Quote:
Originally Posted by safiq10
Now the all the girlson the team approached me asking to be on engineering and programming. So we have no one left on design and we have 2 people left in buisness.
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So what do you think should we switch into this new structure or should we continue to use what we have or should we try something completely new. Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance!
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The following is my opinion only. Take as you will.
Looking at your current structure, you seem to have committed one of the classic blunders (namely, stereotypical assignment of roles), as well as not having enough flexibility to adapt when your teammates decide that the previous item was, in fact, a blunder. It's good that you've recognized that as an issue, and are working to figure out how to deal with it.
Your proposed structure--everyone working on everything, at least for some time--ought to work out pretty well. And here's why.
1) The entire team works on X for a bit, then transitions. That way, the entire team knows what's going on with X. If you need some extra focus on X, you can pick out just about any team member and they'll know most of what's going on.
2) Because the entire team works on all areas, every person on the team has a chance to figure out where they fit and what they're good at. Let's say that someone discovers during the preseason that they're really good at graphic design--they're now on the design team. (Not that they can't work on the robot, just that if there's a design item, they get the opportunity to hone their design skills.) Conversely, you also find out what people aren't good at/don't want to do, so you can either give them more practice or quietly redirect them. So maybe you do end up with the current structure, but you get the people that actually want to be in each group in each group.
3) The business work probably shouldn't take the full weekly time every week, which allows for plenty of training time across all areas of the team that need it. If not, take a couple of weeks and focus on training.
4) It becomes a lot easier to spin off a small group for a couple of hours to focus on a specific project--this can be an invaluable ability when something isn't working right. The reason it's easier is the amount of practice you've been getting at doing just that.
As a note, when I was a student, the entire team worked on the robot--or on fundraising--or on whatever else needed doing as the students were available. It wasn't uncommon for a small group to break off for a few hours to work on non-robot items, or on developing backup plans in case of designs not working. Technically, we were on subteams, but mostly that was "this is what I want to specialize in".
Again, the preceding is my opinion. Whatever works best for you guys is the way you should actually go; recognizing that what you have isn't working out right means that asking for suggestions is a good idea.