As long as I’ve been in FIRST, a basic recruiting tool for “non-technical” people is that there is more to robotics than just robots, which is absolutely true with teams having the ability to show their poweress in business, marketing, and outreach (among others).
Now, my question today is what is the level of interaction and autonomy between the robot and non-robot groups on your team?
Personally, I’ve seen teams operate on all areas of the spectrum. I’ve seen instances where the technical leads are your business leaders and chairmans presenters. On the other hand, I’ve also seen instances where the two aspects of the team are severely disconnected, so much so that they run different recruiting strategies.
So, what’s your team’s strategy when it comes to the autonomy and communication between non-technical and technical groups?
We try to have everyone do a little of both. The balance isn’t equal as our Chairman’s presenters obviously stay on the non-technical side of things during the season and we have some students that don’t like working on the blog or helping with editing or graphics design. But largely we have people that do a little bit of both. During the build season most of the team starts doing robot work and after championship there is a lot more non-technical projects and outreach things to get done before next year’s kickoff.
I’m curious how you manage to let people participate in both but still drill-down and build skills and interest?
For example, a freshman student is participating in both technical and non-technical activities. How do you balance which activities take priority? Is it entirely up to the team member or is it more team driven?
For the upcoming season, our team is organizing the Technical and Non-Technical aspects into a “branch system”, in which students manage sub teams appropriate to the category they are leading.
The Project Lead is a non-technical position that manages Chairman’s, Business, Graphics, and Spirit. These sub teams, which not having an official leadership role, will report to the Project lead, and work as a cohesive unit.
The Robot Lead serves as a resource of knowledge and experience for all four tech sub teams, and is responsible for coordinating frequent meetings between the four technical captains(mechanical, electrical, design, programming) , where the five will make all major robot decisions. The robot lead does not make executive decisions alone, but does ensure that important decisions are being made.
The Organizational Lead will keep the team roster and job assignments organized. They attend and assist to the creation of the build season schedule, which the robot lead will enforce. Staying up to date with PR and CD, they will manage the game analysis and strategic design components of build, working closely with the technical captains.
This is our teams format, where Robot lead serves more in the technical field, Project lead attends to Non-technical sub teams, and Organizational focuses on coordination.
We don’t operate like most times. We meet 5, 6, or 7 days a week year round. We might take a week off every 4-5 months or so normally for finals and things like that. However we don’t have any required meetings either. People that want to be there all the time can be and people that just want to get a taste of the action can do that as well. Not everyone needs or wants the same things out of the team. We also don’t have any assigned titles. Team members take up roles and we have plenty of leaders on the team but there aren’t elections or appointments or anything similar. Subteams aren’t defined we have students who take up leading efforts on the robot and within the team but often it’s a “next person up” type attitude to who is working on what. If electrical needs to get done, who ever is in the room is often learning electrical and making crimps.
Like I said the whole team shifts in what we are working on. Largely during build season we are working on technical things and fighting to get the robot done (with a small group doing the Chairman’s submission). Once the off-season comes we re-focus on outreach along with some scheduled technical workshop times (like this week everyone that wants to is doing CAD training). Right before off-season events we’ll do robot maintenance but we don’t do as many technical summer projects as we probably should or I would like.
The fall has always been a bit messy for us honestly. With new students, and running competitions things get a little strange. We aren’t competing in VEX this year to see if we can focus a bit more of our time internally while still being able to support the competitions and outreach efforts that we do in the fall. We turn it around during build season and the team always finds a way to come together but we’re trying to find a way to make that happen faster.
To specifically answer your question we had several dedicated freshman this past year who have all for the most part done a little bit of both sides. From doing presentations at outreach events, working on the twitter feed, managing the “How I Work Articles”, graphics design, or working on web streams at events to learning how to program, CAD, repair the robot, drive at off-season events, etc. We’ll try to push people a bit out of their comfort zone when ever possible.
So, that’s a good view into your leadership structure, but how do you structure students within those groups? Do you encourage participation in multiple groups or ask students drill down in their one area?
When it comes to the structure of students, team members serve in their respective sub team (mechanical, design, electrical, programming, etc.). However, participation has been encouraged lately among students with different sub teams.
For the upcoming season, student workshops for design and programming have taken place. This is to help students get a head start on a topic they are just approaching, or to help familiarize a student with an additional field they are eager to learn. This does not exactly mean that the student would be on the design or programming sub team, but still looking to increase their knowledge on the topic.
This understanding may help a student on the CNC sub team for example, when cadding a part to be milled or be 3D printed. Or when a student on the electrical sub team works with design to make sure all the electronics fit, which would go back to CNC to 3-D print and design talon towers to save space and so on. Typically, a student would drill down in their one area and work with other groups. For example, if I was on the programming sub team I would be programming, not cadding gearboxes.
When prototyping, students are not limited to their sub team descriptions. While prototyping would be listed under design, students from all sub teams are encouraged to contribute ideas, and create preliminary models. Same concept applies for competition season. If you worked on the mechanical aspects of the robot during build season, you can still choose to scout or be on drive team, for example. While being on pit would utilize your mechanical understanding, you are not limited to just that option.
As for the involvement between technical and nontechnical sub teams, any student can be on chairman’s, or just be willing to put in some time for Public Relations.
Hope I answered your question, let me know if there was anything else I can do to help, I would be happy to assist.
From the top down, here’s what our leadership structure looks like:
Our co-presidents oversee everything that happens on the team, while also having managerial positions in their own departments. This year it’s two fabrication managers and myself (outreach/marketing/Chairman’s), so technical and non-technical aspects of the team are covered.
Up to four students manage each department, with some managing more than one. Fabrication is the only department with four managers, and that’s just because it’s so big. All the others only have 2, max. These are often determined by seniority (though exceptions can and have been made), and each department operates with a fair bit of autonomy. Once the CAD is done, electrical wires it as they see fit, and software programs it as best they can with input from the drive team. Chairman’s, especially, has a lot of autonomy. As long as we get the submission in on time, the technical leads don’t really get in the way (though we do the presentation for the whole team and have everyone look at the essay).
About 1/4 of the team is involved as a manager or co-president. Everyone else self-organizes into the department(s) that they’re most interested in, and during the fall it’s their job to show that they’re competent enough to be on the team for build season. This is accomplished through BunnyBots, a fall competition that we host and run where each team builds a whole new robot before build season. We have rookies build, wire, and program our BunnyBots, so that when build season rolls around everyone can contribute in a meaningful way.
As far as coordination goes, the lab is open every day after school, and members are expected to show up at least twice a week during build season (though many come in far, far more often). The whole team attends weekly lunch meetings, and managers have another weekly meeting where we discuss leadership skills and coordinate between the departments.
The non technical part of our team is called the PAW room (it used to stand for Promotions. Animation and Website. Now it’s Promotions. App and Website). The kids in the PAW room label it The Dungeon because they are basically segregated from the robot design because there is very little robot design needs from the PAW room.
I feel that it’s extremely difficult to have a strong link between the technical and non-technical people of the team, but I feel that our team has always persevered on binding the two as close as possible in order to operate as one.
For one, all major decisions are passed through the entire group (which I assume most teams do). This includes things like shooting mechanisms, intake, and so on. Although everyone is working on different aspects from mechanical, electrical, to chairman’s, the one common goal between everyone is the robot, and that’s what we all aim to work towards and contribute towards by assisting in different aspects.
Secondly, we try our best to never set extremely strict boundaries job wise, meaning that you are allowed to float between a couple jobs, allowing people to mingle between people in other sectors. However, there are “crunch times” where people will need to focus specifically on their aspect, and technical and non technical interaction can be low at this point.
Overall, in order to be a successful team I feel that it is extremely important to realize the need for an extremely close relationship between those working in the technical and non technical sectors, and understand that by working as one you will be the most efficient and cohesive.
Super long post. The first section is not absolutely necessary to be read, it just explains my background that shaped my response on the topic.
Personally speaking, this upcoming season marks my 10th year with FIRST. My 4 years as a student I cannot recall working on the robot itself besides posing for a picture. In my 4 years as an onsite mentor (I moved and assisted the team remotely this past year) I occasionally assisted with the technical side. If I remember correctly I helped put together a wheel. Otherwise I stuck to the business side of things. Not to say I do not know how to use tools, I grew up using most power tools, power saws being the exception, and know how to use most hand powered tools. The reason for my disconnect between being technical and non-technical goes back to my freshman year on the team. It was comprised of 12 students, 10 of those were male. The grade breakdown for the team was 2 freshman, 1 sophomore, 2 juniors and 7 seniors. Being a freshman female, no one actively allowed me to work with the robot and it stuck. This year as a FIRST VISTA I’m hoping to become more technical to compliment my business skills with FIRST. That being said:
Sometimes those who are on the non-technical side felt pressured to be there and like they couldn’t work on the technical side because they currently lack the skills and knowledge. I feel the relationship between technical and non-technical could be better by allowing opportunities on both sides for them to work uncriticized. I’ve recently been reading the FTC Mentor’s Manual (because this program is my weakest point with FIRST) [strike]I cannot find the exact section now to reference[/strike] It reads “Most FTC Team members take on multiple roles. It is suggested that each student be on at least two subgroups: one in which he or she shows strength, and one in which he or she can learn from others.”. [strike]It mentioned when assigning sub-teams. Possibly have the students be on two (with FRC this could be difficult during build season, so maybe have a 1st and 2nd priority sub-team) one where they are strong and one where they are weaker and would like to cultivate the skill.[/strike] This could be a way to get some non-technical members into the technical side of things. This could even be just a summer project where technical students coach and assist non-technical students to build a robot. Another things is have all students participate on the business side during the summer. Everyone actively recruit students and sponsors, participate with fundraisers and promoting FIRST in general. Allowing opportunities for those who normally do not work with it are essential, even if someone is planning on being an engineer after they graduate they will still need some of those business skills. Even if someone is wanting to go into a business field, technical knowledge can help when working with technical minded people as they can sort of relate and maybe shape their answers in a way that might be easier to understand.