So we have put together the first draft of our FRC team schedule. It contains all of the activities for our sub teams and mentors. It also contains all of the FRC competitions for 2012 and the 2011 off season events. Please feel free to copy or critique.
http://www.atomicrobotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/schedule.xlsx
We updated the schedule and added a few more docs
Please feel free to copy, change and use as needed.
Team schedule
http://www.atomicrobotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/schedule.xlsx
Team roster
http://www.atomicrobotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/roster-template.xlsx
Team funding letter
http://www.atomicrobotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/low-res-funding-letter.docx
Team Dream Budget
http://www.atomicrobotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/budget.xlsx
Team Bill of Materials (includes 2011 KOP info)
http://www.atomicrobotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/BOM.xlsx
2011 Check Lists
http://www.atomicrobotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/check-lists.xlsx
Wow. You guys are very prepared for next year, and for a while into the future.
I especially liked your funding letter and how detailed and colorful it was. I will definitely showing my team that.
Good luck next year, and I expect you will see your fair share of awards.
3 days and 17 hours left!
Thanks for the kind words. we are running a little behind schedule as it were so lets see if we can catch up
This is my first year competing in FIRST so please consider that when I say this. From what I have gathered from working on other projects you will always reach a point where having everything so detailed will actually slow down the process then speed it up. I personally find that very specific time constants are a negative thing when being creative. I am not sure if you guys have reached that point.
I think another thing for me to consider and others is, how big your team is. Our team is about 17 people, and I personally think that we lack a solid plan of when things need to get done, but we have not set out a solid strategy or design ether. The amount of people effects the amount of detail because if you have 30 people to work with its harder to just get together and discuss over a table and there is a higher chance that people won’t work if they don’t have a set job for them. When it is something like 5 people you can always just talk in your little group and figure things out quickly, together, and make on the fly decisions (with in reason).
That’s just my 2 cents, I still have lots to learn!
While the smaller teams better communication is definitely true (and has happened before) there is a point where you have too few people to do work. It’s easier to figure out things if you split up the tasks and have a smaller group of people work on each task, so you need enough people to manage everything effectively.
Communication is definitely still importance. I’m on a team with about 40 people and there have been times when we’ve split up to work on things, and then it turns out we’ve got people working on something someone else has figured out, and we have parts of the robot that don’t actually work together.
17 people is a good number. Divide and conquer, but make sure everyone knows what’s going on.
Good luck with your first year!!!
Thank you. We have set up our team in groups of fabrication, solid works, design strategy, and programming. It seems to be working so far!
Great, you’ve already taken the first step. Just make sure you don’t give too much to one single person, and your system will really help. Don’t bite off more than you can chew either. It’ your first year, so just get to know how things work so you can succeed next year.