My case against <G14>

[Rich Kressly]

Originally Posted by bduddy

That is another of the deranged "strategies" that is encouraged by this rule... or what if you are down 40-65, and against *insert your region's dominant team here*? I would hope that FIRST teams would not do this, but it would be really easy to *accidentally* throw a Super Cell over a bit too early...

And hopefully there are more people on now (as opposed to 3 EST ), so I'm eager to hear an actual reason why teams that win by a lot should be punished.

One could argue that "deranged strategies" are encouraged by our society too. I'm sure everyone here listened to Dean's speech very closely. The emphasis on why we do what we do. I'm sure everyone listened closely to Woodie and Dave as well - before the game was unveiled.

Just because we CAN do something doesn't mean we SHOULD. If you are choosing to do something just to "win" even if you may think or know it's not the "right" thing to do, then I guess you're missing the point entirely.

...and spare me the talk of, "but the other guy might do it and that's not fair..." because, again, this too is everyday life in our culture. The stuff we're supposedly working at changing, regardless of the adversity along the way.

If you want to actively change the culture for the better, then, in the face of all this perceived and potential "wrongdoing" and adversity you'll find a way to do the "right" thing without judging others at all - it's just wasted energy anyway.

Is all of this unfair? Sure. If I'm suggesting that we shouldn't expend energy pointing fingers of others' wrongdoings doesn't that mean I'll have to work that much harder to succeed? Yup, probably.

Listen, folks did you ever think that these type of items, the ones that nag the teams every year for the same "fairness" reasons is the REAL game we need to pay attention to? How many times do some of us need to hear our founder and national advisors talk about competing like crazy and treating each other well in the process, winning in a way that values your opponent, etc.

If we're going to be cultural change agents we need to get comfortable with the notion of working harder than we ever have before without caving into our personal desires to "win" or get what we think we "deserve." The journey is the reward - REALLY. this is a hard challenge, REALLY.

I'm absolutely flabbergasted at the time people think they have to discuss this in such painstaking detail when there's a huge problem to solve and lots of sharing to do in a very short period of time.

I admit the game if fun, but we all need to remember why the heck we're doing this. Dean, Dave, and Woodie try to hit us over the head with the important messages every year so let's make this the year we keep all of that foremost in our minds, even during robot build and game play ... please?

The 'game" exists as a test to us as designers, but more importantly as positive culture-changing people and organizations.


namaste,
rich