Everything above is all good stuff.
Before build season: teach some basic physics, engineering, and programming concepts. My
recent mini-classes are a good place to start for the basics of overall and drive system design. Also have someone download and become familiar enough with the
JVN calculator that [s]he's ready to use it by kickoff.
Have someone (again preferably several or many) review Karthik's videos on game strategy and top-level robot design, many of which are linked from the first post of
this thread, and newer versions of which are searchable on CD.
FIND SPONSORS! Sponsors are the hardest to come by of the three required resources for an FRC team. The three required resources are sponsors (dollars/build space/construction), mentors (expertise), and students (those who are being inspired, and hopefully doing most of the work).
Early weeks after kickoff: Rule #1 of kickoff is that
the kickoff video lies. Read the rules, and develop your strategies in accordance with your understanding of the
rules, not the video. Prioritize your functions. Prioritize your functions.
Prioritize your functions. Did I mention to prioritize your functions? A robot that does two things 90% of the time will be far more successful than a robot that does nine things 20% of the time. Also, the more things you try to do, the more likely you are to wind up resorting to desperate measures to shed weight in the last few days of build season; sometimes the results are disastrous. Pick a strategy and stick with it. If you start to build a robot that does not support your "agreed" strategy, regroup and figure out authoritatively whether you have changed your strategy, or whether you will return to the original development path.
During Build:
- Watch the calendar. Items in the calendar are closer than they appear.
- Remember your strategy. If your design is going outside of your design strategy, re-think this as a team to decide whether you will stick with the original strategy or make the shift.
- Make sure you have someone (preferably several someones, but not likely, especially for a rookie team) who reads all the rules, keeps up with the Q&A, and generally monitors the conversation on Chief Delphi.
- Have someone (probably someone other than the person for the previous bullet) pay attention to all of the administrative e-mail from FIRST. It mostly looks like waffle, but there's a lot of necessary info buried in it. Have someone detail-oriented (maybe even OCD) review these e-mails.
- Understand what you can and cannot do between stop build day and your first competition. Figure out as a team how much you plan to do during this interval; teams that win events generally do more rather than less.
- Prepare for success. Wouldn't it be horrendous to qualify for world championships, but be unable to go because you don't have the money? IT HAS HAPPENED TO MANY TEAMS.