Why Six Weeks?

[OZ_341]

Originally Posted by ChrisH

To quote Woodie at the 2001 Kickoff: "Because we wanted to have mercy"

He went on to explain that no matter how much time they gave us, we would always want or need more. So they limit it to what they feel is the bare minimum to meet the challenge at all.

Yes, a similar quote at the 2000 Kick-off from Dean is below:

An angry mentor walked up to the Microphone during the 2000 Kick-off Q&A session and said, "How come you don't give us more time?! Why only six weeks?!" To which Dean simply replied, "Because we like you!"
Everyone laughed. Funny because its true!!

[pras870]

I agree on what everyone on this thread has said. 6 weeks is plenty, if not the perfect ammount of time to do what we all have to do. If we all had 8-9 weekls, we could make a lot more complicated machines. Is this good? Not necessarily. You'll notice that in most competitions, the people who seem to do the best, ahve the simplest designs. Complexed machines only add to possible break downs and fixing between competitions.

Not only that, but I believe that 5 weeks seems to be the stress point for a lot of teams. It seems like no matter who you are, after 5 weeks, you start argueing and stressing with everyone on your team. It's innevitable. You see the same people for hours on end, sparks are gonna tend to fly (sometimes literally, gotta love dremels ).

To me, 6 weeks seems like the optimum ammount of time. It's known rookie teams feel like this is not a lot of time, but then again, they're rookies and we all get through it. As time goes on, you figure out ways to manage the 6 weeks more efficiently, and some teams might even be completed before the 6 weeks is up.

[Steve W]

As in the real world, the people up top make the decisions. One of the hardest things about working is a deadline. Usually totally unrealistic and impossible to accomplish. Guess what, we still seem to make then. Managing priorities, working together and proper time management comes with experience. I think that this is a great learning tool for the future. Challenging yourself and your team to accomplish what they thought they couldn't.

I am not on a rookie team but last year was my first time building with a team. After a couple of weeks of talking and planning I realized we only had 4 weeks left. Things began to get done but by week 5 we had no transmission. Kick into overdrive and spend a few all nighters. Boy it's tough to go to work with an hours sleep knowing that tomorrow will be the same. We did get it done but no practice time. This year has been much better even though we are still not moving. Transmission built and tested and almost installed. We might even get some practice time.

As a mentor I am burnt out. Even 2 extra days seems like eternity. My family has not seen me for more than 20 minutes except for the 2 times I took my wife out for lunch (no time for supper). There is a great demand on time and I for 1 am glad for the end to approach. Going to 4 regionals and championship basically wipes out 3 1/2 months of the year.

Do I regret any time spent? NO !!!!! This is the greatest program ever and I feel privileged to be part of it. An OLD say is " You can't get enough of a good thing." I don't believe this to be true. If we all get burnt out then we will just quit and move on. When April comes I feel that I wouldn't want to work on a robot again and by September 1 I am chomping at the bit to get going. It is good to keep the desire burning and I believe that FIRST has come up with a good compromise. All I ask is that they don't make build time shorter.

[Redhead Jokes]

Originally Posted by OZ_341

An angry mentor walked up to the Microphone during the 2000 Kick-off Q&A session and said, "How come you don't give us more time?! Why only six weeks?!" To which Dean simply replied, "Because we like you!"

Thank God again!

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by pras870

I believe that 5 weeks seems to be the stress point for a lot of teams. It seems like no matter who you are, after 5 weeks, you start argueing and stressing with everyone on your team. It's innevitable.

But, do you think that it is a time factor, or just because that in the 5th week, we are almost done, but not quite there and that usually is the beginning of tweaking and you really just want it to work perfectly, but the little things just seem to set you back for days or hours which are unwanted?

Do you think if we had 5 weeks that the 4th week would lead to the same thing?

[Hinkel Y.]

I find that 7 weeks' good enough for me. With over 12 hrs at school, it can be really stressful at some times. Also, having only 5 - 6 hours every day for 5 weeks' will push a lot of people to the breaking point. We've spent around two days trying to decide what we could and taking off weight on the robot (I would like to see them extend the weight limit though!). Our IR may not work just yet, and autonomous mode does not look to be perfected until our second regional like last year's...