Sorry about the week off from doing the question, but being an avid Red Sox fan, my priorities were a taaaad mixed last week 
**Question of the Week (10/11/04):
If there was one rule of advice that you could give any team to be successful in FIRST, what would that rule be?
Special rule: Once someone has stated a rule, do not repeat it.**
Have fun!
-Andy Grady
Be there for one another, and donāt criticize along the way.
Criticism and unwanted comments waste time, and are not GP. You need to spend the time you would arguing, working with one another and trying to get things done. Worry about what you need to do on your team, not what someone else does or says. Itās not worth the time or effort, and thereās a lot more you can be spending your time and energy on.
Live up to FIRST values, always.
Just my $.02 =)
Cheer like fools.
Doing so will make your FIRST experience immensely better, whether you bring home some bling or not. And if you enjoy FIRST, the odds of that nifty Inspiration thing kicking in go up dramatically.
Donāt throw out any ideas, ever, until theyāve been fully analyzed, or as fully analyzed as resources permit.
Many times over my past three years in FIRST, weāve thrown out an idea that we then saw on the robot that won the regional. NEVER throw out an idea, no matter how crazy it may be, until youāve figured out if itāll work or not, and how other teams would approach it. Better off to waste a day in the first week than three days at a regional.
The Safety Goggles ruleā¦
i know that it has been brought up beforeā¦ even was tried to apply it at competition, but didnt look like it was very successful. if there was a way to get everyone to wear safety goggles whenever they are in the pits, we in general would look so much better. 
just a week ago when i was helping someone drill press a aluminum piece it flew off and hit me right on the safety gogglesā¦ if that wasnt thereā¦ i would probably be in hospital trying to find out if i turned blind or notā¦ SAFETY FIRST
As I always say:
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can (and will) be held againt you (and your peers) in the court of public opinion.
This rule doesnāt just apply to message boards and website guestbooks but at competitions as well (especially there!). Donāt hamstring your team because you canāt control your mouth.
Give space for your team-mates/mentors to grow, it is rewarding to you more than anyone else.
Iāve been in many teams, and it is the same for a FIRST team or any other team. Sometimes you just have to have faith in your team members and let them do things even though they donāt seem that responsible. You indirectly become a team leader when you can let others take up heavy responsibilities. One thing is that you are giving them a lot of importance and they will like you for that. Secondly, the team becomes very productive when everyone is been given some importance, and space to grow. Its OK to make fun of your team mates because theyāre dumb of whatever, but if you give them space to grow you never know what might come out of them. Go experiment with team-work.
Practice is important!
If your drivers first drive your robot at the regional, you probably wonāt do very well, and are doing a disservice to all the people who built and designed your robot. Get a drivable chassis of some sort within 10 days and work from there. Have driver training (either with an incomplete robot, a past robot if you have one, or a box on wheels) as soon as you can. Set a final completion date at least three days before shipping, which will give you a chance to drive your completed robot, break it, and then fix it before sealing it in the crate.
Have patience with one another. Not everyone is going to understand the first time.
No question is a bad one. Ask and ye shall learn.
*Be open, to everything
*
Just applies to EVERYTHING, you will come upon SO many unexpected things, qualities in yourself and others that you never knew were there. Mechanical things as well, donāt ever totally shoot something down, many people have different viewpoints than you and may see something you donāt. Give everyone a chance, maybe even 2 or 3. People will suprise you left and right, you will also suprise people. You will aquire things youād never get anywhere else, be it skill, experience or friends. Donāt take anything for granted.
Know your capabilities, and donāt try and build something outside of themā¦
This is my variation of the āKeep it Simpleā rule. I love the KISS philosophy, but it doesnāt apply to everyone. I mean, I donāt really think that Wildstang or Beatty need to go build āsimpleā robots next year. But it is crucial that every team knows what theyāre capable of doing. Once you figure out your capabilities, do not try and exceed them.
Simpler and well done will always beat more complex but poorly built and unreliable. For some teams this means just building a box on wheels with limited functions, while for other teams it means not building a 8 motor swerve design.
Iāve seen to many teams fall face first when trying to do to much. By no means am I trying to squelch innovation, but teams need to remember that we all have reasonable limits.
take enormous pride in what you have done, but respect everyone elseās effort as well.
coming off of karthikās post, it matters not what type of robot you have built, but the fact that you sunk so much of your own time into it.
Budget your time wisely
Donāt waste time. The 6 weeks of build season go by fast, so getting behond can be a major problem. Make a schedule for your team of where you want to be by certain dates, and make sure you meet those deadlines (so you can take ahechtās advice and have enough time for quality practice). Budget and use your time well, and the 6 weeks of build season will be much less stressful.
Break it early
The sooner you try your design out, the sooner you can find the faults and the weak points. While breaking things during week 4 is disheartening, breaking things during a regional is a nightmare. It is easy to recover after a week 4 breakage. Recovering between elimination matches is tough.
Design it. Break it. Fix the design. Repeat until the design is right. In FIRST, the earlier you start this process, the better your design will be.
Andy B.
One thing Sean Schuff pointed out to me as a freshman is ā¦
āRemember, being involved [with FIRST] is a privilege, not a right.ā
Easily, one of the best pieces of advice Iāve ever received. When things arenāt going your way, keep the above in mind; instead of getting angry, try to do something to better the situation for everyone.
Prototype early and often
One of the things that made the 177 bot great in 2001 was that its claw could grab either a big ball or a mobile goal. It took us several generations of PVC prototypes before we even thought about it being able to serve both purposes.
Fail often to succeed faster.
This was our motto this year and we stuck to it. Whenever we had an idea, we tried it out as quickly as possible to see if it worked. I think this team failed more often this year than any team Iāve been on. And weāll be failing even more next year!
On a side note, we had this on a 2-piece banner hanging in our work area. The second half of the banner fell down and it just read āFail often to suc.ā That drew a few giggles.
I like Dean Kamenās key rules of project development, the number one of which is " Fall behind early." Team Hammond abides by that rule most every year.
Never, EVER quit.
This is difficult on purpose. Itās life preparation like you couldnāt ever imagine. Pursuing dreams and ideals is no easy task, but donāt ever let any obstacle or person rob you of a dream. This world needs people who are passionate about what they do and about being contributors to society. Iāve learned the only requirement for success is perseverance.