Jengles,
The first step to having a successful build season is planning; this sounds like you are under way with this. To be honest, I believe this is the first time I have read that particular schedule that FIRST has provided. The overall general layout is a great launching point. I will share some our own experiences and a few pointers from other teams. Just as a disclaimer, there is no universal formula for build season; you have to find what works for you. We are here to help you learn though.
Our team has imposed a shorter build season on ourselves for the past two seasons. In 2012 we wanted a 5 week robot; in 2013 we wanted a 4 week robot. Neither of these were met, but allowed for some slide in the schedule. We try to front load the build season as much as possible, for several reasons.
Week 1 has a few main outputs - the most important is the "Requirement Analysis" - and is often referred to as the Analysis Phase on our team. On the Saturday of Kickoff we have a team meeting, starting at 8:36am and runs typically until ~4:00pm. Once the game is released we start reading the rules and identifying how FIRST allows us to score points. As an entire team we probably spend about 2 hours doing this; however, we know that at the end of the exercise everyone has read the rules. We will then reenact the game play with students and mentors serving as robots with a specific set of characteristics. Other teams, 33 for example, have used a scaled tabletop version with bagels before - be creative and have fun. then before the students leave we have a small and quick brainstorming session. There are many different methods to brainstorm as a group, For us, a team of about 40, we have typically found it best to use the "6-3-5" method (or a modified version). Essentially you break up the team into groups of 6 team members (mentors and students intermixed) each with a sheet of paper. Each member will then write/draw/sketch/doodle/etc. 3 ideas on the paper. The paper will then be rotated 5 times throughout the group with each person adding to/iterating/modifying the designs that are already on the paper in front of them. This is usually done in about 25-30 minutes. Some other things happen in the background on kickoff as well.
On Sunday we meet to discuss the "Game Level Objectives" (GLO). This is an analysis of how we think the game will be played. Some examples of previous year's GLO (2012 I believe?) operational requirements, score 12pts in auto, score 21pts in tele-op, shoot from anywhere vs shoot from key, balance every match, go over bump. Some functional/performance requirements, ground clearance, center of gravity, shoot range, accuracy, game piece acquisition speed (lesson learned from 2012), rate of scoring. This is the main thing that happens Sunday, other than parents and a few other volunteers will construct game/field elements. This is important so you can start to see and experiment with some of the interactions.
Monday the drive system requirements are locked down - design can be started at a high level. By Friday all other sub-systems (climber, shooter, intake, storage, etc) requirements shall be defined. This 'should' be documented and available for everyone on the team to reference. It is a living document that can and should be updated as the season progresses. On Saturday we review all of the requirements created and established.
Throughout the week we are working on concepts for manipulating the game pieces. The earlier you can get your hands on the game pieces, the better. There are always small things that are overlooked conceptually. The sooner you can identify these and start to develop solutions the better. The big thing in 2013 was jamming of frisbees in the robot.
I will look for the presentation that the mentors are briefed on - it is then their responsibility to further disseminate the information and making sure their students understand the process. I will also look for our preliminary requirements document that we created in 2013. I know I have them both somewhere...
A great resource and another vantage point is
Karthik's Running a FIRST Team presentation. The timeline starts on slide 15.
Please feel free to ask any questions. I will be happy to further explain any of the steps.