The Struggles of Bigger Teams

[Tom Line]

Organization.

1. Break the team into smaller teams. Chairmans, Business Plan, Spirit, Web page, Bylaws, Mechanical, Electrical, Outreach, Sponsorship.

2. For every team, have a student team leader.

3. For every team, have a set of goals. This should read like this:

A. Where are we now.
B. Where do we want to be at the end of the season.

Students are responsible for creating a timeline of progress that culminates in the final goal of their group. Weekly reports to mentors on progress help.

4. Veteran students (more than 2 years), are NOT ALLLOWED TO TOUCH ANYTHING for the first 3-4 weeks of the season. Their purpose is now to train the new incoming members. You will never have enough mentors for a team over 30 people, so you co-op your experienced members into teaching. Once you hit 'crunch time' as we call it, all bets are off and the experienced members jump in to get 'er done.

5. Train ahead of time. Do so in small groups. Not big all-must-attend meetings where people fall asleep, chat, and play on their phones. No more than 8 people at a time. Shop safety, basic programming, basic mechanical, etc.