Describe a decision that you made together with other people

A decision I made together with other people was choosing the topic and format of our final-year group project at university. There were five of us in the team, and we had two weeks to decide what to do before presenting our proposal to the supervisor.

The decision wasn't simple, because each person had a different idea. One teammate wanted to build a mobile app, another preferred a research study about students' sleep habits, while I suggested creating an educational website for school children. At first, the discussion became a bit tense, because everyone was keen on their own proposal.

We reached a decision in a structured way. First, we agreed to give each person five minutes to present their idea without being interrupted. Then we made a list of criteria, such as how realistic the project was within four months, how useful it would be, and whether it matched our skills. After that, we scored each idea against these criteria. The website and the app scored the highest, so we spent another evening discussing how we might combine them. Finally, we decided to create a simple website with an attached mobile version, and we divided the tasks according to our strengths.

I was very satisfied with the outcome. Although I didn't get exactly what I wanted, I felt that everyone had a voice, and the result was better than any single idea alone. Our supervisor praised the proposal, and the project eventually got a high grade.

It taught me that good decisions need patience, open communication and willingness to compromise.