Responsibilties of a Captain

[Herodotus]

The job of all leaders is to prepare those they lead to take their place. As the mechanical captain this past year I found the most important, and often the hardest job was teaching the students who I lead to be the new mechanical captain. I had to teach them to use the machines, or teach them to try again when a part just doesn't quite come out the way they wanted to. I had to teach them to think ahead, and to use their brains when working. I feel confident they can take my place now.

[Dan Petrovic]

Wow we are having the very same discussion on our Yahoo Group forums.

We also have a job description section at our Team Wiki.

http://www.chopshop166.com/pmwiki/pm...n.TeamCaptains

[smurfgirl]

Originally Posted by InfernoX14

We also have a job description section at our Team Wiki.

This is an aside... but I thought we were the only team with a wiki.


Our team has a 5-person student management team which has taken on a lot of the responsibilities that our mentors used to have to do. Our mentors are now less overwhelmed, and the students now feel more directly involved in the processes and feel a greater sense of responsibility for and connection with our achievements. For the people who question the necessity of a student captain (or management team, in our case), I think this is a good justification.

As for the responsibilities of the captain specifically ("president" on our team), on our team the president is basically a team representative. The president represents the team for sponsors, takes all student input and brings it to management team meetings to help with decisions, represents students for sponsor, and communicates with the school. (S)he runs the team meetings each night, plans events, and generally helps to keep everything on track.

I'm giving a link to our 2007-2008 team handbook, which describes the responsibilities and qualifications of this year's management team on page 5. We've since tweaked some things for next year's team, but the new handbook isn't finalized. http://uberbots.org/2008/files/handbook.pdf

[Renee Becker-Blau]

Right now our team normally runs with two Co-Captains. One is head of Build, the other is head of Logistics. Build runs the design, build, and drive aspects. Logistics handles chairmans, media, and image parts of the team. Under the Co-Captains you have heads of a section, Build, Chairmans, Drive, Design, Logistics, etc. depending on the number of people we have on the team. The Co-Captains work with the heads to coordinate everything, and the mentors work in a sub-group with the head.

From there rookies come in and work under a head to learn about the sub-group. After the first year they should have an idea of what they want to. We might be changing this system, to make it more mentor run, or we may be keeping it more student run for next year. We're not sure what we want to do yet.

[Blue_Mist]

Two Co-Presidents, self-nominated this year for elections. They both take care of building the robot and papers, depending on the situation. Leadership seems to change form with each new set of Co-Presidents we get each year (although this year they're the same as last year...).

Interestingly enough, we've also ended up with Vice Presidents of Recruitment, Human Resources, and Team Spirit, chosen by the Co-Presidents. So collectively, we have no team captains, but we do have a five-person Executive Closet. Just like the U.S. Cabinet, but more efficient. A Closet stores useful things, while personally I think a Cabinet stores things on display.

Also, we have (three or four people) committees who run things like Publicity and Fundraising. This encompasses nearly the entire team! And several people hold more than one position...

On a side note, since we only have three people next year who are guaranteed members and not seniors, the Vice-President of Recruitment may exercise a bit more power. Leadership on our team adjusts as necessary. So far it's been quite effective.

And on special privileges, I haven't seen any really major ones (except for that elusive college application booster... ). Co-President seems to mean more responsibility only, which is a useful way of making sure that our leaders are really dedicated. Although, we really haven't had to worry. People vote for those they trust to do a good job. (Ack! So many emoticons!)

[Bomberofdoom]

Well that's great....I just posted a 100 line reply...and CD's server just restarted....that's wonderful....

Sorry, don't feel like writing it again.. (-_-')