[Jacob Bendicksen]

From the top down, here's what our leadership structure looks like:

Our co-presidents oversee everything that happens on the team, while also having managerial positions in their own departments. This year it's two fabrication managers and myself (outreach/marketing/Chairman's), so technical and non-technical aspects of the team are covered.

Up to four students manage each department, with some managing more than one. Fabrication is the only department with four managers, and that's just because it's so big. All the others only have 2, max. These are often determined by seniority (though exceptions can and have been made), and each department operates with a fair bit of autonomy. Once the CAD is done, electrical wires it as they see fit, and software programs it as best they can with input from the drive team. Chairman's, especially, has a lot of autonomy. As long as we get the submission in on time, the technical leads don't really get in the way (though we do the presentation for the whole team and have everyone look at the essay).

About 1/4 of the team is involved as a manager or co-president. Everyone else self-organizes into the department(s) that they're most interested in, and during the fall it's their job to show that they're competent enough to be on the team for build season. This is accomplished through BunnyBots, a fall competition that we host and run where each team builds a whole new robot before build season. We have rookies build, wire, and program our BunnyBots, so that when build season rolls around everyone can contribute in a meaningful way.

As far as coordination goes, the lab is open every day after school, and members are expected to show up at least twice a week during build season (though many come in far, far more often). The whole team attends weekly lunch meetings, and managers have another weekly meeting where we discuss leadership skills and coordinate between the departments.