[archiver]

Posted by Dodd Stacy, Engineer on team #95, Lebanon Robotics Team, from Lebanon High School and CRREL/CREARE.

Posted on 4/8/99 8:42 AM MST


In Reply to: 6 week fig leaf posted by Joe Johnson on 4/8/99 4:06 AM MST:



Raul, I'm with you on everything you say, BUT the devil in the mirror is the one we all have to wrestle with in all these questions of balance. Six weeks strains the limits of the possible, given the sophistication of many of these incredible robots we're trying to make. There is no question of balance - everything else in our lives takes a back seat.

And that brings me to fig leaves. The six week build period of FIRST really stresses the relationship of the engineers/coaches with our employers. Maybe the 'big sponsor' companies can and do openly assign a team of engineers to the project for six weeks during work hours (I doubt this is true, but we little teams often grumble about rumors of it), but most of us have to just fit it in somehow. And the somehow is that our work suffers, our clients suffer, and our employers suffer. We may bargain, explicitly or otherwise, that 'it's only for six weeks,' but Joe is dead on that this is a fantasy, and it's a hard one to maintain. I suspect there are a number of us who feel like we're really pushing our companies' ability to look the other way when we do this for a second or third year, or more. This is not good for the future of FIRST, it's not good for our companies, and it's not good for us.

Frankly, I think the six week pressure cooker is a carryover from the structure of Woody's design classes, and it doesn't serve a constructive purpose in the FIRST context. Yes, college students need no sleep, run full tilt on carbohydrate junk, have no relationships or other responsibilities, and need to learn that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger (and smarter). Been there, done that, and I'd like to see from FIRST a little more professional respect for the value of our time and our contribution to achieving FIRST's goals. Going at 200% for six weeks and then sitting on our hands for four weeks, rousing for a weekend Regional, then again sitting for five weeks, to go to the Nationals is an arbitrary jerk around. This is the stuff of burnout. My hat is off, and off again, to Dean and Woody for making FIRST go, but it requires the sustained help of the current thousand or so engineer/coaches to make it grow. I feel strongly that this six week business is an area that definitely needs reconsideration for the future interests of FIRST.

Guess I better go take a cold shower, while our bot sits in the box in Orlando and I have all this time on my hands.

Dodd