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How is your team run?
In random conversations with people, I have heard that some teams act like a family and treat the other members like a family, so the team is like a family,
on the other hand some teams keep thing professional and treat each other like a co-worker, thus making the team seem like a large buisness, or corporation. So, how does your team run? |
our team is more like a family, but some are trying to make it buisness like. It is only our 2nd year with our current sponsor and we laid down some groundwork this year and we have an engineer that wants to completely controll the students, and 4 others who like it how it is. Its caused some problems, but we'll get through it like a family would, forgive and forget. We aren't going to sue anyone buisness style ;)
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Our team is currently being run like a business, but to tell you the truth, it's not working out very well, last year, it was like a family, and it was a lot better.
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Our team is run like a big family.
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Our team, on paper, is run like a business.
In realitly theres only about 20 people who really show up for the build sessions, and they are so close it might as well function like a family. The business aspect really only applies to the fund raising group, which I suppose is the right mentality for them to have. -Andy A. |
The Business Side of our team is run... well like a business. That includes: Events, Sterring comitee, Budget Comitee and All hands meetings. Before the six weeks we run everything like a corporation so we can weed out the people who really dont want to be there. During the six weeks we run The build like a family everybody knows evrebody elses name and we usually go out to somewhere after we finish the build every Fri. or so. By regionals were a well oiled machine thatknow every thing about everybody else on the team.
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A very dysfunctional family.
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i suppose my team is a mix of the two. we act all business like before the parents, teachers, and our moderator and sometimes during meetings (it's not always granted to happen that way... too many random things go on). but things need to get done after all.;)
in all actuality, we are a family. a lot of the new recruites are personal close friends and those from last year have formed a bond. a dysfunctional family sounds about right. just don't tell our moderator that.:D |
Mixture??
the Baxter Bomb Squad works differently. We are run based on athority. The more knowledgeable or the more expierence u ahve the more athority you have. But we manage to maintain a very open relaxed atmosphere where everyone's opinions count. So we are different from any faimly or buisness i've ever seen.
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We want to be one big family but 1 person on our team is kind of taking the fun that we used to have.
Last year we had a great team. Everyone got along and I loved being on the team. Now today we have to fill out grade sheets every 2 weeks, the students dont have much power on the team at all, and if we talk to the "dictator" he gets mad and has a dumb reason for it. Wheres the fun in that? |
2000 - Family. Totally. That year rocked ... it was awesome.
2001 - Family feud. It was no fun, everyone hated everyone else ... yeah, don't do that. 2002 - Business. We did well, and it was a good year. Still not as good as 2000, though - but at least no one was fighting! 2003 - The jury's still out on this year ... we're waiting to see how we'll be running things. Hopefully, we can get back to being a family again. On a personal note, I liked it better when the team was run as a family. I wasn't on the team then (my rookie year was 2001), but even seeing the team from the outside ... and hearing the stories about that year ... it was fun. People enjoyed themselves. I want, so badly, for our team to be like a family again -- I could care less if we placed last at every event we went to, so long as everyone was learning and having fun ... that's what it's all about. Having fun and learning. **chucks $0.02 into a bucket** - Katie |
was run like a family
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like a family.....
Team 71 is run like a family -- of course, Mr. Bill is the father and the final decision-maker. But we are like a family year-round, both in and out of robotics. We go bowling, go to the movies, have movie nights at people's houses, and generally just hang out together as a group. Alumni are included too, which is great!
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The team I was on last year was like a family with our mentors as the parentals and the team leader as the oldest child. Our students leader had authority over most anything that happened because he the only veteran of FIRST. This year my team is again a family with the student leader as the authority again because I"m the only veteran builder.
How do you other teams chose your leaders? |
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Last year was EXTREMELY DYSFUNCTIONAL!!! This year is dysfunctional, but improving. Moving towards more businesslike. |
Business
Like a business....no comment.
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I think that some engineers forget that this is all about the kids...:(
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I think some adults forget its all about the students.....
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Aww Vin, you hurt my feelings!!! I think about you!! LOL!!
Family but with a business flair! |
Just to let you know that the post that was made in on Sunday only reflects my opinion and no other members of Team 93 or Plexus. I apoligize for any people that I might have made upset.
I still hope we can get the team the way it was... with some exeptions. |
DJ
We run like a business. Our subteams model business departments, i.e. mechanical, electrical, software, cad, marketing, animation, fund raising, playing field, strategy, web design. Students can then get a better idea of where they would like to jump in and generally will change teams from year to year to get more experience. Business professionals can then invite them to work to see what they do and get a better idea of what the individual careers are about. (yes we are lucky to have many adults in different areas of responsibilities) Students pick one main team they would like to work on and if they can fit it in they can participate in other teams as well. Since we are getting close to kickoff, let me say that all team members (including as many parents as want to come) are by default, on brainstorming the first week. Some members are also working on prototypes and others working on field construction. We strive to have students do all the work throughout the season but do work side by side to get the job done. We hope that if you stop by our pit, you will see students working on the robot with adults looking over their shoulder. Good Luck All |
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We run it like a business
We have a central core of planners including the Student representitive (President) and advisors, underneath that we have sub teams dividing each crutial part of cunstruction and team assecories, each sub-team has a captain that reports to the student president, each sub-tam has one advisor. -Big Steve
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The T3 Family
Well, I would have to say that Truck Town is run quite unusually. For all of you out there who don’t know how an out of school team works, we have to apply for this team. Each year, there are about 50 new people who apply, and 10 re-apply from the previous year. The application consists of questions used in interviews for GM employees. After an interview, application, and proposal are completed, our advisors decide who will be on the team, and there decision is approved by consensus of the Head advisory board.
Having said all this, it would appear that our team is in fact, a sect of GM its' self, and is a business. This is very true. We at Truck Town conduct ourselves in a responsible manner whenever needs be. We meet in GM's Truck Design headquarters on Pontiac Michigan, where we have our own crib with out tools, materials, computers, office supplies, robot components; basically all the things needed to run a high caliber team. Whatever we do not have in our crib, we go find it in the mockup portion of GM. We also have a full sized playing field for practice. Many people have heard that we build 2 robots, so we have one to practice with, we used this robot to start our division of Lady Thunder; an unprecedented thing in the world of F.I.R.S.T. However, this team could not function as anything less than a family. It’s hard to believe that a team of 20 students from 11 different schools could work together so well with a small group of parental and GM advisors. We come together each year before the season starts during our fund raising. Each returning member of the team must mentor a Lego team with another student, present a robot demonstration at a local elementary school, raise money in a fund raiser, provide community service hours, and work events at Ford Field. I am very proud to say that our team does an incredible amount of fund raising, and have earned enough this year to attend 3 regional events, as well as nationals. We will be attending the Arizona, Midwest, and Great Lakes regionals. The students on this team couldn’t be better friends. We hang out on the weekends, play paintball, watch movies, and help each other with our homework; basically everything a team of 10 guys and 10 girls can do! We all know and love each other as a family, and are willing to do a favor for another team member at any instance. I would personally like to thank every past and present person who has been involved with Truck Town Robotics. You have truly changed my life and given me experience and knowledge and friendship that I will never lose. Very Sincerely, Alexander Steven McGee |
Another thing, which could be an addition to this question:
Do you and your teammates treat each others like co-workers at a buisness or factory (like once in awhile going out to a bar (for example :)) after work, or do you treat them like a family member (that you guys do everything together) ? |
I'd say we are like a family (slightly dysfunctional, but who would have it any other way?) And I'd say most of the members on the team I would say I treat not like family or colleagues, but friends. Except maybe one, who I do everything with...
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were new, so this will carry little weight, but here it is:
Teacher 1st member/ co founder student 4 officers: Me, as lead designer someone in charge of manufacturing someone in charge of securing facilities someone in charge of our website. then other people who can glom onto any division they want to . . . . . . informal, tho, maybe in the middle ground (#%#%#%#%, won't let me vote for both . . . don't worry though, ill get the better of those radio buttons eventually!) |
We run our family like a business.
Ahem... we always start off very well organized, with subteams, subgroups, and team lists all neatly written down. Each subteam (e.g Mobility) has one or two leaders who have experience. Within one week into the building period, we've forgotten all that. New members have the chance to shine and people help other subteams; we turn into what is being described here as a family. So in theory, we're a business, but in practice... not a chance. That's not to say our way isn't good--it is--but it really doesn't turn out to be what you'd expect, especially as a rookie. |
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AMEN mike! --- Mother said it was just ziffalicious, wouldn't you agree? |
Well...
With only about 10 team members, and this being my first year with FIRST, and my team, I don't know how our team is supposed to be run. On paper, it's set up like a business, with a table, and certain people with different "jobs". I've got 2, and that's Chief Engineering, and Electrical. Sometimes I'm told to do much more, like programming of "EDUbot" as we call it, but I don't understand PBASIC a bit.
Whether we'll get more members is anyone's guess, but I hope we do soon, since I can't handle all of this work! |
I am very interested in getting help on this matter. We are a very new rookie team. We had our very first meeting last night. I wasn't sure how many team members we were going to get. With the shortened time period, and not having anything tangible like a previous robot to show, we were facing a challenge of getting the word out. Well, over 60 people showed up. I'm still talleying the team list, but it looks like over 80 have expressed an interest in our FIRST team. We have 38 high school students, 7 university students, 33 industry mentors and parents, and 3 educators. I was hoping to grow the program into this size over the next few years. With it starting out this big, it will present a huge organizational challenge. Did anyone else start big like this? It seems that a business structure would be the best to handle this situation. The family mode sounds good for the working subteams, but coordination of people's schedules and tasks seems to fit better in the business mode.
I'm really very encouraged and thrilled that we have stirred up so much interest. FIRST is definitely filling a need in our community. This is a better problem to have than too few, so I'm definitely not complaining. The most important goal we have this year is to do our best, learn a ton, and have it be the best thing anyone has been involved with. Poor organization can kill this goal by getting people frustrated and not working efficiently and effectively. |
The first thing to do is assign leadership roles. You absolutely must have a person in overall charge. They don't have to DO anything, at least not if they can get somebody else to do it. Their job is making sure that everyone else is doing what they are supposed to, and that everything is covered. They also need to be the guiding light for policy decisions.
You need a technical lead. This person makes the final decision on design and implementation matters. ie if you can't decide between two types of gripper, this is the person that makes the call. Let your technical lead organize the build stuff as he or she sees fit. We beak it down into Vehicle, Manipulator, Electrical, Programming and Systems. The next most important person is the administrator. Most real engineers are lousy at this, otherwise they would be managers. But you need somebody to make sure all of the travel arrangements and "other stuff" like meals during build or whatever gets taken care of. But really the most important thing is attitude. YOU MUST WORK TOGETHER. We have a rule on our team, once a decision is made, we don't revisit it or second guess. We do put a lot of care into making important decisions, but better to take an extra day or two than to go for three weeks down the wrong path. Sometimes educators believe ideas are precious, and that every idea should be developed especially if the self-esteem of a student who came up with the idea is percived to be at risk. Engineers only tend to regard ideas that are practical and further the project as precious. This has been known to lead to conflict within the team. Indeed engineers often get passionate about the "right" way to do something. It is important that these things be managed well. Maybe a student comes up with a great idea on how to accomplish a task, but it is build week 5 and implementing it will cause you to undo everything you've done since week 3 and take until week 8 to finish. Sorry, there is no week 8, better to stay with what you have. Most people will be OK with this if it is explained properly. No reason you can't try it out in the off-season if they are really adamant about trying it. If you can manage the inevitable conflicts by saying "We are a team. We will get through this. We will do it together". Then you will have a great team no matter what and people will come back for more. If not, then you will probably wind up as at least a couple of teams, or worse half a team. While FIRST really wants us to expand the number of teams, I don't think doing it by spliting existing teams is what they have in mind. To quote Mrs Chalsma (Team 362, the Muses) "There is no I in TEAM" Keep this in mind, treat one another graciously, always assume people are doing their best (even when they fail miserably), and you will find that things kind of come together on their own. The trick will be managing the adults, the kids will pretty much follow them. At least that's been our experience, |
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We run like a family business--
There are about 10 different subgroups to the student team which essentially report to me. I have several college age members who are my right hands and who help keep the younger kids on task. Our engineering group is also a separate team organized on their own and interacting with the student group. Engineers take precedence over school on the construction aspects. School takes precedence on the PR and gaming aspects The TEAM aspect took us a while to work out. Everybody works on something and is responsible for a part of the whole. We have 48 kids on varsity roster now and that will be culled down to 30 by the time the regionals come up. Generally I place the kids where they end up based on my observations of them at work during the season and off season. For example-many say they want to be drivers but few work to earn the position. Considering that the fate of a $30K project can rest on the decisions of one student I make very sure that we look over the candidates carefully. There is also some hierarchy by age, but kids who are helpful, responsible and committed rapidly move up despite their age. But team 25 considers itself a family on all levels. We have a lot of fun and we have our differences. Our BMS engineers are like big brothers to the kids and we all have a great time together. Our parents are also involved and taking more responsibility in team operations than ever. And I get mad at some kids and let them know that too!! check out http://www.geocities.com/raiderrobot...boPhotos1.html for a breakdown of team operations in 2001- it might be of interest WC |
Something I still don't know about the team I want to be on.
It sucks when you have to sell a house before you can move to a brand new one you already own :( |
My team is about 32 students + 5 teachers + 5 former students acting as mentors.
We have two overall leaders who manage the team, the money, sponsors, mentors, etc. We have a leader of the engineering section(me) and a leader of the media section. We also have a small PR section. Engineering (design and build everything) 1 leader (me) 2 assitant leaders (fill in when I'm away, greater responsibilities) 12 regular members 2 CADers Media (web page + logo) 1 leader 6 members Public Relations (banners, posters, fundraising, press releases) 1 leader 5 members Our team has a definite hierarchy but is very friendly and almost family like. Overall leaders- Mom and Dad (I won't assign which =) Heading leaders- Uncles and Aunts Mentors- Family councilors Teachers- Grandparents- They help out and supervise but let us do the work. Regular members- The kiddies |
We have big fights like a family no one intervenes, but the people involved just work it out themselves. Plus I don't think we could be reserved or business like....just not in our team's nature...
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