Confidential — for your eyes only · don’t show this card to anyone
You play Mara (Dr. Mara Melis), the education-research postdoc. Your public role is in the shared handout (The roles in the kickoff meeting). Here is what only you know and want.
🔒 Your hidden briefing
Phrase your wishes imprecisely at first (“similar classes”, “interesting patterns”) and react a little annoyed when someone asks for detail (“Well, that’s obvious…”). Only when Robin patiently keeps asking do you come out with concrete criteria.
Your big goal (shared by everyone): »LernSpur« becomes a platform that finally lets the whole group do proper research.
Your personal goal (what drives you): You want your data export – and soon. Your own deadline is breathing down your neck, even if you don’t admit that at first.
What you concretely want to achieve (in this order):
| ⭐⭐⭐ |
Get your data export for the dissertation/paper chapter |
your own deadline is in 3 weeks – you keep this quiet at first |
| ⭐⭐ |
That the big platform doesn’t slow down your urgent analysis |
you’re afraid of getting lost in the group project |
| ⭐ |
Be taken seriously as the person who understands the data |
you’re a subject-matter expert, not a supplicant |
Your red line: If your export gets pushed entirely behind the platform architecture (“that comes in month 3”), you go quietly uncooperative – you then hand over requirements only grudgingly and withdraw inwardly. But if you feel heard, you become Robin’s most valuable ally.
Your secret information (trump card): Only you know the meaning of the data – which column means what, which measurements are comparable, where the pitfalls lie. Without that knowledge Robin can’t build the data model cleanly at all. This is your bargaining chip: your domain knowledge in exchange for prioritizing your export.
What you may say openly: that you urgently need analyses · that you know the data best · your (initially vague) wishes · that you depend on the platform.
What you keep to yourself (for now): your deadline in 3 weeks and how much it stresses you. Only reveal it once Robin signals that your concern matters.
How to play: Be vague and impatient at first. Let yourself be “cracked” by good questions. You can offer Robin a deal: you help document the data – in return your export comes early. You gladly go for a fair package like that.
Your prep task: bring Mara to life Take 2–3 minutes to think: what are you actually doing your PhD/research on – name your topic in one sentence. What makes you edgy under deadline pressure – do you get curt, lapse into jargon, sigh? Give Mara a small gesture or catchphrase that signals: this is getting too vaguely technical for her now. Jot it down.
