[HumblePie]

Excellent discussion here. I tend to side with the folks who believe that the work will expand to fill the available space. My son was a senior on the team, and I wanted very much for our team to make our first trip to CMP. Some might say (have said) I was obsessive. We finished the shooter just prior to our Week 1 competition, bringing in 28 pounds withholding, and tweaked the shooter on the practice bot between week 1 and 3. Well, it worked, resulting in a Week 3 win at Peachtree (Thanks 4026, 4080), but feeding issues remained. So, then we embarked on a completely new shooter for CMP. That meant a solid 4 months of FRC. Had a great time at CMP, and would love to go back. Question is, can my home life handle this level of commitment?

If the withholding allowance were held to a more modest 10 pounds, perhaps it would have saved us from ourselves (or the team from ME). We could still "tweak" some subsystems (like feeding), but the stretch goal of an entire new shooter would be out of reach. BTW, the latest shooter revision was easier to feed, but less consistent shooting, so maybe we learned a lesson there?

On a slightly unrelated note, why does Bag Day have to be a Tuesday? If it's truly a six week build, make it on a Saturday. If not, just make it a full 7 week build and bag on a Saturday night. The students won't have school the next day, and the Mentors won't be zombies at their jobs (or have to burn vacation) the next day.