[GeorgeTheEng]

This has been an interesting discussion to read through and I have to put in some input from my own experiences this season. My students have stuggled with one or two engineers this year who are new. Some of the kids and I had a heart to heart chat about why and it drifted to how my approach to working with them is different then the new engineer's approach.

At the most basic level, I treat them as adults. When I discuss an option or design I don't discount any points of view. I think whatever decision is made, there is a strong desire in anyone to feel heard and respected.

I will admit that at times, I do strongly suggest or force certain decisions. And with a VERY limited number of decisions insist on specific decisions. But I do a couple of things. I'm a mentor so you can claim my decision is based on experience and that may be true. But am I serving the students well if I make statements like "this is the decision..." or "this is the way it is going to be..." without putting my reasoning behind it? I don't think so. I think a mentors approach should generally be help and direct the student's decision so that they understand why I want something do a specific way. A Phrase like "Wouldn't it be safer to run the wires inside the arm rather because another robot could accidentally run into us and rip them out in their current location" does more to help a student understand then "we're running the wires down the inside." It also keeps the door open for additional suggestions. And as engineer who works for a company with a strong peer review process, I know that you always need to be open to suggestion. In addition, by asking questions and leading the students can be guided through the thought process that we've spent many years developing.

Our experience as mentors is only beneficial to the students if they are allowed to understand the rationale behind a decision.

The team is both mentors and students. We all put in lots of hours, blood, sweat, and tears into the hunk of metal and electronics that goes on the field. If a team communicates effectively and all opinions are respected, then everyone from the student to the mentor to the CEO of the major sponsors should be able to take pride in what ends up on the field.

I challenge teams to define whether the season was successful NOW. The performance of the robot, and the awards should be secondary to the experience that ends officially in the next few hours when FedEx loads your crate into it's truck. I for one, will say that Team 87 was successful.