Example of Micro Pattern:
Reminiscing
Reminiscing, either fondly or otherwise. The sentence construction used is sometimes a direct comparison, and sometimes to express how impressed they are with things currently as compared to before. In most cases the speech is direct, and in some cases, they try to defend the situation in the previous project while still comparing to say that they are happy with things now.
Cause:
The reasons for comparison are many, the first and foremost being just plain human tendency to compare. The comparisons are made sometimes to serve as indirect warnings to indicate what kind of behavior will not be tolerated and what kind of behavior is expected. Sometimes the comparisons are made to stress what is being done well and to encourage that. A positive comparison is usually to serve as encouragement and appreciation.
Effect:
The effect of the positive comparisons may be to make the team members feel more motivated to perform better. They also might feel driven to perform better because they know they are being compared to a previous standard and would want to be thought of positively. The team members also know what is expected of them and learn of some behavior to not engage in explicitly, and can keep their guard up more. The client would feel like he/she has conveyed their expectations clearly and explained the repercussions of those expectations not being met.
Examples:
“Bob: I wish you guys were on my team last semester, cause this would have been done. Our partner was never coming to the meetings, and Joann tried, but it took her time to understand the code, and was concerned about getting it finished, but we would have many very long meetings and we would just sit there.” “Bob: I am surprised we have got so far. I never thought we would. In the last semester, we did not get anything done. ” “Hank: Yes, that is a pretty good question. Last semester, we kept trying to define how to proceed, and I kept suggesting that we make a skeleton of the code, [S1] and how I did that was by writing the names of the blocks and what they did in the code. And that is the kind of thing I would hope to happen here and how you want to organize the code. ” “Hank: That was a big road block last semester, that is getting the data into these two bins. ” “Hank: send me something somewhat organized. From the last group I used to get these hand scratches, piece of paper, stand in notes, to look over. You want to rise to a level of, hate to use the word professional, but something more organized. In that case, I gave up on them, and just started doing the analysis myself” “Bob: We did well, but I was surprised, because we did not accomplish anything.”