Preparation For Ship Date And Upcoming Competitions

[JaneYoung]

I've been following (and posting in) some of the threads concerning the snow/weather situation in the mid-Atlantic states that are being affected. While reading, I've been thinking about ways that teams can help themselves during this challenging time and I thought it might be helpful to create a thread that could offer suggestions in preparation for ship date and for the upcoming competitions, even though it may be several days before the teams can access their build site and/or their robot.

I thought to-do/check lists might prove beneficial such as:
- make a list of the different areas of the robot that need to be addressed, need to be done, changed, added, and what supplies and tools will be needed to complete the tasks
- make a list of the different awards that the team is submitting for and follow-up on the progress/deadlines and who is doing what in each award
- make a travel list of whatever will be needed to finish/complete/tweak/support the robot and plan how it will be packed
- make a travel list of pit crew/drive team needs and how they will be supplied/packed

These are a few 'generic' suggestions that can be fleshed out and added to here in the thread. When the weather improves, the efforts the teams go through to get themselves organized now - can be applied when they can return to their robots.

I also wanted to remind teams that are impacted by the weather, to get the word out as to where you are competing and how you need help so that teams who can help you, know what your situation will be. Not the situation now, the situation on ship day. It might also be possible for members of teams who are not competing in the affected regionals/competitions - to donate time and effort to the teams that may need help.

Now could also be a good time to get reacquainted with the FIRST website and check out a lot of the resources that are available. This page is an example.

Jane

[Foster]

Punch lists of items are great. Go over all the items Jane mentioned and write them down.

Remember the "Hitchhikers Guide Rule - Don't Panic". The list you create will be fairly long. When you get it made, sort it by the priority things need to get done and in the order they need to get done in. Focus your efforts on the big important items first.

It's been posted here that the robot is really never done (well at least until the end of the off season) so it's important to not sweat the small stuff.

Some places have Presidents day off, the extra hours may make up for the time you've lost to the weather.

[Trying to Help]

How about

- Make sure you have faxed, emailed or mailed your payment authorization to Shepard Exposition Services.
- Make sure you've contacted your initial shipper with a date and whether or not you'll need a lift gate truck.
- Start working on your Bill of Materials.
- Assign students to chaperones, schedule lunches, collect cell phone numbers if not already done, etc.

Hopefully some teams can check these off their list this week, even if they're restricted from their build site.

Trying to Help