Sorting Algorithms as a Tool for Picklisting

[GeeTwo]

The bottom line (as hinted and presented several places above) is that with the small number of teams at an event (or CMP division), sorting on any reasonable number of criteria is going to be essentially instantaneous on a decent laptop. (That is, for less than 100 items to be sorted, don't sweat the "big O"; simple sort algorithms are good enough).

The key is to decide which team attributes are most important, and how they rank relative to one another. Picking according to a team rubric is a "safe" course; no one will ask why you went that way. But if your gut and your spreadsheet give you different answers, my best advice is to make sure you understand why your spreadsheet gave the answer it did, and determine for yourself whether your gut instinct is better, and if so, why. If you pick right, you'll probably be considered a prodigy or genius, but if you pick wrong, it's essential that you be able to clearly communicate to your team mates why you overrode "team wisdom".