Team Structure¶

Team assumed: ~8 mentors, 12–20 students, ~6 highly involved. This document defines subteams, roles, and a minimum-viable variant for a very small active core.

Structure serves two goals: parallel progress, and clear ownership. If nobody's name is on a subsystem, nobody owns it.

Core Principle: Student-Led, Mentor-Guided¶

Students own decisions. Mentors ask questions, teach concepts, enforce safety and process.
Mentors do not build the robot. A mentor holding a wrench should have a student's hand next to theirs.
Students own the gate artifacts. Mentor signature confirms the artifact was reviewed, not authored.

Standard Subteam Layout (~15 students, 6 mentors involved)¶

Five subteams. Four build subteams + one business/outreach subteam. Each subteam: 2–4 students + 1–2 mentors. One student Subteam Lead per subteam. Business subteam has equal weight in stand-ups and gate reviews — outreach is a deliverable, not a hobby.

Subteam 1 — Drivetrain & Chassis¶

Owns locomotion, frame, bumpers, master-model skeleton.

Subteam Lead (senior student) — chassis CAD gatekeeper, gate signer.
Fabrication student — machining + assembly.
Test driver student — kinematics validation.
Mechanical mentor — reviews, teaches.

Subteam 2 — Game Interaction (scoring mechanism)¶

Owns intake, indexer, scorer/shooter/elevator — whatever the game requires.

Subteam Lead (senior student) — mechanism CAD.
Prototype student — cardboard / iteration.
Sensors student — integration with electrical.
Mechanical mentor.

Subteam 3 — Software & Controls¶

Owns all robot code, simulation, autos, log review.

Software Lead (senior student) — architecture.
Subsystem programmer(s) — one per subsystem.
Simulation / test student — sim + log replay.
Software mentor.

Subteam 4 — Electrical & Integration¶

Owns power, wiring, panel layout, robot-level integration.

Electrical Lead (senior student) — schematic + power budget.
Wiring student — harness + connectors.
Integration student — robot assembly + endurance testing.
Electrical mentor.

Subteam 5 — Business & Outreach¶

Owns sponsors, awards, outreach, social media, media/press. See 13_business_outreach.md + 14_awards_and_submissions.md.

Business/Impact Lead (senior student) — Subteam Lead, gate signer for GB1–GB4.
Sponsor sub-lead — pipeline, asks, thank-yous, tracker.
Awards sub-lead — Impact submission, Dean's List, Woodie Flowers, interview prep.
Outreach sub-lead — event calendar, outreach log.
Social Media sub-lead — team accounts, build-blog cross-post, event coverage.
Business mentor.

On small teams the four sub-leads collapse onto one or two students.

Team-Wide Roles (cross-subteam)¶

These roles cut across subteams. Usually a student holds each with a mentor advising.

Team Lead (student) — overall accountability. Runs stand-ups.
Strategy Lead — owns Priority List. Very active Week 1, then feeds scouting.
Purchasing Lead — owns BOM + order queue.
Scouting Lead — owns match strategy at events.
Safety Captain — mentor-supervised student, enforces shop safety.
Business / Impact Lead — see Subteam 5 above. First-class Subteam Lead, not an afterthought.
Drivers + Coach — identified by end of Week 2.

Mentor Assignments¶

Roughly one mentor per subteam, plus:

Lead Mentor — process enforcement, gate final signer.
Machinist / Fabrication Mentor — trains and gates shop-tool access.
Business / Finance Mentor — budget, sponsorships.
Safety Mentor — often same as Lead Mentor.

With 8 mentors and 4 subteams, plenty of coverage. Rotate mentors year-to-year on subteams to spread knowledge.

Minimum-Viable Team Variant (only 6 highly involved students)¶

When only ~6 students are active enough to lead:

Collapse to 3 subteams. Merge Electrical into whichever subteam has the biggest scope this year (typically Drivetrain).
Every active student is a Subteam Lead. No dedicated fab/prototype students — the Subteam Lead does it or splits with the second student in the subteam.
Cross-subteam roles collapse. Strategy Lead may also be Team Lead. Purchasing Lead may be a mentor for a small team.
Software subteam runs light — 1 Software Lead + 1 subsystem programmer + 1 sim student. Merge sim + subsystem if needed.
Mentors take on more execution — not building the robot, but doing BOM tracking, kanban maintenance, order placement.

Subteam structure for minimum-viable variant:

Subteam	Focus	Students
Subteam A	Chassis + Electrical	2
Subteam B	Game mechanism	2
Subteam C	Software	2
Subteam D	Business & Outreach	1 student + 1 mentor (or 1 student across all sub-roles)

Business subteam does not disappear on small teams — it may shrink to a single student + mentor, but sponsors, awards, and outreach still ship. See 13_business_outreach.md for minimum-viable cuts.

Non-active students (10+ in the broader team) contribute in scouting, outreach, or specific tasks under a Subteam Lead. Do not force them into leadership roles they cannot sustain.

Onboarding¶

Pre-kickoff (fall): rookies do CAD tutorials (Onshape FRC courseware), tour the shop, learn safety, meet mentors. Elite teams do this — small teams especially benefit.
Kickoff week: rookies pair with a Subteam Lead. No rookie is idle in Week 1.
First-year task: a rookie in each subteam owns at least one component by end of Week 3 (e.g., "own the bumper mount design").

Meeting Cadence¶

Daily stand-up (10 min) during build season: each Subteam Lead reports blockers.
Weekly all-hands (30 min): week's goals + gate schedule.
Gate reviews: as scheduled (see 07_gate_reviews.md).
Retro after competition: whole team (see 10_retrospective.md).

Common Failure Modes¶

Titles without ownership. "Mechanical Lead" who is never in the CAD file. Fix: every role has a named artifact they own.
Mentor writes the code / does the CAD. Students disengage. When mentors graduate/leave, knowledge walks.
Everyone on the loudest problem. Subteam structure exists so 3 problems get worked in parallel, not one at a time.
Rookies as spectators. They own nothing, they learn nothing, they don't come back next year.
Same 2 seniors on every gate. They burn out. Rotate subteam leads year over year.