Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber
Ok, I was curious if we as a community had any standard definition of success. Would there be any benefit in developing one?
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Well, let's think about 3 scenarios:
1. A team driven to set ambitious goals to be on a winning alliance at a regional and to win at least one other award within a certain time frame. The plan is when that is achieved then they move their goals towards being on two or more winning alliances because they are planning on attending 2 or more competitions. And they focus on bringing home the RCA and the WFFA. Then they move their goals to achieve winning multiple Chairmans at regional level and focus on winning the CCA - the Championship Chairman's. They also focus on winning the WFA. This team plots out their goals on a timeline, and strategy is a big part of how they go about achieving these goals over a set number of years.
2. A team is under the leadership of a teacher who views the FRC build season and competition as an opportunity for the students to learn and to better prepare themselves for their futures. If the team garners any awards or is a part of a winning alliance at any of the competitions, then the team feels that it has surpassed its goals.
3. Then you have a team who consistently receives the kit of parts a couple of weeks after teams on the mainland do and has to get it built in the same timeframe as everyone else does. This team has to meet financial demands for the team to be able to travel long distances to any competitions outside of its country, state, or region, including the occasional trip to the Championship. If the robot is built in time for shipping, it is a good thing. If the team is consistently set financially, that is an even better thing.
These are 3 scenarios and 3 approaches to competing in an FRC season. These are hypothetical teams but reflect some of the approaches and challenges that teams may have. And there are many many more, including combinations of these. So how do we set a standard definition of success?
Another thought - sustainability. Concerns are and have been consistently made here in CD regarding the fast growth of FRC teams. There is also concern regarding the sustainability of veteran teams and the new teams that are growing in areas where the resources have not made themselves readily available or even identifiable. This is the current concern. It's possible that in a few years, this will not be a concern or a primary concern in FRC because the FIRST community will have worked to strengthen this weakness in the program and in the local communities and regions that the teams are a part of. But - there will be new concerns. We don't know what they are now because we aren't there yet, but there is always another layer of the onion that reveals itself when one layer is removed.
So - one way to look at a FIRST team as a successful team at the moment, is to view them from a sustainability perspective. Does that mean they have the best shop or the best closet to build out of? Does that mean their team shirts are donated by a sponsor or that they are made by the team? Does that mean that everyone brings a brown bag for snacks or that the team is catered by another generous sponsor during build? My thinking is that the team that holds together, gets itself organized, builds a robot that follows the guidelines and rules laid out for the current season, and has worked to the best of its ability in the areas of the robot competition and any other award areas that it could work in, all the while meeting financial demands - is working towards being self-sustaining and is achieving success. When that becomes consistent and stabilizes - then the team can seriously begin to focus on winning awards, garnering achievements, building their reputation, creating that wow factor that we all admire so much in the greats. Then we're made of win. All of us who worked together to find ways to help teams reach levels of sustainability that are consistent. And that's when the vision that our FIRST founder can become realistic and attainable. I'm not ever sure that a vision is logical so I may never be able to answer that one, but I do know that it is fed by passion, desire, and a can-do commitment.