"Gracious Professionalism"

[Oblarg]

The defining aspect of FIRST, for me, and really the essence of gracious professionalism is that as much as FIRST is a fierce competition, it's also a communal engineering challenge; we may pit our robots against each other, but we're all in it together. The competition is almost always secondary to that. A good FRC team does not participate for the sake of competition, they participate for the sake of the science, the math, and the engineering - and just as much as they can realize that through the performance of their own robot, it is just as important to help other teams realize it through theirs. We might compete with our robots, but we're not "opponents" in the usual sense. Not at all. This is why you see teams sharing tips, ideas, and even complete designs on a forum like this - the point is for everyone to build and field the best robot they possibly can. The competition itself is almost incidental.

To illustrate this: In my first year on 449, at the Trenton regional, a robot in autonomous mode rammed into our alliance station wall and knocked our OI clean off the shelf. Both of our joysticks were destroyed, and we had no spares. Immediately afterwards, they came over to our pit and asked us what we needed to become functional again. This would never happen at any other type of competition; the emphasis of FIRST is fundamentally different. For someone who "gets" gracious professionalism, it is vastly more satisfying to help another team field a working robot where they would not have before than to win the competition.

The point of FIRST is, as per the name, inspiration. Your job, as a member of an FRC team, is to inspire interest and passion for science and technology. You cannot do this unless you put the science and technology ahead of the competition in your list of priorities.

It may sound cheesy at first (especially given the speeches during kickoff), but it's absolutely essential to the functioning of FRC. I'd certainly not have stuck around as long as I have without it.

[treffk]

Woody Flowers talked about Gracious Professionalism during the 2013 kickoff. He referenced team 1108(and today is 11/08!) and how during the Greater Kansas City Regional they had their trailer stolen off an SUV. This trailer was lent to them by someone in the community for competition. This was a huge loss for them as the trailer contained tools, spare parts and I think there was even a few awards in there. The Greater Kansas City Regional banded together and started collecting the $100 MasterCard gift cards we were given to help cover the expenses to replace what was lost.

Another anecdote from the Greater Kansas City Regional: We have had teams show up on Thursday with just the kit of parts and very few tools. They had been registered and wanted to compete but did not have any experience to create a robot. Teams jumped together very quickly to help them build a robot that if I remember correctly was moving before Thursday was over.

Sidenote: It was awesome to hear Woody mention this during kickoff as I had forgotten he was there that year or that he even was aware of what took place as it happened during the final day of competition. It was even better he mentioned it cause I was sitting next to my cousin who is a 1108 alumni who was on the team when this took place.

2013 Kickoff Woody on Gracious Professionalism

To me Gracious Professionalism is comprised of professional courtesy, sportsmanship, teamwork and competition. Although we are all broken into separate teams and alliances we have to work together to make this program work. Without Gracious Professionalism we would be like competing companies (think of P&G and Johnson & Johnson if you need more of a visual) working to get ahead of the other, making sure no trade-secrets get out. Instead we work together and band together to help each other grow and become better teams this in turn helps each team build better robots making for more competitive matches, making for a more fun competition.

[Taylor]

To me:
Gracious Professionalism is a celebration. I will celebrate the wins of the teams around me, and the teams against whom I compete. Even those that beat me.
Because I've worked with some of these teams, and helped these teams to achieve their success. Or because I know how hard our team works, so if another team beats us, they must have worked harder/smarter/more effectively. Either way, that merits a celebration.

[class1234567]

To me GP is like a cross country race. Everyone struggles through it, but everybody encourages each other to finish, and do their best. Of corse you'll have "winners" and "losers", but everyones a winner because they already finished the hard task.

[Clem1640]

Gracious professionalism is:

Working together to come up with solutions to problems; on your own team and especially with other teams

Pointing out that loose wire or bolt on your opponent's robot while you're queued for a match

Taking time to think of what other teams may need as you pack for a competition

Realizing that you've got more students working in other team's pits than your own

Taking care and time not to make work or messes that others will need to fix/clean up

Understanding how your actions affect others and keeping this front-of-mind

Gracious professionalism is one of the aspects of FIRST which make the FIRST experience really rewarding and enjoyable. It's also really good practice for a professional career.

[itsjustmrb]

Gracious Professionalism is all of the things stated above and not taking them for granted. If you have more resources (time, money, knowledge, location, expertise, tools, parts, etc.) you should share with those that are less fortunate no matter what the circumstances may be.

[yash101]

Here's what Gracious Professionalism, and a little Good Sportsmanship is:
Keep a smile on your face (sad/neutral face can sometimes have a negative connotation)
Respect others, even if they don't respect you

Cheer for everyone, even it they are on the other alliance. I not only do that, but I wish them good luck, and ask them to play hard, especially because a close and well-played match it the best to watch

Offer Help to anyone, even if they aren't on your team. At a competition, someone was trying to move a robot by himself and nearly dropped. I gladly asked him if I helped. He didn't say yes, but I at least think he would be have a good connotation for me

Introduce yourself professionally (Mr. Forbes and others at the Tucson Tussle, please tell me if there is anything I can improve)

Listen to others. I they ask you to move out of the way, listen to them. If they ask you for a tool, put your best effort to get it to them.

Know all the subsystems of the robot and those other things, even if they aren't your field on the team. Even though I am a programmer on the team, and I love playing with sparks and supercapacitors at home , I still try to understand mechanical and those other fields though they aren't my cup of tea on the team. That can be helpful because then you are a resource for your team. You can answer any questions asked, boosting your reputation.

Congratulate others of their victory and inspire the losing teams to do better if you can or just tell them good luck

Shake hands with your opponents after the match and congratulate how they played

Don't Brag. It looks very awkwards and can be mean. (Mr. Forbes and others at the competitions, please tell me if I can improve in anything!

There are a lot more things to watch out. As a matter of fact, there are so many, you could probably write a 1000 page book and that won't hold all these thumb-rules.

And again, anyone at these competitions, please give me information about what to improve. No one's perfect, but there's always room for improvement

[DELurker]

All of the above...

Other examples:

Carry materials to events that you know you won't need but that other teams commonly ask for. Document, organize, and label these so that they are quickly available. Quickly know when something someone asks for is not available.

Be available during both Qualifications and Eliminations to lend a hand to other teams who are having problems. Have your scouting team send timely word about teams that seem to be having issues, whether mechanical, electrical, or programmatic.

Politely ask teams who are having issues if they would like your assistance. Do not assume that they want your help. If you do help, work with the team, making sure that you are collaborating with them rather than just doing it for them. When you are done, they should clearly understand what was done and should agree that it is working.

Cheer and acknowledge good play.

Treat your own team as well as you treat everybody around you. And vice-versa.

Treat the volunteers, judges, and inspectors well, regardless of what is going on.

Above all, have fun and work to make it possible for everyone else to have fun, too.