Is CAD essential to all teams?

[abhishekmalle]

A little preface:

So my team in the transition phase of trying to reach a level of "legit-ness" for next season. Over the past three years, we have been a group of kids that have turned out a robot each season, but with real struggle and a lack of planning. We usually have an idea of our general design, but almost all of the specifics usually happen somewhere along the way. The point being that we end up working very long days and stressed till the last minute of build season.

Is CAD the next needed step in order for us to become successful?

Our team currently has absolutely no background in CAD. And also no mentors. If we were to decide to use CAD next year, I would have to learn the software from scratch and then teach it to members in the off-season of next year.

The other option for us is to have hardcore designs/drawings on paper. Would that be sufficient?