Teamwork in a Research Setting

Jared Oluoch and George Corser

Teamwork

Introduction

• What is teamwork in a research setting?• Why is teamwork important?• Teamwork risks • An example: Jared and George

What is teamwork in research?

Many different types of teamwork…• Working together to understand a problem– Debating ideas– Playing Devil’s advocate– Brainstorming “what if” scenarios

• Dividing up tasks to complete a project faster– Functional divisions: VANET v. trust/privacy– Technical divisions: finding papers v. programming

Why is teamwork worthwhile?

• Speed– Divide and conquer projects

• Quality– Catch each other’s mistakes– Build ideas (two heads are better than one)

• Communication– Back up others on the team

Teamwork Risks

• Unclear roles– Requires accountability– Requires flexibility to adjust to changing priorities

• Differences of opinion– Requires clear “lead” decision maker, who must

not waver excessively between priorities• Scheduling conflicts– Requires mutual commitment and perhaps

designated time set aside

Example: Jared and George

• Analysis of system wide trust levels using various VANET trust models

• Jared is leader• Tasks divided by technical duties– Jared writes– George programs

• Work together daily in same office and debate issues as they come up

Results

• Jared could not have written all he has written without George’s programs

• George could not have programmed anything without Jared’s prior and continuing research

• Result: Paper is in advanced draft form• Result: Simulation software and Excel charts

and graphs are done (two weeks)

Paper Draft

Charts: Trusts Levels by Model

1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 70000%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

EBT2MBTMBT2PBTRBT

Vehicles

Aver

age

Perc

enta

ge R

epor

ting

TRUE

Trust Mode

l

1 2 3 4 50%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

EBT2MBTMBT2PBTRBT

Time (minutes)

Aver

age

Perc

enta

ge R

epor

ting

TRUE

Trust Mode

l

For source code and data, visit georgecorser.com

Summary

• What is teamwork in a research setting?• Why is teamwork important?• Teamwork risks • An example: Jared and George

The End