Hey everyone, welcome back to my weekly reflection!

Colors of the week:

In Week 2, everything seems to be more or less getting back on track. I started to establish closer relationships with my peers as we popped into conversations on the sofa, tried each others’ meals, and surprisingly, we are all fond of hugs. It is quite surprising to actually achieve 8 hugs per day.

In terms of work, we established our document base and have a clearer timeline of what needs to be done to reach our destination. My wonderful teammates, Hannah and Alice, have quite different backgrounds from mine, so we make a really good team with skills that complement each other. We also recruited a fantastic team of volunteers whose skill sets include engineering, consulting, waste management, and more. To encourage volunteers to take more ownership of this project and contribute their areas of expertise, I asked them to each find a tool or a case study that may help with this project. We are excited to see what they bring to the table tomorrow. (Read more here.)

What Went Well?

Everything went quite smoothly this week, both in work and life. I had a phone doctor appointment in Mexico City but recovered quickly and was able to split work with my teammates while working from home. Our project is off to a good start, and we are excited to see what’s next.

What Could Have Been Done Differently?

I would like to use my morning time more efficiently.

What Did I Learn About Myself When Working with Others?

In the work planning session led by Make Sense, I realized that I am good at looking at the bigger picture and the longitudinal aspect of a project. I enjoy thinking about end results and working backwards to develop the timeline, while also remaining open to changes along the way.

What Did I Learn About Leadership?

Communication is more challenging than expected. Even with the three of us working together, there are often details that we forget to mention to the volunteers.

Also, Make Sense gave us great training on project management. Here are some notes:

• Three Aspects of Project Management:
  • Planning
  • Overseeing
  • Executing
• Some Best Practices:
  • Kick-off meeting
  • Constant communication
  • Assign roles and responsibilities according to ability, skills, and interest
  • Team building activities
  • Wrap-up meeting to get feedback on what worked and what didn’t

What Do I Want to Develop or Focus on Next?

As the nature of our project is closely related to consulting and business operations, I aspire to learn more about the business world through this project. This project made me realize the power of business in terms of social innovation, and I hope to gain the skill set to fuel my future practice.

Finally, we had great fun visiting the Palace of Fine Arts and some markets nearby during the weekend. There is so much more to learn about Mexico City still!