Members per team vs members who actually work

[Taylor]

Originally Posted by Armando Gonzalez

My point is that, if people really want to work, they'll do everything in their grasp to help the cause and get involved. At one point all of the members were new to the team, and that did not stop us from getting involved and getting our hands dirty.

Hear hear.

Much like everything else in life, you get out of Robotics exactly what you put into it. If one is along the sidelines, the view is nice but there's not a whole lot of unity. If one is in the mix, the experience, pride, and teamwork rise exponentially. It is each member's decision how much he or she contributes to the team, and in what fashion they contribute.

That being said, we're at about 30% of members coming to every meeting and contributing at every opportunity.

[midway78224]

In 2007, we had bout 10 out of like 30 do all the work but this upcoming season in 2008 looks good for our team 457 we had bout 35 on our team and bout half are new and seem to be really into it. i cant wait!!!

[vivek16]

I think our whole team works because the ones who don't work usually don't show up and arent considered part of the team after it happens consecutively. Otherwise we are a small enough team that everyone has to work.

-vivek

[Armando Gonzalez]

Originally Posted by vivek16

I think our whole team works because the ones who don't work usually don't show up and arent considered part of the team after it happens consecutively. Otherwise we are a small enough team that everyone has to work.

-vivek

We are a small team as well, but only a few of the members are willing to work during the whole build season.

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

There's an old saying that applies pretty well to most reasonably sized FIRST teams that goes "20% of the people do 80% of the work".

This is true for the first 80% of the time from my experience in academia and industry, regardless of how motivated a group is. Often times in the beginning when ideas are being thrown around there's little work to actually do, or some work is dependent upon other work to be completed first. If you don't have an idea, then sometimes you just don't have an idea or someone else thought of it first ... not much you can do there.

I agree that managing a team is a really tough job because a good manager somehow keeps everyone semi-busy even when they're "part of the robot" isn't ready to be worked on yet. I'd say the last 1-2 weeks of this past build season 100% of the students touched their part of the robot for several hours a day.

[smurfgirl]

Our team has about 35 members, but only about 10 who consistently show up at every meeting. Those 10 people just happen to be lead mechanical, electrical, programming, and/or leadership people, who feel it is necessary to do their work at the meetings with the team. But that's not to say that only 10 people work. Others contribute a lot, but may not come to every meeting. Our publicity/public relations team does a lot of work in the community, so they might be working somewhere else during meeting time, or putting in a lot of hours at other times. Our spirit team does a lot of work in people's houses, since they sewed capes, painted banners, worked on posters; all things that are easier done in a house than a workroom crowded with tools. The strategy team puts in a lot of hours at home, because reading the rule book and generating ideas can be done at other times that meeting times, as well. The drive team practices at a location other than our school, where we meet regularly. But we still all work hard at our given specialties, even if we're not all around at the same time. Everyone has to find their own balance between robotics and school, and it is done in a unique way. Just because one person is working differently than another doesn't mean they're not working.

[Armando Gonzalez]

hopefully we will have new blood this year

[synth3tk]

We started with nearly 20 people. Then about five of them dropped out. By the second meeting we were down to less than ten. Out of those 10, eight of us truly worked on the robot and all the aspects of the team. I don't mean "they looked like they did nothing but was actually sending out PR letters". These individuals truly did nothing but take up space and food, not to sound aggressive. We still got work done, though. Those who were into it applied themselves every night and didn't care.

[Blue_Mist]

This is one of my favorite quotes of all time-

Originally Posted by M. Krass

While one student may not be of much value to the team, do we ever stop to think about how much value the team may be to that student?

I agree that some new ones are simply too shy to ask, like three of our freshmen last year, or would prefer to not skewer things for the team, as I was freshman year (Junior now- cry! It seems like so little time left!).

I think about the members of our team who are so crucial during build season and competition, but this team not exist in two years if people don't work during the "Off-Season." Funny, because from April to Cal Games we work for Cal Games and side projects, and now we have just under two months until the Season begins again. Ah, the build season. What? Sleep? What is this strange substance you speak of?

[steadfasttuna]

35 on the team 5 of which work... 34 of which are seniors... i am the only junior

[Nevets Amstier]

Originally Posted by Protronie

Have you considered that perhaps the new members hang back and don't do much cause the older members know what to do and how its done and the new members are scared of being in the way or messing something up.

For someone new to it all... it might be hard to jump into the mix especially when the time gets short. Build season not the best of time to take a new member by the hand and teach them what and how to do it.

The team I was on in high school had alot of people on the team (40+) and a pretty small shop, so it gets crowded fast. We tried to the best we could,

And in order to get the newer kids more involved, we try to spend the preseason teaching the new kids (and returning kids who want to learn) how to work the machines and/or electronics; stuff like that so they can be helpful when build season comes around