Administration and Structure - What do you wish your team was built on?

[botbuddy]

Hey all, FRC member here, although that may not be relevant as I'm asking about general team structuring.

I'm a member on the board of our FRC team, and our team is relatively new (fewer years than you can count on one hand). As such, our team structure is sparse and generally non-existent. We're working on building things up, but I wanted to ask the community - if it was you building the team structure from year one, what would you do differently?

I am sure that in the future, assuming some form of team longevity, as the team expands and excels there are core values that should be there from the very beginning to ward off issues and keep the team rooted in fair reality. (For example, the "built by students"/"built by mentors" controversy is one that can be prevented if our stance is clear from the beginning.)

Thanks!

Edit: Also curious, if anyone has examples of current team problems that come up that can be prevented from the beginning, those would be insightful too.

Remember what FIRST is about, and mainly WHO it's about (hint: it's not the mentors). This doesn't mean "run your team this way" or "don't run your team that way". Whatever you do, remember who it's all for. If you are satisfied with how well your team's running method accomplishes these, then you're doing it right.

Edit: tl;dr: Remember to make sure the kids get inspired.

[NWChen]

Live within your means, which applies to both build season and the offseason.

It's easy to discuss doing dozens of things at the same time, and picturing how much the team will benefit from them, but if you don't have the time, resources (manpower, money, etc.), knowledge, and so on to actually get them done, then your team might just suffer instead.

[holygrail]

Our team structure tends to morph a bit from year to year, but we definitely have one. We just prefer to organize the team around the student leaders we have rather than force the students into specific roles that might not match their expertise or interests.

All told, there are usually 12 or 13 students with official leadership positions. That seems to be sort of the magic number our team for making sure everything is covered well.

[Seth Mallory]

We have been using the Boy Scout model for years. Take the Boy Scout troop guide lines and change the titles and you have our team. The Scoutmasters, I mean mentors, try to have the older scouts, I mean veteran students train the new students and run the troop, I mean team. The captain is the Sr. patrol leader and the group leads are the patrol leaders. It works for us but each team is different and must work with they people they have involved. Standing back as far as we do is a lot harder then stepping in.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Seth Mallory

Standing back as far as we do is a lot harder then stepping in.

Re-quoted for truth.

Our structure shifts a little each year as we cater to strengths or try new things, but essentially we have major groups and sub-teams within them, along thelines of mechanical (drivetrain, chassis, maipulator(s)), electrical, pneumatic, programming, test & Integration, and of course a few non-tech.

[abhem]

Our team has a sort of "executive" system. We have two coaches, and we have 6 student Executives per semester (so 12 in total). There is the President (who oversees the team and is "in charge" of the executives), an Events executive (who handles competitions, fundraising events, food at comps, transportation, and in school events), a Public Relations "PR" executive, (who handles recruitment, team newsletter, team apparel), Treasurer, who handles all team money(looking for sponsors, tracking payments and reimbursements, and all team finances), Outreach executive, (who handles our relationship to our community such as going to elementary schools and having "open house" to improve STEM recognition), and a Shop executive (who handles taking inventory of tools, replacing them, keeping the Shop a safe workplace, and is Safety Captain at events).
All of the executives switch off each semester. We have weekly executive meetings to touch base with all the executives and find out information about upcoming deadlines.Also, at least 1 if not both of the coaches are present at the meetings to assure they stay on track. "Apprentices"(can be anyone on the team) choose an executive to work under for a year and are then allowed to run for a non-presidential position on the Executive board. To be president you must have been an executive or apprenticed an executive for 2 years.


This system has worked extremely well for our team in the past and improves student/coach/executive relationships throughout the year and during the stressful build season and competition season.