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Refers to Skillset Levelling Rubric , but less general.

Discussed at 2023-05-25 Leads Meeting Minutes , and in 2023 Comp Debrief (Google Drive: 2023 Post Mortem)

Past Faults - Reasons that this document exists

The method and timeline of selecting comp attendees in 2023 was questioned a few times through the winter term leading up to comp. This was because:

  • Roster was decided in January, 4 months before comp

  • Comp list was discussed in 1 meeting before the Discord role was added to peoples' accounts

  • Comp list was under very little outside scrutiny and was not made obvious to the general, wider team

Reasons for the above occurring includes:

  • Lack of visibility in leads meetings - they aren’t locked to just leads, but there is low-to-no attendance of regular members, and no initiative to share meeting events with regular members

  • Lack of communication between leads about when or whether or not the travel team names were finalized

  • The # of cars was intended to be finalized early, to book enough of them. This pushed forwards the entire decision-making process, albeit unintentionally

  • During competition, the team was not a fluid unit, and was instead divided into 2 main groups by role - either working on the drone directly, or working on presentation and report

    • Caused communication difficulty and felt like there was a disconnect

    • Members who did not have space in the pit were distant from the rest of the entire competition, and did not network or associate much with other teams or sponsors

    • Uneven distribution of responsibility

      • Even then, some responsibilities were not covered at competition

  • Lack of conflict management and a communications rift within the team in January led to an event in which the technical adeptness/ project scope of attendees was questioned

  • In the week leading up to comp, it was felt there was injustice in how the travel team was chosen

    • Whether or not attendees should be required to commit to spending time working on the project prior to comp (at least in the week prior to comp, when the team is spending time making fixes, flying, and preparing every day in the bay)

In future competitions, we aim to minimize these faults and provide a more justified, open method of selecting comp attendees!

Comp travel team formats

Formats

Pros

Cons

2022/2023

  • 10 attendees

  • Competition and travel fees fully covered

  • WARG can fully cover travel costs

  • Smaller team means everyone can more easily have an important role

  • Easier to manage

  • Less opportunity for new or non-critical members

  • Requires a stricter set of requirements to choose attendees

  • ~15 attendees

  • Competition and travel fees about 2/3 covered

  • Gives opportunity to new members to learn

    • hard to transfer the ‘going to comp’ experience without.. going to comp

  • Gets people hooked on the team

  • Allows more capacity for:

    • Networking with other teams

    • Spectating teams

    • Talking to/ learning from sponsors and competition ppl

    • Media coverage and handling

    • Diverse skillset

  • More difficult to organize and coordinate a large group

  • Some people may not have a dedicated role

  • Crowds the pit

  • Each attendee paying between $100-$200

Decision Guide

Based on the 2023 competition experience - not intended as a set of rules, but please take these into account when deciding the competition travel team.

Thoughts, to be edited post may 25:

  • Attendees should have a role - it’s ok to be there to learn, but that role should be defined

  • Finalize headcount early, then figure out actual names later on. This is because vehicles needs to be clarified and booked ASAP.

  • However, key members can be chosen earlier. These are people who have long-term buildup of knowledge that are considered either irreplaceable, or if they need to commit early to, for example, complete advanced pilot training and practice flying. Includes:

    • Pilots

    • Ground station operators

    • Key management team/person

  • Possibly, if the 15-person format is chosen, each subteam lead can nominate/select one of their team members to attend (with no defined role - just to carry forward the team base knowledge and get people hooked on comp)

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