Changelog
5 Year Plan
Program Development
Develop our program to win the Impact Award at a district event, have 75 active students learning from and contributing to the team, to build up local robotics programs (FTC/FLL/Vex), and to create an informative and engaging training program that prepares every student to be a valuable part of the team.
Financial Freedom
Achieve financial freedom with a yearly budget of 100k which ensures all team members have access to events and ensure compromises are made based on their merit not financial limitation while enabling the program to grow with new technology and manufacturing capabilities.
Competitive Goals
Build on the team’s competitive track record by consistently qualifying for DCMP and Championships, consistently compete in finals at all attended district events and make it out of our division at DCMP.
Brand Building
Build our brand to be a recognizable part of our school, our local community, and the FIRST community, by adopting a brand guide, designing the robot with a signature look, and hosting numerous yearly events, including an offseason competition.
Update Goals
Consistently update goals with current progress trackers in the changelog
Changelog
2022-08-14
Created initial plan
2022-10-22
Refined Program Development goal:
Building a Thriving Robotics Community
Our program aims to create a dynamic robotics environment where students can learn, collaborate, and contribute to a world-class STEM program.
Empowering Potential Active Contributors
We’ll engage 75 students through a range of exciting activities:
Hands-on Learning: Students will build robots, tackle design challenges, and explore coding fundamentals.
Creative Problem-solving: We’ll incorporate problem-solving exercises that encourage teamwork and critical thinking.
Collaborative Spirit: Mentorship opportunities will pair experienced students with newcomers, fostering a supportive learning environment. Group projects and brainstorming sessions will further enhance collaboration.
Building Confidence and Skills
This program is designed to be both fun and rewarding:
Engaging Activities: We’ll create a dynamic learning experience that keeps students motivated.
Friendly Competition: Opportunities for friendly competition within the program will promote teamwork and a sense of accomplishment.
Celebrating Achievements: Student contributions and achievements will be recognized and celebrated, building confidence and a sense of belonging.
Strengthening Local Robotics
By fostering student interest and engagement, we’ll contribute to the growth of local robotics programs like FTC, FLL, and Vex.
Comprehensive Training Program
We’ll create a comprehensive training program that equips every student with the skills to become a valuable member of the team. This will ensure a strong foundation for future robotics endeavors.
Sustainable Growth
We’re committed to the long-term success of this program. We’ll actively recruit new students and mentors, and explore opportunities for securing funding and resources to ensure continued growth and impact.
Through this program, we aim to empower students, strengthen local STEM education, and build a thriving robotics community that fosters innovation and collaboration.
2022-11-18
Redefined Financial Freedom Goal:
Goal
Achieve financial freedom with a yearly budget of 100k, fostering inclusivity in event access for all team members and ensuring decisions are merit-based rather than financially driven. This includes leveraging innovative technologies and expanding manufacturing capabilities to propel program growth.
Comprehensive Budget Management
Budget Spreadsheet: Develop a detailed budget spreadsheet to serve as the exclusive purchasing tool, ensuring all expenditures are accounted for and tracked.
Clear Subsections: Break down the budget by subsystem to empower leadership with clear oversight of their respective financial allocations.
Strategic Ordering Protocol
Implement a strict ordering schedule: Limit purchases to Saturdays, to establish consistent deadlines and streamline procurement processes.
Adhere to the predetermined schedule to maintain budget discipline and optimize resource utilization.
Transparent Financial Review Meetings
Conduct weekly meetings to review budget utilization and financial performance.
Analyze expenditures against budget allocations to identify trends, assess financial health, and make informed decisions.
Facilitate open discussions to foster a culture of transparency and accountability, enabling proactive adjustments to financial strategies as needed.
Outcome
By implementing these strategies, the organization will achieve greater financial stability and flexibility, enabling equitable access to events for all team members while promoting merit-based decision-making. Moreover, the focus on leveraging new technologies and expanding manufacturing capabilities will drive program growth and sustainability, ensuring long-term success and financial independence.
2023-03-18
Progress on Program Development goal:
Progress
We were able to recruit 18 new members, 11 of which are 8th graders. These members went through the training programs: Design, Manufacturing, Software, and Operations.
On the robot side, these new members were invaluable to the process. They are able to point to parts on the robot they have designed, manufactured or programmed. More information on our training can be found on Bionic Docs.
On operations, new members were crucial for creating social media posts, as well as collecting information and pictures for blog posts. They also played a key part in the formation of our team’s business plan, which helped us win the Team Sustainability Award.
2023-05-04
Progress on Competitive Goals:
We were able to achieve our goal of making both DCMP and CMP. While we did go to both of these competitions, we did not initially qualify for CMP but qualified due to lots of teams declining their invite. We are going to rewrite that goal to elaborate on how we actually want to qualify. We also won the team’s first award at DCMP: Team Sustainability.
2023-06-11
Progress on Brand Building Goal:
We have successfully completed the initial goal of Brand Building. As a team we have completely moved away from the outdated persona and have embraced our new image. Our green polos and circuit emblems are recognizable everywhere.
We also have powdercoated our robot to display our new brand image. Most of the robot is green with silver (almost white) accents.
2023-09-19
Updated Program Development Goal:
Embracing the Agile Methodology
This year our main focus will be to get even more hands on the robot, and build robots quicker. To achieve this we are going to be following an industry standard: The Agile Methodology
In the past we have tried planning weekly and planning for each meeting. Weekly planning seemed to be too long which resulted in the leadership meetings being very long and not having enough time to adequately plan for the week.
Sprints
This proposal suggests that we set our sprint duration to two meetings based on the ideal that the team will meet 4 times per week during the build season (Mon, Tue) and (Fri, Sat).
A sprint is a short, time-boxed period (2 meetings) when a team works to complete a set amount of work. Importantly no new work should be added to the sprint. This commitment is made to the team members to avoid thrashing with work and changing requirements.
New work can be discussed during an active sprint but should not be started until agreed upon at a sprint planning meeting.
Sprint Demo
Celebrating the work of each individual contributor is important. Prior to sprint planning each team member should share what they have accomplished since the last sprint demo. This meeting should be around 30 minutes and not exceed 1 hour.
This meeting should be performed by each mechanical subteam and also to the Mechanical Team Standup. On sprint planning days, demo replaces individual team standups.
Retro
After every spring we should course correct and make sure that we are moving in the correct direction. Retros should aim to answer at least these three questions:
- What worked well?
- What could be better?
- Action items for improvement this next sprint?
Sprint Planning
Sprint Planning is where the subteam makes a commitment on the work they plan to achieve during the sprint. The target for this meeting is 30 mins or less. Each subsystem plans individually. A single trello board is shared among all teams. For example: A single “Robot” Trello board has 5 columns: Backlog, Todo (this sprint), Doing, Done (this sprint), Done.
2023-10-21
Progress on Brand Building:
We recently received feedback from team 6933 that they are using our rebrand to inspire their (now successful) rebrand. We are now striving to be a force of change in the FRC community, helping teams who want to rebrand.