Proposed Restructure (F2022)

Owned by Austin Tailon Huang
Last updated: Oct 26, 2022
4 min read

Current Team Structure - Issues

  • Team Lead is a very heavy role - responsibilities include:

    • Managing communication with SDC leaders

    • Technical roadmap and scope for entire team

    • Addressing high level technical issues with the team

    • Managing URC deadlines

    • Responsible for maintaining workspace, team outreach, general meetings, etc

    • Team lead is not an attractive role to have. Not a good sign when our most important team role is undesirable

  • Subteam lead can be equally demanding

    • Currently, subteam leads are responsible for leading technical projects, mentoring new members, picking up slack from other members who are not hitting deadlines, and hold full ownership over technical progress of a subteam (high stress role)

    • Giving a subteam lead responsibility for large (or multiple large) technical projects does not provide subteam members with the opportunity to take on meaningful work

    • Subteam lead is also not a desirable role - many people are intimidated by the prospective commitment and level of responsibility

  • Current Resources

    • Given current team resources, responsibilities have blended - some leads are taking on multiple roles and projects simultaneously

    • Most of this was caused by poor planning for term to term transitions

  • Future Concerns

    • Finding leads for next term could be a struggle

  • Project Complexity

    • Some projects are incredibly complex in scope (arm controller, localization and autonomy, etc)

    • These projects are not well suited towards undergrad IMO

  • Experience Level

    • Current experience level of team members is low (<2 terms with team)

Proposed Restructure

Summary of Notable Changes

  • Define clear roles within each subteam → assign group members to actual projects to foster subteam communication

  • Recruit to fill outstanding roles from term to term → better sense of planning for term to term transitions

  • Design roles to be sustainable and manageable

Top Level Changes

Team Lead (In Person, ideally 2+ years with team, at least 1 term as a subteam lead)

  • Responsible for defining and managing system architecture of the rover

  • Determines plan to integrate all subsystems into a functioning rover

  • Determines system verification testing plans

  • Determines roadmap to competition

  • Responsible for ensuring team resources are properly spread out from term to term (personnel management)

  • Manage general meetings

  • Not responsible for completing any technical projects; no adjacent responsibilities

Project Management Team

  • Now a two man team!

PM Lead (Remote or In Person, ideally previous PM experience. Non technical role

  • Implement project tracking tools to track all active work; ensure tools are up to date

  • Define and manage systems for knowledge transfer; ensure tools are being used properly from term to term across all projects

  • Maintain team Gantt chart

  • Stay on top of the ball → ensure projects are launched on time in advance, determine why late projects are not hitting their markers

  • Inform TPM of proper PM strategies to implement

  • No adjacent responsibilities

TPM Lead (In person, ideally 1+ year with team, have been heavily involved with 1 cross functional project)

  • Responsible for reviewing proposals for all active projects (scope of work, required resources, prospective timeline, etc.) to determine what is feasible

  • Work with team lead to determine priority of technical work/roadmap to be completed

  • Define clear deliverables for proposed projects

  • Ensure knowledge transfer documentation is thorough and useful for incoming members

  • Frequent meetings across all sub teams to gage progress and technical challenges with different projects

  • No adjacent responsibilities

Operations Lead (In Person, ideally 2+ terms with team)

  • Responsible for every in person activity at the sdc

  • Take on role of safety captain (person needs to be aware of what goes on in the bay)

  • Manage/facilitate room booking for meetings

  • Ensure bay workspace is clean and accessible

  • Determine logistics for team travel, etc.

  • Attend all meetings with Prof. Teetstra and Graeme

  • Assist with budgeting (need some technical knowledge)

  • Manage team email

  • Can take on technical work of interest as a secondary priority, adjacent priorities available when desired

Subteam Changes

Subteam Leads (In Person, Ideally 2+ terms with a subteam, or successful completion of 1 significant project)

  • Responsible for scoping out projects specific to their subteam

    • Overall scope, deliverables, deadlines, etc

  • Manage/mentor younger students to successfully complete technical projects

  • Run subteam meetings to get a sense of progression

  • Communicate subteam progress to other subteams

  • Allocate personnel within your subteam to meet and succeed with different projects

  • Ensure tasks completed by subteam members are properly documented

  • Ensure subteam is set up for upcoming term (month in advance, replace yourself and key members who are leaving)

  • Meet with subteam members at end of term to determine their plans following coop

  • No adjacent responsibilities!!

Project Based Team Structure

  • From a high level, teams will still be structured as Mechanical, Electrical, FW, Etc.

  • Designate members to work on sub teams

  • Clarifying Example:

  • ME Subteam Member (1+ Term of Experience):

    • Responsible for design of mechanical base station

    • Responsible for rover comms design

  • EE Subteam Member 1 (0+ Terms of Experience):

    • Assist and learn from EE subteam Member 1

  • EE Subteam Member 2 (2+ Terms of Experience, Grad Student preferred):

    • Comms lead → own the system

    • Responsible for leading comms on the EE side

    • Good understanding of RF

    • Understand how the bands work, why we have 3, how to select bands

    • How to improve them? Weak points in signal

  • SW Subteam Member 1 (1+ Term of Experience):

    • Responsible for ensuring jetson can properly interface with comms; run and verify comms system on ROS side

 

This group would meet up once a week on top of weekly team meetings (~30 min) to discuss direction of the comms station and make sure everything works

  • List of Subteams:

    • Comms

    • Autonomy/Localization

    • Gimbal/Vision

    • Simulation Team (Maybe)

    • ROS Integration Team

    • Arm

    • Power Distribution Team (Battery/Ebox/EE work)

    • Drivetrain

    • Science

    • Controller Team

Protocol for Retiring Leads

  • This applies to anyone who has been an in-person lead for a term and goes on co-op, OR is going into 4th year, OR wants to step down

  • Please note - the point of this idea is not to trap people, it’s to reinvest in your teammates and pay forward what you have learned through your experience

  • If you are stepping away from a lead role, please stay on as a team advisor for at least 1 term

  • What is a team advisor, how much responsibility do I have?

  • Make yourself available once a week to existing team leads so they can ask for advice or suggestions on how to solve problems they are faced with

  • You are NOT responsible for the outcome, just give people advice based off of your previous experiences!

  • If you are interested doing more, participating in design reviews would also be fantastic, or hosting small tutorials on various topics of interested (i.e. altium tutorials, etc.)