University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 2

Ayman Amdad

Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424

Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman

April 17, 2021

Introduction
As an engineering student, the majority of my schooling consists of technical instruction
in subjects like physics, calculus, and dynamics. Communication for Project Managers
emphasizes a very important but highly ignored subject in the engineering field, communication.
Communicating effectively as a project manager is paramount to the success of any engineering
endeavor. Students in Communication for Project Managers must complete required readings,
participate in class activities and, ultimately, employ the skills they learn in class in the real
world. This essay will highlight the changes in my thinking by discussing lessons learned in the
readings, class discussions, practice proper business civility, and how to increase presentation
skills. Since beginning the class I will demonstrate the newfound insights gleaned from
completing the Big Five personality assessment.
The Email
Hi Team,
I hope you all enjoyed your weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone back at the
office. As the team leader, I want to ensure all of us are performing at our best and producing
quality work. I want to incorporate benchmark evaluations for every 20% of progress in this
project. For this evaluation, I understand that we have a lot on our plate where some are juggling
jobs, exams, and other stresses in our lives that can be overwhelming. Our work and progress
have been stagnant and we need to put more effort as a team into this project so we can get a
good grade that will boost our GPAs. Transparency about conflicts can always help to ensure that
we work towards our mutual goal while ensuring our individual needs are met. We are a team at
the end of the day, and we are all working towards the same goal. With each other's support, we
can come back to this project with newfound confidence and drive that will help us accomplish
our goals and complete this project. I believe in the team and we can definitely turn this around!
Best Wishes,
Ayman Amdad
The Rule Of Three
The technique that really stuck to me was the Rule Of Three which is a technique used
for presentations. It recommends that the presenter state towards the beginning of the
presentation the three main points that they will speak upon, then delve into those points in their
presentation, and lastly towards the end reiterate those three points. I believe this is a great way
to allow the audience to expect what is to come, follow along, be attentive, and retain the
information then towards the end reiterating to reinforce the 3 main points. Initially, when I
heard about this technique I thought it was going a little overboard. It made me feel like it was
too repetitive and redundant which would lose audience interest. What changed my mind and
view on this technique was when I saw it working in action throughout our class. The first time
was during our introduction presentations. It was one of the requirements, but I didn’t put a
strong emphasis on it in my speech. What made me regret this was seeing it working so well in
Andrew’s speech. It made me feel like I could follow along with every single point from the
beginning of his speech to the end. I wished I would've reiterated my three points at the end with
more emphasis to give that lasting impression on the audience/listener. Another moment where I
saw the impact and effectiveness of the Rule of Three was during our Big Dig debate where I
saw how it assisted in allowing the cons team to win. First, we heard Jamie’s pro conclusion and
although it did help in answering one of the remarks from the opposition, that was all it did.
Whereas Leah came in without a focus on fighting the opposition’s claims but instead restating
the three main points of the cons teams’ arguments to ensure that they got through to the
panelists before they made their judgment calls. I believe based on Professor Trotman’s as well
as the panelists' remarks that the use of the Rule of Three was quite helpful in convincing them.
These moments have proven to me that the Rule of Three is truly effective in a presentation
setting and allows the audience to stay attentive, follow along, and better comprehend the
purpose of the overall presentation. I hope to use this technique in future presentations at work
and in my master’s program as it has proven to succeed time and time again.
Scenario: Your boss called you an “idiot” in front of the entire team.
Using the methods learned in Crucial Conversations, Tools for Talking When Stakes Are
High I would first confront the boss one on one and see if we can talk in private. This shows
mutual respect for the conversation as I am letting them know beforehand that we will be having
a discussion, and are going to be talking without others’ criticism or views present. This also
allows both parties to have a feeling of safety created right from the beginning. I would start by
saying I would like to talk about a recent incident that has been bothering me and I feel we
should resolve this now, to move on as we are part of the same team. Then I would say first off
how much I respect my boss as someone that has great experience and skills that I can learn from
and admire, and that this in no way shape, or form hinders that perspective of them to me. Then I
would begin telling the event in my own depiction using the technique from Chapter 6 of crucial
conversations: Master My Stories. I had miscalculated the production counts on one of our
projects for the first week of August, as I misread the numbers from the images sent in from the
Forman. I already at that point felt guilty and disheartened by my error and was nervous to alert
you. What I didn’t appreciate was how you responded in front of all our teammates and said that
I was being an “idiot” and to not let it happen ever again. At that point, I felt that I had lost trust
from my teammates and my boss and became disconnected from the team. I understand that the
mistake was made by me and that is why I took the blame and let you know immediately, and
was transparent. I do believe that that response was uncalled for and I hope you can understand
that as I have not made any major errors prior and placed a protocol to call the Forman every
morning and afternoon to ensure we can go over the production reports sent by phone and
double-check. I hope from now on we can keep working together while also making sure that we
are being supportive of each other as we are at the end of the day working towards the same goal
of completing this project. I love this company and my team and I enjoy working with you, and I
don’t want this feeling to be fleeting over this minor mishap. Thank you again for listening to
everything I have to say.
Throughout this entire conversation, I wanted to ensure that I kept the two most
important ideologies in mind when speaking to my boss. The first being from Chapter 4: Learn
to Look, I wanted to ensure that I am not going towards silence, not speaking up about the issue
of them calling me an idiot in front of my team. I also did not want to choose violence which
would make them feel attacked and potentially ruin our close colleague relationship. I wanted to
keep a lookout for these issues to ensure that they do not come into the conversation. Next would
be from Chapter 5: Make It Safe, the key point was to “apologize when appropriate.” and to
some extent, I ensured that occurred for the portion I was at fault for but I didn’t shy away from
the issue at hand as that was still addressed. The other two concepts that I took away from this
chapter were the concepts of Mutual Respect and Mutual Purpose. I think both are extremely
important to a good strong work relationship. I wanted to let them know that I respected them
and went into detail and that I felt that they had not treated me with the respect I felt I deserve as
a team member. I also wanted to end off my statement to the boss by ensuring that mutual
purpose was established as we are on the same team working towards the same goal. This helps
to ensure that this is not just for me, but for our team so that we can go back to working
proficiently with a strong team mentality. I also know the importance of ethos, logos, and pathos
and felt that I integrated it by showing how unethical the statement the boss made was, telling
my side of the story and stating the full picture of the situation to enforce logos, and lastly
praising the boss for who they are and wanting to solidify that mutual respect through pathos
were my target goals.
Story
I am in my junior year in high school worried sick and very anxious thinking if I will be
able to get into my top choice school, the University of Maryland. I talked to my friend Kristina
about it and she told me to sign up for a summer camp for prospective engineering students at
UMD. I was nervous as it was highly selective and I have never been to a summer camp before
in my life. It was something that I could never see myself doing. I’ll be honest, staying away
from home for a long period of time scared me. I knew I had to try as it would get me one step
closer to my dream goal. The end of the school year comes and I get my application response. I
ran to my parents and showed them the letter and I still remember telling them “ I got in!!!!”.
They were so proud and for weeks I would hear them talking about it to their friends and my
family back home in Bangladesh. It was great to feel so supported and see their excitement, but
then it started becoming a big deal, and the closer it came to me leaving the more stressed I felt. I
wanted to succeed and show UMD that I would be a good fit and to hopefully get accepted, so I
knew I had to power through. The first day arrived and I got to meet all the other students
admitted and everyone was extremely friendly. They assigned us to the main project that we will
be presenting to our family, a board of professors, and our camp counselors. The competitiveness
of the project where the presentations would be ranked with prizes elevated the stress that I had.
The project goal was to create an underwater SeaPerch design to warn against sharks on beaches.
I thought it was a really interesting project and went into researching with my team. My team
included two others, Keyona and Nathanial. Even though we were all from separate parts of the
country we all got along like family. We always had a motto of being positive and having a
teamwork mentality which I loved and still cherish to this day. As the summer camp went on I
got more and more worried about the project. I would continuously talk to my counselors about
ideas I would have and sketches that I made. They would see me working into the night in my
room on the project as I took the project lead and wanted it to be perfect. My stress comes from
my mentality where In the back of my mind I feel that I need to succeed as my family gave up
everything to come to America. This potential win is one step closer to getting accepted to UMD
and thus one step closer to success. The second to last day is here the time is winding down to
the presentation day, and I am in fear looking at other students' designs. I see several AutoCAD
designs with intricate pieces and components. I felt insecure about my own capabilities at that
moment as most of these students had taken several engineering, AutoCAD, and coding classes.
I on the other hand came from a law magnet school with no experience in any engineering
software. That night I felt as if I was a complete mess, but I knew I still had to produce a final
product that I would be proud to show the staff at UMD and my parents. I stayed up the entire
night hand drawing the entire design piece by piece making it look as realistic as possible. My
other teammates would be watching movies and I would be there with a piece of paper, pencil in
my right hand, and piano music playing in my headphones zoning in to make my design without
error. Finally, the day comes to the present I get to see my family after weeks and we get started.
Each team went one by one, the room was dark and all our parents were sitting in the audience
and staff members and councilors were all lined up in the front row. Pretty scary picture, but
again putting the anxiousness aside I wanted to give it my all. Once all the presentations are
complete I go back to my teammates and tell them “we tried our best, and I’m gonna miss u guys
so much when this is over'' I looked back on all the memories we made and what an amazing
experience it was. Win or lose this would be an experience to remember for a lifetime. They say
that they are gonna call the first, second, and third place winners. They say the first-place group
out loud and of course… it was not us. At that point, we were just happy that the presentations
were over and laughing about that. As soon as we finish laughing they say “Ayman, Keyona, and
Nathanial for second place come down and get your prizes”. We look at each other in disbelief
and run down the stairs. I get my prize, turn around and see my mom and dad smiling and
clapping telling the other parents around them “that’s my son”. We get to sit back with our
families and my dad and mom are hugging me as they are so proud, but the counselors have one
final thing to say. They said that they wanted to give out certificates for achievements for certain
students that they felt deserved it for their effort. I had attained the Most Studious Award given to
me by the counselor that I always talked to and got help from the most, which made it even more
special. Before I came into this summer camp I didn’t think I could become an engineer because
I had no experience in engineering and I was behind in math compared to everyone else. After
the summer camp and the big win, it gave me hope and excitement about engineering and
reaffirmed my goal of becoming an engineer. I always look back on this experience as it was my
first ever engineering experience that started the journey of what is now the completion of my
civil engineering degree.
Big Five Personality Assessment
The Big Five assessment focused on openness, conscientiousness, extraversion,
agreeableness, and neuroticism. I want to share the rankings for each and how it makes sense or
doesn’t. My highest score was for Agreeableness at 96%, and I will be honest I was pretty
confident before taking the test that this would win out. In any situation, with family, friends, or
acquaintances I always feel like I’m low maintenance and find joy in making sure everyone
around me is happy. I’m the “dad” in the friend group cooking for everyone and making sure all
the plans are set, so that everyone can enjoy it, and when anyone is injured or sad I always try to
be there for them no matter what. The next highest is Neuroticism at 85% and I can also see why
this is my second highest score. I have this ideology that everything happens for a reason and
that bad things happen to bad people. This dimension is focused on the tendency to experience
negative emotions, and I am prone to do so. Whenever something negative happens to me I
always overthink about it and stress over it and have a fear that it will hinder my future. I worry
about the fact that also small issues can develop into something much bigger. I know it is
personal, but I have suffered from severe anxiety like my mother for years. The third and fourth
in rank are Openness and Extraversion at 69% and 56%. I believe both are around the lower
percent mark because there are parts of me that resonate with each, but at the same time reflect
aspects that produce a low score that resonate with me as well. With Openness, I see portions of
high scorers and low scorers where I feel that I am very adventurous, like to try new foods and
explore new places, while also being able to focus on the concrete when it comes to how I work
and learn. With Extraversion, I believe that I do like to engage with my friends and spend time
and be the leader of the friend group, but I also focus on being humble. I don't like to talk about
my accomplishments because I always felt like other people in the past sounded like they were
showing off or acting as if they are better than the rest. That's why I felt that accomplishments
shouldn’t be spoken off often and that being humble is a good trait. The lowest ranking makes
the most sense being Conscientiousness at 54%. I am the youngest in my family and have two
older siblings that I expect to have much higher scores for this dimension. To me, this seems
very boring and pointless. I along with my friends always have the mentality that we need to
balance hard work with fun and enjoy life to the fullest and trying new things. I never wanted to
focus on only working as much as my older siblings because I felt like they missed out on a lot
like a good college experience.
For each of the categories, I felt that my rankings made logical sense. I thought it was
surprising how accurate they were and logical. I felt that it reaffirmed the general thoughts about
myself. It was nice to read about each category of Openness, Conscientiousness, extraversion,
Agreeableness, and Neuroticism in detail. I felt that with each statement I was able to resonate
with my score more.
Looking back at all my personality assessments I have taken I feel much more confident
in the type of person I am and more so they reaffirmed what my principles are with each and
every assessment. It is fun and interesting as they allow you to see your own depiction of
yourself from an assessment perspective. This relinquishes the feeling of whether you are falsely
depicting yourself or not and allows you to learn more about your personality type. Overall my
highest and lowest scores are my focus points for comparison. With the Big Five Assessment,
my highest and lowest scores were for agreeableness and Conscientiousness. For the DISC
Personality assessment, my highest scores were for Dominance & Steadiness and my lowest was
for Compliance, and JUNG conveyed how is goal oriented focused on others, but also states that
I am self-sufficient. From these results, I can see a strong link between all these assessments.
More so they gave me an overall understanding of who I am. Most of these scores convey to me
that I am someone who is a strong team player ensuring that everyone is working together
properly and are goal-oriented. Also in my friend group, I always go out of my way to ensure
that they are having a good time and that everyone is happy and getting along. These are reasons
why I can see how I got high scores for steadiness and agreeableness and JUNG analysis of
being focused on others. For Dominance, I can also see that amongst me and my friends as I
always take control of group plans and during situations always make the decisions. The lowest
scores for each assessment were for Compliance and Conscientiousness and I feel that resonates
with my personality as well as I have a very “live life to the fullest” mentality and that you
should just enjoy life while you're young. I take academics seriously, but when it comes to
making memories I don’t look back on that really hard fluids final I took last year. I look back on
the good memories that I have made with my close friends and family and cherish them.
Conclusion
Within this class, I was able to learn how to keep relationships and connections with
others whether they are family, friends, or colleagues. I’ve also learned how to improve my
presentation and argumentative skills. These techniques and methodologies from these books and
classes can be integrated into so many facets of life. I’m glad to have enrolled in this class in my
last semester at UMD as I prepare to join the workforce and look forward to having these tools at
my disposal as I begin my new career. This could not have been accomplished without the
guidance and engagement of our Professor and the rest of the class. Thank you Professor
Trotman for this great experience.
 Works Cited
Faulkner, Michael, and Andrea Nierenberg. Networking for College Students and Graduates.

Pearson Learning Solutions, 2017. Print.

Gallo, Carmine. Five Stars the Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great. St. Martin’s

Press, 2018. Print.

O’Hair, Dan, and Hannah Rubenstein and Rob Stewart. A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking.

Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2019. Print.

Pachter, Barbara, and Denise Cowie. The Essentials of Business Etiquette: How to Greet, Eat,

and Tweet Your Way to Success. McGraw-Hill Education, 2013. Print

Patterson, Kerry, et al. Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High.

McGraw-Hill, 2012.
 Appendix

Appendix A. Below are the results from the truity personality test.