Team Update #21

[Mark McLeod]

Important Messages from FIRST Headquarters:

1) The Director of FRC is very aware of the concerns regarding the Alliance Selection
algorithm used throughout the 2007 competition season. Unfortunately, we ran out of time
and the resources necessary to properly implement a change and meanwhile mitigate any
risk to the FIRST Championship.

2) Based on initial FRC Forum feedback from the Championship, FIRST believes there is a
strong message to improve “face to face” communication between the teams and the FRC
Headquarters staff. We will look for ways to make this happen in the future, possibly at
Regional Events. Please note that we will still be conducting Regional Forums across the
country in mid-May. Please refer to http://www.usfirst.org in the upcoming weeks for more
information.

3) Teams wishing to purchase Official Scoring Elements for off-season events should place
their order prior to May 15, 2007. After that date we will liquidate the remaining inventory of
tubes. Please visit http://www.logoloc.com/first/ for ordering information.

4) FIRST received coverage by major media outlets during the FIRST Championship in
Atlanta. Please visit our FIRST in the News page at
http://www.usfirst.org/who/content.aspx?id=156 for new links to online coverage by
MSNBC, CNN and BusinessWeek. Thanks to all who shared their stories to help spread
the word about FIRST.

Have a great summer and we’ll see you all back for the 2008 season!

[KTorak]

I got beat to it.

However, atleast they have completely acknowledged the algorithm issue and hopefully fix it by next season.

[Beth Sweet]

Well, sounds like they've addressed my 2 biggest concerns: the algorithm and the communication between HQ and teams. If they know about them, I have to imagine that they intend to fix them!

[Gdeaver]

There were several major problems facing the First ORG this year. The lack of resources to address these fires was very apparent. I believe that this is a result of Firsts success and growth. Dean's push for massive growth this year is a dangerous thing. First can not grow to 10,000 20,000 or 100,000 teams with out a major restructuring of First.ORG. Actually First needs to start thinking like First.INC. They need to develop a .INC mentality and implement business systems to handle the future growth. The systems need to be in place before the growth. How to actually do this is complex and more than a few companies have failed in there effort to grow because of a lack of structure. I may start a thread later on to discuss " How to grow First".