Quite honestly, I believe that humor may have been (and continues to be) the most important aspect of group work. Humor requires observation and quick analysis-removing oneself briefly from their own bubble in order to make a larger, more universal reflection. Creating inside team jokes about basic things allows mistakes to be humorous community-builders instead of a source of public embarrassment and isolation.
Nobody is completely serious or completely goofy--rather, bounce off of each other in comedic ways, poke fun at each other, but also correct and collaborate verbally. This banter translated into your literal workflow, too. When one person becomes too focused on detail, another person pulled them back to a greater theme, and vice versa.
I believe that through humor, people feel a level of comfort and togetherness that is otherwise nearly impossible to obtain. Through laughter and situational jokes we built a micro-community that required and welcomed everyone’s input equally--both conversationally and technically. We would sometimes outwardly complain about how much out of class time the project required, but internally look forward to meeting up. In the end, the project transcended the minutia-oriented realm of group-work and became an energized team.
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