[waialua359]

This looks like a great thread in the making.

Instead of responding, I'll just say that it would take me a day and a tour of our facilities to explain how we do it in a little rural town, on a small piece of rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Team Organization IMO is the single most important foundation to a successful team or one that is on its way to being successful. Besides having the common construction, documentation, and administrative team, I'd add construction support, business manager, sustainability plan, and outreach as other important areas vital to team success.

How do you (and/or your team):

a) organize your team in and out of build season?
b) ensure that a student never has to ask, "what is that?" or "what does that do?" or "how does it work?"
c) schedule effectively?

I've learned in recent years that spending the time and energy to find mentors and experts in the above mentioned areas, instead of trying to do it all by yourself, will bring great success to your team. I see so many rookie teams where the teacher does 90% of all the work done to run a program.
Organize your team as a year rounded team.
Establish communication protocols between subgroups, weekly meetings, etc.
Schedule with an end in mind.