Quote:
Originally Posted by hauki
I am a new engineering mentor (started in Sept) and would like some advice.
If the build team is totally getting off track what should be the mentors role? I've tried to influence them to get back on track with little success. I've worked in the high tech industry for 30 years and have seen many projects fail. I feel at this point the team is not going to get a robot built. Should I just let them fail and call it a learning experience? Is it my role to build the robot for them? I don't think this is correct.
Is a mentor part of the team? I was told by an angry\stressed student that mentors are not part of the team. My view is that we are all on the same team but have different roles to support. I think I am there to help\encourage\voice concerns if the project is slipping?
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I'm a student, and this is my first year really actively participating in a Build Season, but I've learned a lot over the past 4 weeks about what it's like to work as a team.
To answer the first question, I'm certain there are teams who fail and end up not showing up at the regionals. However, letting them fail, I believe, means making 6 weeks of hard work, effort, and money worthless. Instead, push them to work harder; provide them with tools and resources to build the robot, but do not design the robot for them (this just defeats the purpose of FIRST). For instance, you could have access to CNC machines, and have parts manufactured by that method, but rarely is the design for the parts done by the mentor alone.
As for the team member who believes that the mentor is not part of the team... Well, there was one quote from one of my mentors: "My job here is to ask questions". I agree: we are a student-run team, and I do believe the program was built for the newer generations when they have to take the lead. However, if we were struggling, my bet is that the mentors will assist us in the build process, because nothing will be accomplished if we are lost and there's no one other than the mentors to guide us.
Also keep in mind, you can take 30 lbs of replacement parts to the regional events, so I think this can be used to your advantage if something on the robot is not finished in time. Keep encouraging your students to keep going and not give up. If they're stuck, take charge. Ask what's going on, have a plan, do something to work around these issues.
Well, that's kind of all I have to say. Once again, this is coming from a high school student, but I do hope this helps, and I wish your team a successful build season.