[Chris Hibner]

I tell this to everyone I can: the majority of contention and anger come as a result of a mismatch of expectations at a given situation. I mean this for all of life - not just FIRST. For example, if person A expects person B to do something at 4 p.m. and person B expects they're supposed to do it at 4:30. Person A finally gets angry at 4:15 since person isn't doing what they're supposed to do, so A does B's job and gets angry. Then person B gets angry at person A for not allowing them to do what they were supposed to do. They both walk away upset with each other.

My point is that some teams expect certain things (like strategy discussions, how to handle mid-match strategy / interaction changes, etc.) to be done one way, while other teams expect it a different way. If two teams' expectations match, everything is great. If they each have their own way of how they think it's supposed to be handled, then the other team is (insert your negative statement here).

Here are some of my expectations that I have built up over my years of doing FIRST:

- If a team is vying for a top spot in the rankings, they control the strategy discussion during qualification matches. Let them know what makes your robot tick, and what makes it awful (in other words, what make you perform your best, and what really screws you up), but expect the top team to have a plan to give themselves the best chance to keep their top ranking. (We always defer strategy to other teams in this situation, because that's what we expect.)
- Yelling during a match is going to happen. Things are very loud and time is tight. Economy of words is a must. Don't take insult from a yelled, short statement.
- Coaches are going to talk (yell, really - but not in a negative way) at each other during a match. It shouldn't be unexpected for one coach to run to another team's coach and yell "get to the bridge! we need you at the bridge now!!" As I said, strategy changes are going to happen.
- Teams have a lot to do at the event, and not a lot of time to do it. If a team says, "we don't have time right now - let me know where I can meet you", it's not because they're jerks. I'm sure your team has been strapped for time at one point or another as well.
- Some teams like to talk strategy really early. Some teams wait until the queue. Try not to be angry if a team does it differently than what you do.
- Don't bother a team while their robot is on the field (or immediately afterward) unless it's REALLY important.

There are many more, but I can't think right now.


I'm sure many people read this and think what a jerk I am. Probably because they have different expectations than me.