Team Organization

1. Team Organization Tom Milnes Systems Mentor Team 2199 President PIE3 Principal Mathematician, Navigation and Guidance Modeling Section Head - JHU/APL

2. Importance of Team Organization • Team Organization is key to working effectively toward the Team’s Goals • Is your team organized around your work? • As it should be! • Or does your team work around its organization? • Team organization must be underpinned by good team philosophy and practices

3. Case Example: Team 2199 “Robo-Lions” • We’ll review the evolution of Team 2199’s Team Organization as a case example of how you might want to think about organizing your team. • What didn’t work • What did work • What we learned along the way • Note 2199 has historically been a small team so “Lesson’s Learned” will apply most closely, but not exclusively, to smaller teams

4. Robo-Lions 2010 • Had a constitution which called for elections of a prescribed set of student leaders – many of which were reserved for a particular class (Senior, Junior, Sophomore, Freshmen) • Three Subteams – No intermixing • Build • Programming • Public Relations • A commitment to: • Community Outreach • Socratic Mentoring

5. Outreach Philosophy • FIRST mission is to promote Inspiration and Respect for Science, Technology (, Engineering & Math) • Why would you build a several thousand dollar robot and then use it only a couple times a year? • Your community needs to see what High School kids are capable of and learn about the exciting aspects of STEM! • This has paid off for us both in personal satisfaction as well as awards and fund-raising

6. Mentoring Philosophy • Mentors use Socratic Method • What do we need to do? • Why are you doing that? • Have you considered this? • Mentors will insist on • Safety • Good building technique • Not repeating past mistakes • Not making critical mistakes

7. Robo-Lions 2010 “Build” Team Mentors Students Lead Mentor Programming Team Mentors Students Executives Senior Captain – Senior Junior Captain – Junior Build Captain – Sophomore Safety Captain – Freshman Programming Lead - Upperclassperson PR Chair – Upperclassperson Public Relations Team Mentors Students

8. 2010 Problems • The 2010 team was composed of three isolated components • Build Team • Programming Team • PR Team • Build and Programming Teams were not very cooperative • Build Process was entirely sequential • Build team would fiddle for 5 weeks and then hand robot to Programming team for 1 week • Resulting in no practice robot or autonomous code

9. Team Structure Changes • First change was to add an Electrical Sub-Team to bridge the gap between Build and Programming • Second change was to create a Systems Mentor to also bridge the gap between Build and Programming

10. First Structure Revision Robot Construction Mentors / Team Members Lead Mentor Manipulators Systems Mentor / Captains Sensors Executives Senior Captain – Senior Junior Captain – Junior Build Captain – Sophomore Safety Captain – Freshman PR Chair – Upperclassperson Programming Mentors / Lead / Students Public Relations Team Mentors / Chair / Students

11. Parallel Work Approach • Most people are familiar with sequential work processes • First A, then B, then C, then D, … • Makes sense if you are working alone but not if you have a large work group • Problem is large number of people are left waiting while predecessor tasks are done • Remember generally no more than 3 people can work on a robot or subsystem at a time • Trick is to break tasks into efforts which can be done in parallel by different work groups

13. Resulting Improvements • 2011 • Robo-Mannequin, modular construction • 1st Battle O’ Baltimore Championship • 2012 • Parallel construction, practice and competition robots, closed loop autonomous control, positive control of all motions • 2nd Battle O’ Baltimore Championship

14. Curve Balls Along the Way • 2011 – The Best of Times, The Worst of Times • Earned bid to FIRST Championship by Winning Engineering Inspiration at NJ Regional! • Required to pay $10K for bonded transportation to FIRST Championship • Lead Mentor left Liberty HS • Lost work space in local warehouse due to improving economy

15. Change in Status • Robo-Lions parents and mentors formed 501(c)(3) not for profit PIE3(Partnership and Inspiration for Engineering Education and Entrepreneurship) to promote K-12 Robotics in Carroll County, MD and surrounding areas • Robo-Lions become the lead team for PIE3 including FTC, FLL, and Junior FLL teams • Growth in FIRST teams exploded as a result!

16. Change In Status • Joined the Freedom Area Recreation Council (part of Carroll County Parks and Recreation) which provided: • Insurance to cover team activities / trips • Access to county facilities • Access to K-12 students via website and newsletter • Formed a partnership with Carroll County Public Schools • First of many community partnerships

17. Latter Organizational Changes • Abandoned Election of Executives • Sometimes having co-equals was the best choice • Losing an election is a demotivator for a talented team member • Eliminated “Joke” candidates • Went to a flexible student leadership structure • Eliminated putting square pegs into round holes • May be missing good (or any) candidates from a particular class • Method • Returning Upperclasspersons / Leaders worked with Mentors to select next year’s leaders • Added Scouting Lead and Mentor

18. 2017-2018 Robot Construction – Mr. Fuller Mr. Matthews, Mrs. Chimwemwe, … Drivetrain/Chassis/Electrical/Pneumatics Lead Mentor - Mrs. Young Field Elements - Parents TBD Systems / Design – Mr. Milnes Executives Team Captain – Josh Marciante Build Captain – Nathan Daly Safety Captain – Ben Hroblak Scouting Lead – Isiah Griffin PR Chair – Shannon Eissele Mr. Castelli, Mr. McMahon – Programming Manipulators Sensors Mr. Marciante – Scouting / Business Public Relations – Mrs. Eissele, Mrs. Blowers

19. Parental Roles • Experienced Technical / Non-Technical FRC mentors are essential but so is parental assistance • To construct field pieces • To manage outreach events • To manage hotel / transportation / food for events • Make sure parents / team members understand this up front • We do this at our September team / parent meeting

20. Team Member Expectations • Its essential to establish team member expectations up front • Time needed for Build Season • Outreach expectations • We have team members sign an MOU early in the fall

21. Everyone is an Engineer Philosophy • This was developed to address a typical problem for a small team • On any given day you might not get the right team members for a given job • Programmers will do Public Relations if needed • Public Relations will turn wrenches if needed • I’m not a builder, PR person, electrician, … is not accepted • If there is a job to be done whoever is available to do it, will do it

22. Summary • Team Philosophy and Practice is more important than formal team organization • Need to have organizational “glue” to keep subteams working in concert • Consider a flexible approach to student leadership • Set expectations for parents and students as early as possible

23. Questions For You • How is your team organized? • What works for your team • What organizational problems does your team have? • What doesn’t work for your team