Teams, Seasons and Lineage

RESOURCE OPTIMIZATION MBA/550

Yep, onto my seventh class and half way there. A few things are happening.

Lineage, My younger brother (25 going on 26) Mark Etwaru has joined UPOX. He is enrolled for the same program I am completing and started Tuesday September 26th 2006.

Ahhh the lineage, we both had gone to all the same schools, chose the same careers, driven almost the same cars and dated almost the same type of girls. Makes you wonder if lineage is really a good hiring measurement when choosing a candidate.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, I am wondering if I can get him to contribute to this blog. We shall see.

Seasons, it is fall, winter is upon us and classes are getting harder, MBA 550 takes a different format from the other classes, I have noticed this happening more and more, it just goes to show that the developers of the curriculum had given thought to the fact the students (myself) would have gotten bored with the one format and had the forward visibility to take the classes through a few turns as the degree got past the half way mark.

What has changed?

The scenario is no longer reading it is a “simulation”.

Te assigned readings are not that much but the “mind map” is very valuable, we are being tested on our experiences and general knowledge not how much of a text book we read.

This is getting better.

Also different are teams!

Teams, for the first time I am in team C. In all prior classes I have been in team A (a class generally has four teams – A, B, C and D).

I was ASSIGNED to my team; the professor did not allow us to choose. !!!! ARGGGGG :-)

Conclusion you ask, it sucks the same way it did in undergrad, I do not even remember any of my team member names, did not read any of the BIOS vomited when I read the charter, ABSOLUTELY sure that we would not get a perfect grade on the team assignment (I looked at it and knew it was wrong) but hey, I am in the team.

So here we are again, learning to build relationships, communication and team skills, the problem is that I already have these (or so I think) and I don’t need to practice them, I just don’t have the patience to bring the rest of mates up to speed.

See later/prior posts on phone calls, team mates, communication etc.
Going to school online is tough enough, you have all or more of the work of a B&M school with less support form the professor, less interaction and more assignments.

The last thing I need is to worry about making the team work, but hey, its fall, winter is upon us and its football season.

We should soon have two Etwaru’s contributing to this blog, and UPOX is going NFL!



It is September 28th 2006; maybe I won’t make a mistake this year on this day. Lineage! WOW.

Richie