As someone with zero idea about what I’m doing in life, it’s hard to believe I graduated university three years ago. My nights spent crying into Red Bull cans by harsh library fluorescents are but a distant memory, and I view those anxious millennials with the same sympathetic detachment my married friend adopts when I recount my failed Tinder dates.

One perennial experience that has forged its way into lunch table conversations, however, is the universal lamentation of group work. Damn, that really hit a nerve with people. If you scratch the surface, almost every graduate has a horror story of the time they were forced to into an intolerable coexistence with the real-life Pierce Hawthorne.

Enlightened by my three demanding years in the workforce, I have a few pearls of wisdom when it comes to surviving group work.

#1 Being Stubborn Will Not Help Matters

Everyone has different ideas, and if you spend your time fighting a war of attrition with other members over the font on your title page, you’ll never get anything done. Offer your opinions, open your mind to new ones and if you don’t get your own way, I can almost guarantee the assignment will have no bearing on future employment. So it doesn’t matter if you use Times New Roman.

#2 Don’t Force Your Schedule On Others

Imposing a deadline on a bunch of adults with strewn timetables is one of the obvious destined-to-fail aspects of group work. People have jobs, other assignments, kids, partners or maybe just prioritise happy hour on a Friday over reaching their word count. You can’t expect people to meet up whenever you can, or get their sections done three weeks in advance. As long as they do contribute, there’s no need to fret. Which takes me to my next point.

#3 Punish Freeloaders

If someone in your group did no work, make it known in the group review process. If you don’t, they’ll keep doing it all their lives. They’ll do nothing for their next group project. They’ll delegate their work to juniors in the workforce. They’ll expect their wife to cook every night. Nip these habits in the bud early, you’ll be doing the world a favour.

#4 If There Is No Leader, You’re The Leader

During my last but crucially important group work assignment, I took a look at my sun- bleached, Bintang singlet-ed groupmates a week before the due-date and it became apparent I was going to have to take charge. If no one is doing anything, they’re probably waiting for you to do it. Split the tasks, stay on their backs and if all fails, there’s always the review process.

#5 Meetings Are Usually A Waste Of Time

In an ideal world, group members meet in the library, smash out the assignment in a few hours and go home. In reality, most meetings devolve into a pizza-ordering bitch session about the group members who didn’t show up. Save everyone’s time and use Skype and Google Docs, people. They were invented for a reason.

With these tips in mind, you’re sure to find group work a cinch. Ok, maybe not. But at least I’ve reminded you to re-watch Community, right?

Laura Bradley is an inquisitive 20-something with a passion for writing, good coffee, plot twists and ridiculously bad puns. She spends her days working at a software company and dreaming of overseas escapades.

(Lead image: Community/NBC)