"Instructions are for people who don't know what they're doing."

[Jeff Pahl]

Originally Posted by Speedfiend

Out of curiosity, do other teams have the position of "rule guru?" I've had the idea (can't be original, someone has to have thought of this!) before of letting an interested student be the team's rule guru, and be in charge of knowing the rules to the detail, and being very familiar with said rules should a question arise. That way, during build, any sub team can just ask the rule guy if their idea is legal or not.

(That being said: It's still incredibly important that all build or competition members have at minimum a general understanding of can and can't be done.)

It seems like we always have one, usually appointed by the lead designers who don't want to read the rules themselves Some years it works better than others, depending on the personalities involved.

Where it seems to run into more problems is with the "picky little rules". The team will ask if their idea to attach the bumpers is legal, but will not ask if using particle board to build the bumper is. The "rules guru" almost has to constantly inspect the work in progress to catch the little things that happen.

All that said, it can work well if the right person is given that responsibility. My opinion is that it fits well with the title "Chief Engineer" or with a Senior who has passed along design responsibility to "the next generation" and who is serving as "Advisor". Giving the "rules guru" position to the shy Freshman in the corner has never seemed to work out real well.