Posted by Chris, Coach on team #308, Walled Lake Monster, from Walled Lake Schools and TRW Automotive Electronics.
Posted on 3/31/99 11:51 AM MST
In Reply to: Re: PERFECT WORLD posted by Jerry Eckert on 3/31/99 9:27 AM MST:
Wow Jerry, that was a long one. You also had a lot of good points, although my purpose is not to agree or disagree on any of your points.
My purpose is to commend you on your courage (for lack of a better word) to criticize FIRST and question its methods. It seems to me that too many people accept everything that FIRST says like it’s the Gospel and therefore must be true (you reading this may not be one of those people, but believe me, I’ve run across many of them). I believe that questioning something leads to a greater understanding of the issue, and then one can draw their own conclusions. In the end, if you question something and in the end agree, you’ll be a stronger supporter than before because you’ve considered all sides.
Now before anyone starts sending me hate mail (for commending criticism of our beloved organization), let me state that I agree with virtually everything FIRST has said and done (after careful consideration, of course). But that doesn’t mean I accept everything. I am confident that FIRST strongly believes in what they preach, which means I may not have to agree with all of their methods, but in general I agree with their message.
I know I have been critical of some things in the past, and I have been accused of being ‘anti-FIRST’ simply for being critical. But let me state one thing: people don’t have to agree with something 100% to be behind it. Someone is critical of the organization not because they dislike the organization, but maybe it’s because they LIKE the organization and want to do everything possible to help improve it.
In closing, it is clear that whenever anyone posts a message on these pages criticizing something that FIRST does, it is usually unpopular. I would like to urge everyone to stop and think a little more about the criticism before passing judement. Afterall, FIRST is an organization of people, is not perfect, and there is always room for improvement in everything. I would also like to urge everyone to voice their opinions if they feel that they disagree with anything FIRST is doing. I know a lot of people have been doing this lately on the 3 team alliance issue.
I would also like to thank the people at Chief Delphi for creating and maintaining these pages so people have a forum to voice their opinions. Everyone knows that I’ve taken full advantage :).
I hope everyone has a great day and I hope to say ‘hi’ to everyone at Nationals – the greatest discussion forum in FIRST.
: : After much thought, I think my preference would be to make the alliance selection an automatic thing. The No. 1 seed would be paired with the No. 17 and No. 33 seed, the No. 2 seed would be paired with the No. 18 and No. 34 seed and so on. The only option would be for a team to withdraw for mechanical or personal reasons, and then the short alliance would pick from the remaining field. This process would eliminate pre-alliances, backroom deals, and rejections, while saving precious time in Florida. The alliances could meet during the entire lunch period and map out strategy.
: I believe the process of selecting an alliance partner for the elimination
: rounds is a significant part of the design of this contest. It wouldn’t
: surprise me if Dean and Woody anticipated the pre-arranged alliances, or
: even intentionally allowed them.
: Many people, myself included, have criticized FIRST for putting more
: emphasis on show than providing an opportunity to teach the students
: about engineering. Dean has been quoted by a number of people as saying
: that this is precisely his intention – to expose students to technology
: in a manner which will catch their attention.
: Let’s take this paradigm one step further.
: As most of you have probably observed, for the past few years the business
: world has been dominated by mergers and takeovers. No longer are the most
: successful companies the ones with the best products, they are the ones
: who swing the best deals. Sometimes the deals are purely financial
: transactions (hostile takeovers and buyouts), other times they are
: arranged partnerships based on mutually complementary products and
: strategies.
: Consider the parallels to the alliance selection process.
: In FIRST, wealth is measured by seeding position rather than money.
: Mergers can be formed on the basis of wealth (picking or accepting
: alliances based on the teams seeding position), or by looking deeper
: at the other teams’ products and seeing which best complement your own.
: Some teams may value their increased contribution in an alliance with a
: lower ranked team over being a more passive partner in an alliance with
: a higher ranked team which may stand a better chance of winning.
: Perhaps Dean and Woody have intentionally designed the competiton
: to expose the students to all of these factors and to let them see
: the results first-hand (no pun intended :). To give them some insight
: into the non-technologic factors which drive the buisness of technology.
: As much as we engineers (and I include myself here) may not like it,
: the business of technology is a lot different today than it was 20 or
: 30 years ago. Then, the companies with the best products were at the
: top: IBM, ATT, DEC, etc. Today, the product is a much smaller factor
: in the equation for success than it was then.
: As an example, consider Microsoft. They may be #1, but they are far
: from being the best product. They have succeeded by Marketing.
: Many superior products have come and gone, yet MS is still here because
: they have better strategy and better marketing.
: It may not be pretty, but that’s the way it is.
: Entertainment and competition are both important and very obvious aspects
: of FIRST – but they are only the vehicle, not the message. The primary
: mission of FIRST is to expose students technology and it’s importance
: in the world. It would certainly make sense that as part of that exposure
: they are also introduced to some of the factors that are inevitably
: linked with technology in the real world. To intentionally isolate them
: from these factors would be a doing them a disservice.
: When I went to school we were taught a lot about engineering but little
: about the ‘real world’. The hardest part of my first jobs was not the
: technical aspects, but rather dealing with the business factors. I have
: to imagine this would be even more so today. If we’re going to steer
: students towards career in science and technology it’s only fair that
: we let them see the whole picture so they can make a better informed
: decision about whether this the career for them, rather than just being
: an interesting subject to master.
: As an engineer, I’d like FIRST to be more of an engineering project.
: To have more time to be able to teach the students and teachers how
: to design a robot rather than just show them how.
: But that’s not how it is. And for that I highly commend Dean and Woody –
: and whoever else may have has a role behind the scenes – for the tremendous
: insight and foresight, to say nothing of the dedication, they have brought
: to FIRST.
: Well, I guess I’ve rambled long enough. I hope this all makes sense to
: someone…
: - Jerry