn up to even talk to me and barely are seen online for me to even work with them.

I've had this sort of thing before with other groups in the past, but since they were either trivial or I was able to cover the work quite comfortably, I didn't mind as much. For this, it's far too much for one person to do all of it competently, and it's worth a decent chunk of my academic year. Funny, because I'm usually the one that is lazy but gets the work done, I started working on this pretty early.

Anyone got any ideas for how I can scavenge something out of this without flipping my shit at people? It's obvious when I talk to them face-to-face that I'm already frustrated. One of them even said "there isn't that much to do left, is there?" which made me want to smack them, when they've done pretty much nothing. Apologies for throwing people under the bus, but I'd rather not be pissed off all the time currently as I'm picking up the slack for people that are unwilling.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Tryhard

[Lord Raven]

Throw them under the bus to your professor or supervisor and talk to them about it. See what they can do about it. Then threaten them about certain things if they don't end up doing the work, either make it up or base it off of what the professor said.

I feel like a neckbeard suggesting this but this is a group project and if you're doing the majority of the work then I don't see why you shouldn't get credit for it. If they don't want to act like a group then they should face the ramifications of not doing so.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Lord Raven

[dondon151]

before you throw them under the bus, communicate your expectations with them and set things in order; if they still show no hint of cooperating, then you should speak with the higher ups.

[EricaofRenais]

I would talk to your prof about it because if you are doing all the work then they don't deserve credit and should be flunked. I would say talk to the people in your group but the fact that the project is due so soon means they have no intention of doing any work on the project, because I have worked in multiple group projects and by now the people would have started talking to you if they planned on doing their share of the work. Just make sure that your prof knows what is going on and knows that you worked hard on the project yourself and you should have a passing grade.

[Tryhard]

I've emailed the project lecturer already, but to be honest, it didn't seem especially helpful. Their email went like this:

We have these peer review forms that we hand in to "mark" everyone else's contribution in the group and this is used to give a mark above or below the group average for the website, but I'm not sure that will be substantial. I'll say something to the group now, and I'll probably try to talk to the project manager and lecturer after the demonstration.

I forgot to mention that we are currently in stage 2 of 3 in terms of progression - the finishing deadline is still nine weeks away, and there is a decent amount of work that could be done in that time, I'm just saying that currently it's below standard for this demonstration that we've got to show now. We should have been working on the implementation for a little over ten weeks already. I believe there is another demonstration we'll have to do at the end.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Tryhard

[Klokinator]

Tell your colleagues that showering while blowdrying their hair will give them super powers. Chances are they'll be dumb enough to believe you and bam! Problem solved.

[Sentacotus]

This is why "group" projects should be banned in the academic scene. Or if they do them put all the dummies and non-chalants in one group and they'll realize they're screwed and either fail or pull together for the first time in their lives and put all the smart kids/motivated in one group to have stellar projects and further the academic discipline. All this crap about evening out the groups and equal work loading is a load of horsecrap. As you can tell I have a fairly Machiavellian outlook on this. Screw em on the peer review say you did all the work and be done with it.

[Kirie]

Every single group project I've ever done in my school/university career turned out like that. I thought it was just par for the course.

[Lord Raven]

This is why "group" projects should be banned in the academic scene. Or if they do them put all the dummies and non-chalants in one group and they'll realize they're screwed and either fail or pull together for the first time in their lives and put all the smart kids/motivated in one group to have stellar projects and further the academic discipline. All this crap about evening out the groups and equal work loading is a load of horsecrap. As you can tell I have a fairly Machiavellian outlook on this. Screw em on the peer review say you did all the work and be done with it.

I've had quite a few good experiences with group projects and only really one bad experience. You just hear the people who complain about them a lot more because, well, nobody is ever super vocal when things go right.

[Phoenix Wright]

This is why "group" projects should be banned in the academic scene. Or if they do them put all the dummies and non-chalants in one group and they'll realize they're screwed and either fail or pull together for the first time in their lives and put all the smart kids/motivated in one group to have stellar projects and further the academic discipline. All this crap about evening out the groups and equal work loading is a load of horsecrap. As you can tell I have a fairly Machiavellian outlook on this. Screw em on the peer review say you did all the work and be done with it.

fuck that, group projects are great. problems arise when people are either passive and refuse to communicate with partners, or are naturally overbearing and take charge of projects by themselves. whenever i have group projects, which isn't often, i communicate often with my partners. some projects are easier to split the workload for, though, so it's fair that sometimes you'll end up doing more, and sometimes you might end up doing less.

op, voice your concerns with your partners. it's been 7 weeks, i'm guessing, and apparently you've done 100% of the work. that is unacceptable if true. if a healthy dialogue happens, great! if mediation doesn't help, meet with your professor in person as soon as possible in order to discuss other solutions.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Phoenix Wright

[Klokinator]

Groupprojects should be banned, or "This class has required group projects" should be labeled on all applicable classes when you sign up.

[Tryhard]

Groupprojects should be banned, or "This class has required group projects" should be labeled on all applicable classes when you sign up.

It's a mandatory year project and we don't get to choose our modules or classes here outside of the final year at least for comp sci. We have another group project in the final year and this doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

This is why "group" projects should be banned in the academic scene. Or if they do them put all the dummies and non-chalants in one group and they'll realize they're screwed and either fail or pull together for the first time in their lives and put all the smart kids/motivated in one group to have stellar projects and further the academic discipline. All this crap about evening out the groups and equal work loading is a load of horsecrap. As you can tell I have a fairly Machiavellian outlook on this. Screw em on the peer review say you did all the work and be done with it.

I do understand why they do these projects though, they're a very good thing to cite for internship or job applications.

fuck that, group projects are great. problems arise when people are either passive and refuse to communicate with partners, or are naturally overbearing and take charge of projects by themselves. whenever i have group projects, which isn't often, i communicate often with my partners. some projects are easier to split the workload for, though, so it's fair that sometimes you'll end up doing more, and sometimes you might end up doing less.

op, voice your concerns with your partners. it's been 7 weeks, i'm guessing, and apparently you've done 100% of the work. that is unacceptable if true. if a healthy dialogue happens, great! if mediation doesn't help, meet with your professor in person as soon as possible in order to discuss other solutions.

I've tried not to be overbearing but I can't force them to work. I am being harsh on the Computer Electronics guy who has done good work on the documentation but the problem is he can't help me with the implementation. Even other groups have remarked at how little mine has done to me. And yeah, ten weeks so far, nine weeks to final deadline.

Got that demo tomorrow and I swear if someone tries to take credit for my work.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Tryhard

[Excellen Browning]

I agree with the people here that you should at least make it clear to your group that they're not pulling their own weight. As in "hey man listen. You guys haven't been putting work into this project" level of clear, even if it isn't really common or acceptable to do so. If they don't start putting in effort after that, you're free to let them throw themselves under the bus. Just focus on doing your own work, and don't start carrying the project by yourself.

[Magical CC]

Tell them to pull their own ass or you will do the project yourself. Give them an ultimatum, give them tasks and establish a date for them to finish their first task. No negotiation. Anyone dares to show the sign of hesitation shall be put on the bus with a one way ticket. Reasons are unacceptable. You dont make it clear to your group, it's not enough.You have to also show them who is the master and the end is near. Everyday, there are billions imperial guards dying for the sake of the Imperium of Man while they sit there in their misery home, leech of the life of the heroes of the Imperium.

At least that is what I did. Two actually quit but 3 stayed and help me finish the project so.....

[Sentacotus]

I've had quite a few good experiences with group projects and only really one bad experience. You just hear the people who complain about them a lot more because, well, nobody is ever super vocal when things go right.

I'm not saying that people don't have good experiences I've had one good one but thats out of like six now. And yeah you tend to hear about the bad news or no news at all.

fuck that, group projects are great. problems arise when people are either passive and refuse to communicate with partners, or are naturally overbearing and take charge of projects by themselves. whenever i have group projects, which isn't often, i communicate often with my partners. some projects are easier to split the workload for, though, so it's fair that sometimes you'll end up doing more, and sometimes you might end up doing less.

op, voice your concerns with your partners. it's been 7 weeks, i'm guessing, and apparently you've done 100% of the work. that is unacceptable if true. if a healthy dialogue happens, great! if mediation doesn't help, meet with your professor in person as soon as possible in order to discuss other solutions.

Or the other group members realize they can take advantage of the the one or two people who actually are doing work and expect to be taken care of and force you into a catch 22 because if you do nothing to force them to carry their load (they're not going to care regardless) you fail the project but you do the work everyone rides on your success. In most cases, you need to forcefilly incentivize people to work because in a group it can be very easy for people to think of how to get by doing the minimum or get by on the others doing the work it gets even worse in bigger groups. It sucks but alot of it is human nature we like to take the path of least resistance and in the case of grop projects thats typically done through exploiting those that are going to do the work no matter what because they are motivated to perform. After awhile these people wise up and either stop working or performing because they don't think its worth the effort or they figure that someone else will pick up the slack. Sorry but personally, I have seen this happen way too many times to change my view on group projects.

Regardless, if you've had great experiences doing them and have been fortunate with the teams you've been a part of then I'm glad it worked out for you.

Groupprojects should be banned, or "This class has required group projects" should be labeled on all applicable classes when you sign up.

Agreed. You should at least know what you're getting into.

I do understand why they do these projects though, they're a very good thing to cite for internship or job applications.

True statement but then there are always a Thesis, capstone projects (which are typically done by one person), or presentations. While these do require people namely instructors to edit and look them over the work is assigned only to you and you're responsible for completing it.