ChiefDelphi Answers

[Jherbie53]

As we are gearing up for the new season, please remember that if you post a question on Chief Delphi, that the answer you get is not an official one from FIRST. It may help you find your answer, but it's only the responders interpretation of the question. If you have a question that is in a really gray area you should go to the FIRST questions and answers forum and submit it there.

Thanks for reading, and have a great and safe build season!

[Tapoore]

The official Q and A forum should be here after the season starts. Definitely check it at least a couple times a week during the build.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by Tapoore

The official Q and A forum should be here after the season starts. Definitely check it at least a couple times a week during the build.

A week? LOL

How about a couple times an hour?

[Tapoore]

Originally Posted by IndySam

A week? LOL

How about a couple times an hour?

Yeah, I guess I do check it that often...

[Gary Dillard]

There has been discussion in other areas about the inability of teams to post copies of the manual because it is copyright protected, so I was curious what is allowed relative to posting specific wording from the manual and rules in order to ask questions. I found this of interest on the US copyright office website (copyright.gov):

"How much of someone else's work can I use without getting permission?
Under the fair use doctrine of the U.S. copyright statute, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports. There are no legal rules permitting the use of a specific number of words, a certain number of musical notes, or percentage of a work. Whether a particular use qualifies as fair use depends on all the circumstances."

So not to worry - quote away in this forum provided it is fair use.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Gary Dillard

So not to worry - quote away in this forum provided it is fair use.

In fact, please quote. "No" and "Yes" by themselves are not acceptable answers, however unofficial. Please quote the rule you're using to justify your response or, at the very least, provide the rule number or page number.

Thanks

[AcesPease]

Originally Posted by Tapoore

Yeah, I guess I do check it that often...

Once a day at first and less later is enough to give FIRST a chance to answer a couple questions

[josh sjoerdsma]

Most importantly though is ask the questions that you have. The only dumb questions are those not asked. CD is filled with extremely helpful people who are glad to help out.

[Pavan Dave]

http://forums.usfirst.org/ <- FIRST Q&A Forum.

[SSMike]

This is a good thread for knowing when to post, only if you know what you are talking about: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=42238

[ebarker]

Regarding teams and other organizations posting 'copies' of FIRST manuals:

There is a concept in a field called "configuration management" that is implemented in other concepts called "ISO 9000" that goes something like:

An important document, like the FIRST manual exists in one place only and it is golden. Copies shouldn't exist else where because then tend to become non-authoritative because the local copy goes stale because the remote authoritative copy doesn't know to "push" the update out to the world.

What about the copy that I downloaded from FIRST ?

YOUR copy is in YOUR possession and YOU are responsible for making sure that you are up to date. But your copy isn't authoritative, only the FIRST copy even though you think it is the same.

You will likely encounter these concepts in industry.

I'm sure there are a lot of mentors with way more experience in this than me.

[kramarczyk]

Originally Posted by ebarker

Regarding teams and other organizations posting 'copies' of FIRST manuals:

There is a concept in a field called "configuration management" that is implemented in other concepts called "ISO 9000" that goes something like:

An important document, like the FIRST manual exists in one place only and it is golden. Copies shouldn't exist else where because then tend to become non-authoritative because the local copy goes stale because the remote authoritative copy doesn't know to "push" the update out to the world.

What about the copy that I downloaded from FIRST ?

YOUR copy is in YOUR possession and YOU are responsible for making sure that you are up to date. But your copy isn't authoritative, only the FIRST copy even though you think it is the same.

You will likely encounter these concepts in industry.

I'm sure there are a lot of mentors with way more experience in this than me.

What a great point! This is expecially prevalent with things like CAD data which is why companies spend huge amount of money on software to manage who is editing the master copy (check-in/check-out). If your team hasn't discussed this you may want to consider discussing it sooner (when there are less files) rather than later (when there already is a conflict and you are running around with a flash drive trying to get all of the computers sync'd).

Simple solutions may be using a common location network drive location for master files so that everyone knows where they are, using a dedicated thread on your team forum where the latest takes precidence, using the PTC Windchill site to manage check-in/check-out or Autodesk Vault with the MS Office plug-in to handle both check-in/check-out and simultaneous usage. There are other solutions, but these are the ones I could think of off the top of my head that are available to most teams.