100 Wiscontreprenuer Challenge: Common Scents Reflection

First let me say that this was a pretty fun project. Like most projects it needs some tweaking, but overall it wasn't too difficult and it was actually pretty fun. Second, my group was pretty great. From the first time we met, I knew we were going to get things accomplished and hash out a pretty great project.

When I showed up to the first group meeting all we had was a box of garbage. Britta talked about an idea her and Giotto came up with but we kept brainstorming anyways. When Giotto arrived he elaborated on the idea and with some more ideas from other group members we ran with it. Immediately we needed to find out if the motor was up to snuff. Britta was brave enough to hold it while I plugged it in. Some sparks flew from the machine, and we were both pretty surprised, but no one was hurt and we knew we could execute our idea. The group thought we could use some supplies so we headed down the stairs of the CA and went dumpster divin. We didn't find much, but we did get some filters which were used in the final product. The next day we worked on it in class, we got a lot accomplished. Half the group started decorating it, while the other half worked on a way to start piecing it together to get a final prototype. Once the prototype was finished, it was easy from there. It was all about uploading videos and pictures, and making a few website pages. All in all, it wasn't too bad workwise, and it turned out pretty well.

What was really cool about this whole experience was how quickly everyone came together. We all knew we didn't have a lot of time to work on it, and that's kind of what pushed that along. If you have 4 weeks to work on a project, you may never even see your group members until the final presentation. The 100-hour challenge however, made us all start conversing and working together right away with no down time. As I reflect on the project, I wish so many group members (including myself) didn't have to work over the weekend, but I still feel that everyone in the group contributed something, and that's cool. Overall, the project wasn't too taxing, and it was pretty fun (or as fun as a school project can be). I'm pleased with the way things turned out, except for the fact that our product kind of looks like a death trap. Our group was good, everyone contributed, we finished within 100 hours... Good time.