2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative

[Travis Hoffman]

THIS!

The MASSIVE backlog of humanity at the main pit entrance, trying to return to the pits following the opening ceremonies was ABSURD (luckily, I found a path less traveled).

FIRST, do yourselves a favor, FOLLOW YOUR OWN RULES! Curb some of that traffic, and stop trying to forcibly impose your flawed view of "you're only GP if you're at the opening ceremonies" on the relative few pit personnel from each team trying to prep their robot and operations for the day's activities.

Show some appreciation to THIS person who is involved and volunteering HIS own time and effort.

Originally Posted by Aren_Hill

We were asked to clear the pits friday morning for opening ceremonies, to which i responded by pulling out a manual and having a civil discussion with the volunteer regarding the actual rules pertaining to said events.

In the "At the events" section of the manual

4.10.1 All Teams Should Attend
We encourage all team members to attend the ceremonies, on time, to show appreciation for the event and those people involved who are volunteering their time and efforts.

4.10.2 Pit Manners/Rules During the Ceremonies
- Team members will not be allowed to use power tools, hammers or other noisy tools during the ceremonies.
- All persons in the Pit should observe the code of behavior for the presentation of all national anthems:
o Maintain a respectful silence;
o Stand, facing the flag. If there is no flag, look toward the video screen showing a flag; and
o ALL hats off please.

The volunteer then took the manual back to his superior and returned to us informing us we would be allowed to stay as long as we followed the listed rules, which we did.

This same situation happened in Wisconsin only I wasn't as well versed on that section of the manual, lesson learned.

At no point does it say "empty the pits" or "only two people" or half the other things being told to teams, and this goes for every event.

I thoroughly thanked the volunteer for participating in a healthy discussion and taking to correct course of action, which is more than can be said for some other encounters we've had this season.

If my robot is operating 100%, I'll be at the ceremonies, if it is not then it has my attention until it is. This is how I believe it should stay as it is disrespectful to a team who has put in countless hours constructing it to not allow allotted(1) time to make sure it is working properly.

(1) The champs agenda says Pits open at 7:15am and close at 8pm, I count this as allotted pit time

This was more of a positive at champs, but is in response to a post here.