Mentorship Philosophy

[Foster]

I'm pretty limited in my mentor abilities, so I focus on one main idea and one secondary idea.

My main thing is to teach problem solving. How to look at an abstract task (like the game) and come up with multiple possible solutions. How to weigh each solution to come up with the best suitability. Once that solution is underway either as a proof of concept / prototype how to test it to see that it's working. And when it doesn't work as expected how to diagnose and resolve the issue. And once the solution is in place and it breaks on how to decide what's broken (diagnostics) and how to fix it. In short, I'm trying to create a new wave of Sherlock Holmes (minus the meerschaum pipe). Problem solving is a life skill that pays off over and over.

Secondary to that is the concept of "if you do it right the first time, then you don't need to go back and do it again". Everybody says "I'll go back and fix it later", but that time never comes. Part of doing it right the first time is thinking through the design, the process steps and what the final product needs to look at. The two key elements are "Hope is not an Engineering Strategy" and "neatness counts".

"Hope is not an _____ Strategy" is my favorite Mad-lib. Works for most things: Design, Engineering, Project Management, etc. I try to push for less hope more know. If you know what you are doing and why you are doing it, less chance that it will be wrong and you'll need to do it over again. Thinking is easy. Doing stuff on paper or in a CAD package takes less time than making a new one. Thinking the steps out means work happens in an efficent manner taking less time and effort.

"Neatness counts" covers "measure twice, cut once", "measure with a measuring device" and "no, to the nearest 1/2" isn't good enough". Sloppy work means that you either don't know what you are doing (no design) or you don't understand why it needs to be right (transmissions to the nearest 1/2" don't work well) or you don't care (why are you here?)

One other thing that I do bring is a level of enthusiasm. I love what I do for a living, I love working on robots from design through build and programming and into the competitions. It's fun. Every night I ask my roboteers three questions: Did you learn something? Were there any safety issues? Did you have fun?