Reflective Journal

Introduction

In the past few weeks, Miles, Joanna, Locus, Floy, Amber, Dolly and I worked together on our MIS Group Project- Blackberry Enterprise Server. The purpose of our group project is not only to analysis the IT application of BES but also try to investigate the reasons why blackberry cannot keep its leader role in the mobile industry and give blackberry some suggestions.

Challenges we faced

When we were conducting our project, we faced some challenges, for instance, which company should we choose, what is the specific IT application. We tried to find some models and relevant scholars’ papers of IT applications and referred to the requirements in the subject outline and worked out that there are five main points in our project-introduction of the company, the advantages and disadvantages, recommendation and conclusion.

At first, it was difficult for us to make a decision among Facebook, Tencent and Blackberry. Facebook is the frequently reported company and Tencent is a China-based company and it is hard to find related information in English. Finally, we chose Blackberry as our topic although its system is complex. Because the topic we selected is special, the IT application is not among the given IT applications, therefore, we sent an email to ask professor whether our IT application is proper and we really appreciated David’s approval.

As the project is a group task instead of an individual project, it emphasized more

on group work rather than individual work. We successfully adapted to our cultural background difference, schedule difference and different perspectives on a problem.

We opened discussion group on WhatsApp and Facebook to share online information, exchange own opinions and negotiate the meeting time.

Achievements gained from the project

During the project, my communication skills have improved a lot as three members I was not familiar with. Our members are from different places, thanks Joanna and Miles explain to us where we have doubt. From this project, I know that language and culture obstacle can be overcome by patience, mutual understanding and support.

In addition, I also found the value of group project is that collaborative work could multiple the effectiveness of the work. My task was to discover the disadvantages of BES, however, I could not find information about BES weakness and then I asked our group members for help. My group members told me to look at the problem in another perspective, for instance, the users’ experience and feedbacks. They also provided me with some resources- related news and books. I accepted their suggestions and thought critically and worked out three