Leading

The leader of a team isn’t just the leader. They’re a builder, coder, or driver, and they don’t even have to be the best. The leader’s job has nothing to do with the robot, rather, it has everything to do with your teammates. I do want to say that all leaders are different, so there will be some practices that I implement that you don’t agree with. The differences arise in how your team functions and each person’s personality.

Meetings

As the leader, your job is to direct each meeting so that your teammates stay on track and current goals are completed. Your meetings will change as your season progresses because your goals change. For example in the beginning of the season, your goal is to get the robot built, while at the end of the season you may prioritize driving. Below is a generalized meeting:

Pre-Meeting

Go into the meeting prepared with what you want to accomplish. Maybe today’s the day you build the drivetrain, maybe you practice auton. Have your meeting thought out a day or two in advance. It doesn’t have to be super thorough, although a checklist could help here. You may not finish all the tasks you want to during a meeting, this is normal, just make sure that you can finish all the tasks you want to before the time that they’re relevant (e.g. a tournament).

Start of the Meeting

The most important part about the beginning is getting people organized. Many times people will be late for various reasons so make sure you can cover them or ensure that they’re early. You should try and get your teammates working as soon as possible, this includes you. If you have a task you need to start, start it. If you need to get someone else’s task started (pulling out the robot and relevant parts), do so as it will help get people moving as they come in. Once everyone is there, fill them in on the goals. It’s always nice to have people stand around a table and have a concise plan laid out. This is also a good time to let your team be aware of any important news that comes up. This may also be the only time you can talk to your entire team at once with their attention, so if you need to say anything do it now.

Middle of the Meeting

Your team should break to complete whatever goals you have laid out. For example, the lead builder will talk to the secondary builder(s) about what needs to be built and how they’ll do it. Many times, especially later in the season, you will have goals that need to be completed after another goal. If you can, try to keep people active within your team. If you’re practicing auton and your builders have nothing to do, have them reset the field. If you have no jobs for people, send them to help out another team. Everyone appreciates an extra set of hands. Remember, busywork is still a job, inactive people can at least do that. Also, try to be active in each activity. Check in on the robot’s progress, check in on how the code’s coming, check in on the last skills run, check in so you stay up to date with your team. This will also help you evaluate goals.

End of the Meeting

After you’ve finished an amount of goals, you need to wrap up. This can be anywhere from 15 minutes from the end to an hour past. The worst part about the meeting is having to clean up. Have your entire team clean up so that your workspace will be nice for your next meeting. Organize your parts so that you and your sister teams can find them.

Post-Meeting

After each meeting, in the car ride home, reflect over what happened in the meeting. What was actually completed? What was partially completed? What wasn’t completed? If something was completed, move on to the next objective. If something wasn’t completed or completed fully, finish it, then move on. If something doesn’t get completed, you can’t blame anyone. Maybe a previous goal took longer than expected. Maybe you set too many goals. The only time you can blame someone is if they weren’t doing anything and even then you shouldn’t. Once you’ve determined what happened at the meeting, go back to Pre-meeting. It never ends.

Season Timing

As the leader, you’re also responsible to lead your team through a season. Basically, you need to have a coded, driven, functioning robot before a tournament. How do you get there? Let’s start with the beginning of the season, we’ll cover a bit more of this in The Season.

The Beginning

You want to lead your team through learning the new game. The Season talks about the pre-reveal and the reveal. Lead your team through these so that you’re all on the same page and everyone understands what needs to be understood. In the very beginning of the season, specific roles don’t matter too much. Notebooking is very important, so ensure that your notebooker is doing their job. Once your team has a general idea of what you’re going to do, you move into the middle season.

The Middle

You are not the lead builder, lead coder, or lead driver (unless you are). You do not have domain over exactly how something should be built. That’s the lead builder’s job. Give your suggestions, they’re important, but you can’t use your leader position to control how other people work.

Once you have a design decided on, tell your lead builder to talk people through how to build the robot. Ask them to give you relevant goals to accomplish in meetings. The same goes for your coders and drivers. You want to let your lead builder/coder/driver decide what direction to take the robot. You decide how to make sure your team follows their directions.

But, you may also have to make executive decisions. Maybe people are having a disagreement, you might be the tiebreaker. Make sure to think through your decision. Maybe there’s no code written for your robot 3 weeks before a tournament. Start coding. You can go to a tournament with an incomplete robot, you can’t go without good code.

What’s a good timeline? Build a part. Code whatever part you can once it’s built. Test it after it’s coded. Keep doing that until you have a robot. You’ll have to talk to your lead builder/coder/driver to get a feel for when something will be done. Building always initially take the longest, although tapers off at the end. Coding can initially be very short, although it will get more tedious later. Driving is usually tied to coding, that’s still true here. Your first tournament won’t be your best. Make sure you have a functioning robot going into it. It doesn’t have to do everything, as long as it can drive you’re good. Two weeks before your first tournament you want to have your robot coded and your driver driven it. One week before, you want to have a simple auton coded, this isn’t necessary although it will help you a lot. You will also want more driving practice and building fixes. The meeting before the tournament should be minor tweaks, driving practice, and auton practice. Make sure your team is prepared for the tournament, don’t set them up for failure. Keep goals on time and make calls if they aren’t.

In-Between Tournaments

I’m going over tournaments in the next section. Depending on the time between tournaments, you can improve on a number of things. I recommend going over what went well and what didn’t at your first meeting back or if you don’t have time, talk to your teammates about it and make some decisions. Either way, decide what goals you need to accomplish before your next tournament. Knock them out. Before the next tournament, make sure your driver gets practice.

End of the Season These are your last qualifying tournaments and any final tournaments. No major building changes. I can’t tell you to follow that strictly, but try not to change your build. Your driver has had the entire season to learn the robot, they’ll have a few weeks to learn a new one. What you do want to change is code, whether it’s a better function or it’s a better auton. You also want more driving practice, more skills practice, and more in-club scrimmages. You’re late game now, it’s not the time to recreate your robot, it’s the time to take what you have and compete. Make sure your team follows your instructions on this explicitly.

Tournaments

Similar to the rest of the time, your job as leader during a tournament is to pull your team through. Unlike the rest of the season, your word is final.

Pre-Tournament Prep

Make sure your driver has practiced, your code is finished, and your robot is good. Pack any parts you think you’ll need and any parts you might not. Keep your team in good spirits and make sure everyone feels ready for the tournament (no one really feels ready, although you have to accept you’ve done everything you can). You also have to ensure that everyone has rides to the tournament.

Pre-Matches

When you get to the tournament, get everyone ready and get your driver practicing or get your auton practiced. Have someone check-in and give the judges your notebook. When you have everyone together, excluding your driver, give them their assignments. You’ll need at least one person scouting and watching all the matches, don’t make this yourself because you need to be there for your team. You’ll need up to 2 people to be the drive team, your driver will pick them. Any other people will need to standby for coding changes and building fixes. Your driver will be driving. They are the key to the tournament, it’s your job to give them the best chance at winning. Get ready for your matches, make sure everyone has the schedule, don’t break your robot.

Qualification Matches

Get your team to each match on time. In-between matches, practice your auton, practice your driving, fix minor parts. But, don’t overdo it, you want people to be fresh. This is everyone’s time for a break, take it. During the match cheer or don’t cheer, I’m not sure what your driver likes. Again, cater to your driver. Sometime during the tournament, you will be judged. Make sure you are judged in-between matches, you want everyone there to talk. Judging will be covered more in The Tournament. Also during your time off you should complete skills. Only do this when your driver is ready. It is your job to get your team to skills. Know your schedule so you can find a good opening to do skills and judging.

Most importantly, you will have to make decisions on everything in the tournament. Will you let your builder change this part? Do you want to go with code 1 or code 2? What partner will you choose? You should talk to the respective leads and your driver about what they want done. Once you make your decision based off of theirs, it’s final. No one argues with it. Use a stern voice. Remember: you have to get your team through a tournament no matter how much somebody wants to do X, Y and Z.

Finals

You’ll have to pick partners. Use your scout’s information and talk with your teammates. Ultimately it’s your driver’s decision. If they don’t know, it’s your’s and your scout’s. Get your team and your partner’s to matches on time. Offer to help with anything they need. They are an extension of your team. You should know of and use a timeout. Each pair only gets 1 timeout in all of the finals matches. But, if you need to get that last auton made, it might be worth it. Each timeout is 3 minutes. Eventually, you’ll get to your match and you want to support your team. Do whatever is best for your driver. This is when it matters.

Conclusion

Your job is to get your team through the season. Whether it’s a meeting or a tournament, your job is to advance your team. Listen to your teammates for information and make judgments. Sometimes you’ll be right, sometimes you’ll be wrong. A good leader will know how to correct the wrongs (listen to the leads). What is your short-term end goal? Build a drivetrain? Finish the code? Do driving practice? Get through the tournament? Make sure your team knows, and make sure you follow steps to accomplish the goal.