Team issues and difficulties?....(not just technical ones)

[tribotec_ca88]

Hey everybody...I wanted to start a thread discussing team "issues"...for example, what is your team having to deal with @ the moment (not just technical problems but social, emotional) It´s just that I wonder how many other teams go through what we go through...

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Well our team´s not having major technical difficulties...everybody does his/her part well...
This is the scenario: We´re from Brazil. We have 26 students. We only have enough $$$ to send about 6 to 8 people.
**So....everybody wants to go (travel to the States: it´s every kid´s dream!) but there´s not enough for all...people are becoming depressed, and I can say that they have every reason to. I mean, the guy´s working 24/7 during his summer vacation (yes, it´s summer here!) and doesn´t get to experience the best part of the competition? He has every reason to be angry and upset...
Today we´re having a meeting to decide who´s gonna go...I would love to be able to go to new jersey and all but if i were chosen i would feel bad for the guys that are staying...im so confused. Unfortunately we havent been able to get any sponsors so far but lets keep praying huh :rolleyes:

Well that´s our team´s major problem at the moment...but learning to solve them is part of the game and the challenge!!!
Hope your problems arent worse than ours!

Feel free to

[Enslaved]

You are in a big fix, aren't you!!!
Well, I hope everything turns out fine for you

Currently... other than a few controversies about the design, which I think are pretty much settled, we aren't facing any technical problems (I finally convinced everyone *sighs*)

Commitment is a big problem...
We started a girls' team this year, last year we had a mixed team with 97% of girls in the marketing, and only 3% in Build (Nice part, I got to work with 40 boys..LoL)

So this year, the teachers came up with the idea of having a separate girls' team
My first reaction: It isn't feasible!
Well, but surprisingly about 50 girls showed up on the first meetings, and even though the # has been dropping since then, there were considerable amount of girls in the workshops

But because of Exams, and loss of interest, I only see 3 or 4 people showing up other than me
Hopefully, when exams are over, the attendance will increase again
I have to say it's easier to work with 4 students, and about 3 teachers
But then... I thought we were all supposed work as a team
Whatever happened to that...?
Well, recently, I heard, people did not know about the meetings, but I really do not understand, how they cannot know, when we post on forums, announce in school, pass the word around, email everyone


I think it's time we got a little stricter about showing up on meetings
Maybe it's time to kick a few people out....
LoL!

Well, I'm sure, we'll be fine...

[Rich Kressly]

All teams experience non-robot related issues, although I'd say your situation is more difficult than most.

To me, the important thing is for all team members to feel valued and regardless of who goes and who stays, the team stays together and continues to be productive. The last thing you want is people quitting or giving up after your decision is made. Your decision can be based on many different criteria. Look to tour fellow Brasilian teams and their more humble beginnings. I'm sure their growth can inspire yours.

Here's one possible way to deal with your difficult situation. I'd give the most productive and oldest students the first chance to go. If younger students will have an opportunity to travel next year, I'd be in favor of a student who is graduating and won't have the chance again next year (provided they are productive). All the while, I'd be sure to let your team know that they are all pioneers blazing an uncharted trail that will have a lasting impact in the future of their school and community.

You can even use NASA's Mars missions for example. Seven or eight people get to field questions and take a bow in front of the media after two robots land on Mars. The whole Mars team consists of hundreds of people. The few who step center stage earned the right to, but you also know that those leaders, behind the scenes, are doing an awful lot to share their appreciation for the rest of the team and their hard work. Celebrate small victories along the way, when a mechanism is finished, give all those students credit. I'd put all team member names somewhere on the robot as a gesture of team unity as well.

For those disappointed students, have them understand that their sacrifices will benefit the future and have them look to the future years. That should help provide inspiration and motivation for fundraising efforts. Also, try not to rely only on large corporate sponsors, have each student participate in fundraising if you haven't done it already. Have you contacted teams who are close to your regional venue and inquired about them possibly hosting your team (to reduce/eliminate hotel costs)? Your task is difficult, but not impossible, and the whole FIRST community is here to help in any way they can. Many teams, in their infancy, cannot afford to travel with all members, but they build for the future. Good Luck!

[KenWittlief]

On almost every team, and every year you will have at least one major emotional problem:

1. a student will get upset and quit the team

2. a mentor or parent advisor will get upset and quit the team

3. two students will fall in love - sometimes its great, and sometimes they have a falling out before the season is over, and then one or both dont want to be on the team anymore

4. students who have been best friends for years will have a falling out, and you will have a big mess on your hands.

Funny thing is, you can tell everyone on the team about this at your first meeting, and they all look at each other and say, "Yeah! right! not me!"

but this program is so intense and stressfull, that conflicts and emotions are bound to rise.

best advice I can give when things blow up on you is to sit everyone down and remember what this is all about. we are not here to build robots, or to win a contest, or to travel to cool places or to bring home trophies.

we are here to see what a career in engineering and science is like - anything else that happens along the way is frosting on the cake - so if someone else gets more frosting than you do, try not to be too upset.

[Enslaved]

On almost every team, and every year you will have at least one major emotional problem:

but this program is so intense and stressfull, that conflicts and emotions are bound to rise.


You are so right...
Well, I wouldn't dream of quitting the team... People are expecting of me, hopes relying on me, some are reliving their dreams through me! So no matter, how tough it gets, I have to keep moving

There is one funny thing though... something my team mates say about me:
Sometimes, when something doesn't work, or I make a foolish mistake
I tend to get very angry... Yeah, one of those hot-tempered women
Once someone said, they'd have to carry a tranquillizer if I were going in the competition

It made me laugh so much, that I couldn't drill a screw properly....
Never stopped laughing the whole day... and since then, it's amazing, but I don't get all that angry

So, no matter, how heated the atmosphere becomes, always try to make each other laugh.... It's a wonder how things start falling together themselves....!

[Erin Rapacki]

The NU-TRONS has college admin, college facutly/staff, corporate engineers, college students, parents, 4 different high schools, and outside help.

Communication is our biggest problem, clearly.

[Alaina]

I've been worried about this for about a week, but luckily a mentor brought up the same issue, and people listen to mentors. Anyway,the main thing is:
Our robot thus far is quite heavy. And all we have designed is the drive train. We don't have anything for an arm or pneumatics or anything...

*Anything else said in this post will be personal opinions...that are shared with other members of the team...many of them.*

We don't have much of "student-run" team anymore...It's more of a "Single-student dictator." It's not kool. That particular student has the design in his head, makes a picture, and then gets his engineer dad to make a more comprehensive picture for us to work off of. This student will graduate after this season, and I'll be the most veteran member next year. This will NOT be happening again.

*Anything else said in this post will be completely personal*

We're using wood next year. Alluminum? No. 3/8" plywood? Yes.

[Collin Fultz]

As much as I hope that you all get all of your problems worked out...I really DO NOT feel as if Chief Delphi is the place to be airing your team's dirty laundry. As great as the forums can be for discussing different strategies, clearing up rule questions, asking how to gear for the best torque, etc., complaining about a student on your team to five-thousand chief delphi users is not the Gracious Professionalism that Chief Delphi and FIRST are going for. It is especially not what Chief Delphi is going for in these forums. If you have to complain about a problem within your team, type it up in Word, and then delete it. It isn't worth hurting others for. Now, if you are going to ask a specific question e.g. "How do teams that feed from multiple schools communicate effectively?" That's fine and a reason that these and other forums are in place. However, if you want to talk about a student who has become a dictator, leave that within your own team or in your own head. Use the forums for what they are meant to be used for, not for complaints. Come on folks. :(

[srjjs]

I think that getting help with team management issues is as much of an acceptable request as asking for suggestions on how to build a 4-motor drive train. It just has to go in the right forum. (*cough* http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=86 *cough*)


As cliched as it might sound, you can't make people come, you have to make them want to come. By kicking people off the team, you accomplish nothing. Instead of coming to 50% of the meetings, those people are now coming to 0% of the meetings. If people are not showing up, the only way to fix the problem is to address the source; why aren't they coming? Common causes I've seen are being too busy (perfectly understandable at exam time, and cured only by waiting), or apathy (in which case there needs to be some activity on the part of the team's leaders to help fix it).

If one person seems to be "taking over" the team, the first thing to do is to make sure that is actually what is happneing. Someone who feels "displaced" by someone will naturally resent the other person, but having one person who is exceptionally smart, talented, or motivated take on a greater than average share of responsility should not be viewed as something horrible, rather, it is inevitable, even in the most egalitarian teams.
However, if the person is going too far, that may indeed be cause for concern, as a bottleneck can result in slowing everyone down because 30 people are trying to get approval from 1 person with limited time, or even worse, when that person gets sick and can't make it to a meeting, resulting in a whole day wasted. At that point, it probably is time for someone (a teacher/mentor or a senior student (but only 1 or 2 people, not the whole team)) to talk to the person and explain the situation and propose a solution.


I'm happy to say that our own team is suffering from no more than the usual, as predicted (2 students fell in love over winter break, 2 friends had a bit of a fight today, and 3 people have quit).

[thoughtful]

First of all, social issues are always going ot be there, no way around it. Though good team leaders always try to minimise them by explaining things to their team and trying to encourage them. But hey, all the FIRST teams have lots of energy.

And yes most of the issues are relating commitment, or people who should or should not travel or go into the box (the driver,shooter,coach e.t.c). And there are other issues to like students not getting along, mentors feelings no one is seeing it form their point of view. E.t.c

Though i just want to finish off by saying that if you want to choose the people who are going to be travelling, this should be done atleast 5 or 6 weeks after the kick-off, and the guys who get to go should be the one who did contribute the most to the team (this is usually measured in time, thts the easiest way). If we decide this very early the people who do not get to go will get dishearted and your team might be left with less student.

Though i hope you people resolve your issues, and may be some sponsor comes along and you can all goto the states :) .

[Cory]

As much as I hope that you all get all of your problems worked out...I really DO NOT feel as if Chief Delphi is the place to be airing your team's dirty laundry. As great as the forums can be for discussing different strategies, clearing up rule questions, asking how to gear for the best torque, etc., complaining about a student on your team to five-thousand chief delphi users is not the Gracious Professionalism that Chief Delphi and FIRST are going for. It is especially not what Chief Delphi is going for in these forums. If you have to complain about a problem within your team, type it up in Word, and then delete it. It isn't worth hurting others for. Now, if you are going to ask a specific question e.g. "How do teams that feed from multiple schools communicate effectively?" That's fine and a reason that these and other forums are in place. However, if you want to talk about a student who has become a dictator, leave that within your own team or in your own head. Use the forums for what they are meant to be used for, not for complaints. Come on folks. :(

I hardly think the thread started out as "whining" It turned into it, but I think this is a really important issue. I cant say I know what it'd be like to be in the situation that this team is in, but I can sympathize with them. I would be very disappointed if I were to put hundreds of hours into the construction of the robot, only to never even SEE it compete, let alone be there. It would be very cool if local teams hosted your team, like foreign exchange students.

Kind of off topic, but why does your team go to New Jersey? It has to be cheaper to fly into LA or New York, or even Houston(Being the closest regional to you), I would imagine.

Cory

[tenfour]

I think that when you place individuals with different ideas (some wrong) together, you naturally have problems. It becomes worse when these people are prideful, as smart people sometimes are.

The way to solve it is simply to go out of your way and treat everyone as you would family (you are around them as much). You also have to have incredible tact and be very politically minded.

Besides common manners, a good team structure is important since it determines ahead of time how problems will be solved and decisions made. This avoids haste in the heat of the moment.

Hope this helps!

[KenWittlief]

was just wondering, what does it cost to fly from brazil to the US? $1000 per ticket?

there are almost a thousand teams this year - if each team donated $20 that would be enough to bring a whole international team here?

maybe FIRST should consider a fund to bring international teams here for regionals? in fact, I would say, if we are going to do that, let them attend the championship instead of making them goto a regional first.

something to consider.

[Guilherme]

The airplane ticket is around U$ 750,00. It´s a high cost considering that we have to include the hotels, transfer, vans... in the end the total cost per student comes to U$ 1300,00 per student.

This year : 20 x U$ 1300,00 = U$ 26,000. This is a big value for us, because 1 U$ = 3 R$ (our currency)

[KenWittlief]

FIRST originally started out with something like 26 teams, most of which had to travel to the competition

this year we have 26 regionals!

this eliminates the large travel expense for local teams

so heres an idea, if you attend a local regional, FIRST can collect an extra fee ($100 maybe?) from each local team to help fund the most distant teams - esp international teams, who dont (yet) have the convienance of attending a local regional event?

[c-squared_2006]

That was a little off topic, but back to the topic on had. Sometimes people aren't having a great day and they take it out on someone else, possibly someone in the team. That has happened to me once, and I didn't feel so great. Anyways, communication is a great way to work out problems (as someone mentioned, I think). And just being friendly overall will improve the overall atmosphere. Personally I try to be friendly to everyone and just have a smile on my face. It's really had to pick a fight with someone who refuses to fight. And always be there if a fellow team member just needs to talk about anything. :)

[Tytus Gerrish]

We have done virtually nothing in Programing Or animation :ahh:

[Al Skierkiewicz]

This is the scenario: We´re from Brazil. We have 26 students. We only have enough $$$ to send about 6 to 8 people.
I know this is rough for all of your team and we would love to meet you all. Many rookie teams go through this same dilema, many not being able to attend the nationals at all the first or even second year. Although all of you sound like you are a big part of the team, circumstances just don't allow you to take a big group. Those team mates that get to travel will know full well that there are people left behind that should be with them. That makes it almost as tough on the travel team as those that stay behind. We want your team to join us, but if only a small group can make it then we will know that the rest of you are there in spirit. If you are worried about having enough people to work on the robot, be assured that there are many of us who will gladly help. Let me be the first to offer assistance. If you run into any problems, come and find our pit and ask for help. Don't wait for a small problem to become a big one. Even if you don't have a problem, stop by and say Hi! Our tie dye team shirt is easy to spot, you can ask anyone where our pit is. Good Luck on your first FIRST year!

[ShadowKnight]

aye, assuming our bot is in working order and people from our team can hold down the fort, I intend on taking strolls around the pit areas and lending a hand tightenign down the bolts on a wheel, wire somethign that got fried, help a team replace their drill motors after they burn up, or just hang out with other people and enjoy the gracious professionalism that FIRST really is all about. last year, our bot was MESSED up, and we were frantic to try and get certain parts of our code working, trying to lose weight and all that good stuff. Having been in the shoes of a rookie team, seeign as how last year we were a rookie team, I plan on helping out teams at annapolis as much as possible.

yes that was a bit off topic...

[ColleenShaver]

In terms of choosing people to attend competitions, we have a process we follow which narrows down the team to people that are really well-rounded and capable. From there, we choose people that have to be there in order for us to compete successfully (i.e. Drivers, pit crew, etc).

Step 1:
For the first time this year, we imposed a minimum number of meetings (10 from Sept until competition time) as well as a minimum number of hours people must contribute. Team members must put in at minimum 15 hours on one side (Operations or Support) and 5 on the other. They also have a general pool of 10 hours that can be met by doing anything related to the team (demos, competitions, etc). They may not earn more than 5 hours per week towards these hour goals.

Step 2:
Everyone interested in traveling with the team must take and pass a Rule Test with 100% accuracy. They may take in multiple times. The point is to ensure that team members know and understand the game and various rules that are especially pertinent to our robot playing the game.

Step 3:
Everyone interested in traveling with the team must take and pass a Technical Test. Here, members of the team in charge of Operations give everyone an oral quiz on various basic technical aspects (Describe a fuse and a circuit breaker and point them out on the robot) as well as specific aspects of that year's robot (What does CVT stand for and how does it?). This way we know everyone knows the robot reasonably well and is able to explain to any judges that come by what the robot does.

Step 4:
Knowing how many spots are open, assign people to travel who are necessary for robot function and have met previous qualifications. For instance, you need a robot driver and operator and a human player (we also have a method for doing unbiased driver testing/selection that we really like, PM me for more info). You need a coach. You also need experienced pit crew people to fix the robot when it breaks.

We typically take ~14 people out of 250+ on our mailing lists (college mentors and high school students combined). This process works pretty well for choosing the people who have really put in time and effort and are going to be valuable at the event.

Hope this offers you team a little help. It's still one of the most difficult parts of the whole thing (people have emotions, robots don't!), and our team has been in it 13 years! Any questions, feel free to contact us.

Best of luck!

[snake]

That was a great help to out project
you could cover the chain with plexiglass or plastic :ahh:

[shyra1353]

Going back to the original post, every team does have their problems. Obviously, being in Brazil you have more to deal with being isolated from us in Canada and USA, but IMO, that is part of the challenge for you.

Our team does have our problems. We had problems being a student-run team (not student-run as Alaina was saying where I am the dictator, but minimal staff support from the school). As well two people on our team have started dating .. hopefully for the better (seeing as one of them is my cousin) and that i told them both at the beginning that if the relationship goes bitter, they are still working together.

also, i think that every team member has to remember people in teams do clash and you have to deal with it. also, to remember, because the six weeks are so stressful, people may snap at you, but they might not mean it, so keep in mind that they might not be mad at you and dont be too sensitive if this happens.


Good luck with sorting out the travel problems.

so heres an idea, if you attend a local regional, FIRST can collect an extra fee ($100 maybe?) from each local team to help fund the most distant teams - esp international teams, who dont (yet) have the convienance of attending a local regional event?

not that we dont want to help, so dont take this that way, but i do not think that some of the teams will be able to do this. i mean, i know that our team is extremely low budget, we were not going to make our registration fee deadline and we only did because of a $5000 US loan from our school. We now owe our school $6,658.64 CDN and have only received $3500 CDN in sponsorship money, which is needed for our robot and meetings. so even though we would love to help out Brazilian teams, we are actually unable to.


ps- I think this thread should be moved to the Team Organization Forum.

[Mike Heinowski]

As much as I hope that you all get all of your problems worked out...I really DO NOT feel as if Chief Delphi is the place to be airing your team's dirty laundry. As great as the forums can be for discussing different strategies, clearing up rule questions, asking how to gear for the best torque, etc., complaining about a student on your team to five-thousand chief delphi users is not the Gracious Professionalism that Chief Delphi and FIRST are going for. It is especially not what Chief Delphi is going for in these forums. If you have to complain about a problem within your team, type it up in Word, and then delete it. It isn't worth hurting others for. Now, if you are going to ask a specific question e.g. "How do teams that feed from multiple schools communicate effectively?" That's fine and a reason that these and other forums are in place. However, if you want to talk about a student who has become a dictator, leave that within your own team or in your own head. Use the forums for what they are meant to be used for, not for complaints. Come on folks. :(

Just in case that you didn't notice we are in the General Discussion section of this here forum, we are also talking about team issues. I think you are over steping your bonderies by posting this, many teams have their problems, I will be the first to admit that I have alot of "cheese" with some of the people on team 862. We all look to this site for the sense of community that FIRST gives us and alot of teams are bound to have their problems and complain about things. Its going to happen. I guess what I am getting at is we need to help each other and if we need to give advice to help, we will. Be it a technical problem or a personal matter, we all need to listen and be undersanding people. If we help out with every ones problems it will only make us all stronger.

[NateBot16]

Well the weather here hasn't been helping us at all. We lost three days of build time due to snow and ice. Our main problem is that some of the people who have been involved for a few years still do not know what they are doing, and its really effecting us this year. We also have the pressure of having to do well this year, or our program is possibly cut from funding next year.

[Dick Linn]

Know what is hurting us this year? Apathy. That or other interests. When you get 7 mentors and 8 students at any given meeting (out of maybe 25 students in total), what gives? I don't think that the mentors/engineers on our team are all that overbearing or anything (though we do have our faults). We really like to help out where we can. What are we doing wrong? I don't mean to "dis" anyone, but I really would like to know what we could do to improve the interest level.

[Redhead Jokes]

When you get 7 mentors and 8 students at any given meeting (out of maybe 25 students in total), what gives? but I really would like to know what we could do to improve the interest level.

We get an average 15 students and 7 mentors, out of 29 students and 12 mentors.

interest wanes, same students don't always show up, then you get those few new students who are awesomely enthused *grin*.

We just do it with what we got.

[Jay H 237]

Well the weather here hasn't been helping us at all. We lost three days of build time due to snow and ice. Our main problem is that some of the people who have been involved for a few years still do not know what they are doing, and its really effecting us this year. We also have the pressure of having to do well this year, or our program is possibly cut from funding next year.

Same thing for our team. I'm home right now since the school was closed again because of weather. I'll bet most of the teams here in the northeast have been affected in some way. Between the bitter cold (-20 degrees) and snow and ice storms schools have been cancelled repeatally. We were lucky one of our sponsors let us use their shop for two days but we are starting to hurt with lost time. We'll going to have to pay the board of ed to use the school on weekends now to make up for it. Unfortunately the money has to come out of our teams budget so talk about our team REALLY getting hurt. :(

[Mark Pettit]

As a team that has experienced more than our fair share of personnel-related issues in the past, we are more cohesive this year than ever. The big issue for us right now is that we can’t get our drive system running due to some backordered pillow blocks from MMH. I know that a bunch of teams are experiencing the same problem with all of the backorders on wheels, balls, etc. Hang in there!

[Mike Heinowski]

Our biggest problem has nothing to do with the robot but rather with the parents. You see over the summer some of the parents decided that they wanted to be more involved with our robotics team. This is perfectly understandable and we even welcomed this change. We ended up creating a beast, so to speak. They decided that it would be good to collect dues from the students at a cost of $40 a piece. They also decided that these due would be "optional." Now eight months later their new definition of optional means required. Now our Vice President doesn't have $40 just lying around readily available to pay his dues (which are now $50 because they are late). The worst part is that they actually told him that he could not be on the team any longer. Lucky for us he refuses to leave. This is just a small taste of what our parents are trying to pull.

If anyone has any ideas on how to handle this kind of thing, because most of our team is fed up with it, PLEASE let me know.

[fox46]

It seems that everyone on our team have come down with some sort of cold/flu virus :ahh: (AKA "Dimitri Disease" nicknamed after one of our members). Since our meeting this past Saturday, fewer and fewer people have been showing up. At first I thought that disaster had struck, and that the team was orchistrating some sort of protest or strike for some unexpained reason, but after a few phonecalls, I realised everyone was at home, sick! We had a meeting afterschool today, and three people showed up- me and two others instead of the usual 10-20!! So now that construction, and everything else has ground to a halt, I'm trying to figure out what to do next. It's pretty ominous walking into a machine shop, and the only sound you hear is the hum of flourescent lights, and all you really do is sit around and think...I wonder what that smell is.

[Joe J.]

Hey everybody...I wanted to start a thread discussing team "issues"...for example, what is your team having to deal with @ the moment (not just technical problems but social, emotional) It´s just that I wonder how many other teams go through what we go through...

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Well our team´s not having major technical difficulties...everybody does his/her part well...
This is the scenario: We´re from Brazil. We have 26 students. We only have enough $$$ to send about 6 to 8 people.
**So....everybody wants to go (travel to the States: it´s every kid´s dream!) but there´s not enough for all...people are becoming depressed, and I can say that they have every reason to. I mean, the guy´s working 24/7 during his summer vacation (yes, it´s summer here!) and doesn´t get to experience the best part of the competition? He has every reason to be angry and upset...
Today we´re having a meeting to decide who´s gonna go...I would love to be able to go to new jersey and all but if i were chosen i would feel bad for the guys that are staying...im so confused. Unfortunately we havent been able to get any sponsors so far but lets keep praying huh :rolleyes:

Well that´s our team´s major problem at the moment...but learning to solve them is part of the game and the challenge!!!
Hope your problems arent worse than ours!

Feel free to

Here's something you could try next year. The way our team works out who can go to Nationals is everybody gets a "hours" card and it is there respsonsiblity to keep track of it and have one of our mentors sign off that they were there for X number of hours. We set the mimumum to go to Nationals at 35 hours can go to Nationals but we also have it so if space becomes an issue the team members with the most hours can go. It seems to work for our team. It also gives our team members that little extra incentive.
I know this won't help you this year but maybe it might next year.

GOOD LUCK
Joe

[shyra1353]

Here's something you could try next year. The way our team works out who can go to Nationals is everybody gets a "hours" card and it is there respsonsiblity to keep track of it and have one of our mentors sign off that they were there for X number of hours. We set the mimumum to go to Nationals at 35 hours can go to Nationals but we also have it so if space becomes an issue the team members with the most hours can go. It seems to work for our team. It also gives our team members that little extra incentive.
I know this won't help you this year but maybe it might next year.

GOOD LUCK
Joe

my view on this is that hours and producivity are two different things. someone can be at a meeting for 6 hours on a Saturday where you just sit there and going to a meeting for 3 hours on a weeknight where you do a lot. I think that the card idea is an awesome idea, and at the same time you should right down what you did for those hours. even if all you did was sit at the computer, programming, and didnt make much progress in the code because you had to delete some stuff and then rewrite (so to a mechanical person .. it seems like you did nothing) or you were correcting simple things that might slow the robot down .. i think that should be written too ...

[Joe J.]

my view on this is that hours and producivity are two different things. someone can be at a meeting for 6 hours on a Saturday where you just sit there and going to a meeting for 3 hours on a weeknight where you do a lot. I think that the card idea is an awesome idea, and at the same time you should right down what you did for those hours. even if all you did was sit at the computer, programming, and didnt make much progress in the code because you had to delete some stuff and then rewrite (so to a mechanical person .. it seems like you did nothing) or you were correcting simple things that might slow the robot down .. i think that should be written too ...


I see what you mean about the diffrence between hours and producivity. We do try to give everyone at the meetings something to do like makeing buttons, practiceing to be the human player or looking up parts online or in catalogs and that seems to work. shyra1353, I like your idea about writeing out what people did for their hours. I'll recommend that to my team. Thanks for your input.

[Joe J.]

Our biggest problem has nothing to do with the robot but rather with the parents. You see over the summer some of the parents decided that they wanted to be more involved with our robotics team. This is perfectly understandable and we even welcomed this change. We ended up creating a beast, so to speak. They decided that it would be good to collect dues from the students at a cost of $40 a piece. They also decided that these due would be "optional." Now eight months later their new definition of optional means required. Now our Vice President doesn't have $40 just lying around readily available to pay his dues (which are now $50 because they are late). The worst part is that they actually told him that he could not be on the team any longer. Lucky for us he refuses to leave. This is just a small taste of what our parents are trying to pull.

If anyone has any ideas on how to handle this kind of thing, because most of our team is fed up with it, PLEASE let me know.


Well, since that was posted we've been discussing some options within our team, and found that it was a product of miscommunication on all sides. The biggest lesson to be learned from this, and one that I think all teams need to be aware of, is that communication is key. Not just student to student, or student to mentor, but all around, including parents. Our booster club has done a great deal to help us, and to help take some of the monetary load off of our sponsors, as well as to take administrative tasks dealing with such things as travel away from our engineering mentors so that they can concentrate on what they came to do in the first place: to mentor us. Hopefully we, and others, can learn from our mistake, and keep in touch with everyone on their team!

Steve
Team 862 President

[Mike Heinowski]

found that it was a product of miscommunication on all sides. The biggest lesson to be learned from this, and one that I think all teams need to be aware of, is that communication is key.

Steve is right, alot of what we thought were problems were just miscommuniations among team members and our parents.

[Leslie]

OK personally I don´t know what you´re all discussing,seriously.
We all have enough of our own probs to deal with, why spread the ungratefulness? go see a psychiatrist, honestly
I mean this isn´t supposed to be offensive, I´m simply stating that there is a time and place to complain...Chief Delphi is NOT that place.

[Dick Linn]

As long as the thread doesn't degenerate to the point of whining or vindictive griping, I see no reason why it doesn't belong on the forums. Perhaps sharing the experiences of different teams can be useful. I've already found a couple of good pieces of advice here.

[Mike Heinowski]

I've already found a couple of good pieces of advice here.

I have also.

[Crop-Circles]

Chances are, any problem you're having, be it with the robot or your team, some other team has dealt with it. Sometimes people get upset and do or say very rash things to team members. I think that this is a great place to talk to people who have had these problems before you do something you'll regret. As long as you don't directly attack someone, I don't see what's wrong with this. Chief Delphi is not the place to bash teams or people and it is not the place to complain. No one is saying it is. It is, however, a place to seek help.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

OK personally I don´t know what you´re all discussing,seriously.


Leslie,
These are real problems for these teams and they are just looking for help. This will get worse as we get closer to ship, it always does. Time gets short, people are working into the wee hours, frustration is running high so tempers natually flare. Make a pact right now to not take anything too seriously, realize it will happen, know that after ship all can be forgiven and forgotten. Ask for help when you feel the need and know that there are many other teams that are gong through the same things every year.

[Rich Kressly]

Al is on the money here. I see it and feel it every year.

Example: Late last night we confirmed what we already knew - we have a serious weight issue with our robot. Everyone put their heads together and came up with ideas. Invariably these ideas will be differing, cost us time we don't have, and push people who are already very tired and drained. Even when done in the best of ways it's a very stressful time. You could certainly feel the tension among the students and adults.

This very scenario my friends IS what FIRST is all about. Robots aside, how we handle these situations, communicate with one another, resolve differences and potential conflict, and overcome obstacles defines us all as people.

Remember the big picture and have fun.