What next?

For the next week and a half the team will be preparing for competition. The year, as far as robotics is concerned, will climax with 3 crazy 18-hour days of hurried preparations, even more hurried repairs, and a few choice minutes of adrenaline-quenched Rebound Rumble. A handful of teams will go on to Championships and experience the whole thing over again on a 10x scale.

But what about the rest of us? What is the next move? There are a million answers, for each of a millions ways of answering that question...

My answer is that I would like the team to become a company in all but the literal, legal sense of the word. Being a member of the team, like being an employee of a company, should be a privilege, not a right. Those who do not show up for work, or are not productive during the workday will be reprimanded, and if necessary, removed from the company. True accountability is yet to be achieved in this team; while what I saw this year was exponentially better than the first year I was with this team in 2010, it still needs to be improved to be a competitive team. Deadlines must be exactly that: DEAD lines. If you cross a deadline, you are, in one way or another, dead. There is no leeway, no play, no tolerance. If the robot is to be finished by 2 weeks into the build period, then that is to happen at all costs.

Another thing I would like to bring to the team is goal-based operation. One set of goals that mandates every decision, action, and lack of action on the team. Every single decision the team makes throughout the entire year is based on one set of parameters, the team goal(s), and absolutely nothing else. It is my belief that this will increase the effectiveness of nearly all decisions made on this team.

While researching on Chief Delphi, I came across a truly incredible custom gearbox build by team 192. Here is a picture...