FSAE Project Management

[AmandaG]

Hi all,

I am currently undertaking my undergrad thesis on Project Management in FSAE. What I am working on is a framework from which teams can improve their management. I hope to make this available to all teams so that everyone can benefit from my research.

As part of this I need to identify the issues concerning teams worldwide and get a feel for the management tools currently being used. <STRIKE>Below is a link to a quick survey, if you could please take a few minutes to fill it out it would be much appreciated.</STRIKE>

This survey is now closed, Thank you to all that participated.

Cheers,
Amanda

[AmandaG]

Hi all,

I am currently undertaking my undergrad thesis on Project Management in FSAE. What I am working on is a framework from which teams can improve their management. I hope to make this available to all teams so that everyone can benefit from my research.

As part of this I need to identify the issues concerning teams worldwide and get a feel for the management tools currently being used. <STRIKE>Below is a link to a quick survey, if you could please take a few minutes to fill it out it would be much appreciated.</STRIKE>

This survey is now closed, Thank you to all that participated.

Cheers,
Amanda

[exFSAE]

I did your survey, but I'll add the following comments here (where its easy to see).

Accountability was our #1 issue when I was a co-captain in 2007 (and in 2005 and 2006 when I was also on the team). The captains never really had any authority or ability to do anything. Our faculty advisor was pretty hands off and mostly took care of university red tape for us, but attended weekly meetings where the team would verbally tell their progress. Real easy to bullshit progress like that. At the end of each semester we had "peer evaluations" where we rated each other's performance, but (a) by the time that rolled around it was well past deadlines that needed to be enforced, and (b) for first semester no one got less than a C-, so they could enroll in Senior Design II (even though 1 or 2 people should have had a D or failing grade).

Our year was the first time the co-captains sat down with every senior at the beginning of the year and back-tracked what design and fabrication schedules would have to be. We were very generous with time for mistakes, skiing, etc, but despite this people would wind up weeks or months behind schedule and there was nothing we could do about it.

There's a very fine line on what kind of personality and attitude works for the lead of the program. On one hand, being everyone's friend will not work. People think they can get lax, and there's always a time for tough love. You do have to have everyone's respect though. I didn't mind when our '05 and '06 captains were dicks and got all stressed out, I respected them for what they knew and what they were doing and kept coming in because of it. Don't know if that held true with me, I didn't mind if people thought I was an asshole (which is definitely true sometimes) so long as they understood where I was coming from and what I was asking. I never asked any more of anyone than I would put in myself.

The biggest thing is that the captains/leaders cannot do it all themselves. Unfortunately for many years in our program.. the only person(s) that really knew how critical the pace needed to be and what people needed to be doing, were the ones who had been around for a couple years. They also happened to be the ones that could weld, and/or machine, and/or drive, and/or write reports. You get roped into way too much, and something's gotta give. I really regret not having managed people better, but I had a lot to do and expected people to have some competence and be independent. As it turns out, there's generally a lot of hand-holding required unless you find those awesome folks who take it on themselves do actually do their best.

On a related note, the structure we had of a "team captain" or co-captains, and a bunch of workers.. was terrible. I highly recommend throwing it out the window. Our 2008 team did just that, and put in a system with a Project Manager, Manufacturing Engineer, Finance/Sponsor Supervisor, a few Systems Engineers, Technical Lead, and the rest. Job roles were clearly defined, and the new faculty advisors held people to them. Much better system.

Just my 2 cents. Was one of the things I fucked up most so I figured its worth commenting on

[Drew Price]

All that being said, for those of us who do this on a purely extra-curricular basis, that sort of attitude towards questionably dedicated team members is exactly what gets them to stop coming back. We always strive to get the dedicated ones, but that doesn't always work out.

You can't treat volunteers like they are in danger of losing their job. It's much easier for us to dangle a carrot, than to wave a stick. Go drive the old car. Go watch 'Gone in 60 Seconds' together. Go attend an Atlantic, or ALMS, or drag race. Like I said in an earlier thread, most of our members did not start out as 'car' people.

If things are drastically (months) behind schedule, maybe some re-evaluation of the proposed goals is in order. If your members aren't capable of completing what you are going for, one or the other needs to change.

It's hard to change out team members.

Best,
Drew

[exFSAE]

I should add, all of the above was geared toward seniors, ie the folks doing it for a grade.

Big step up in responsibility and having to actually hit deadlines, etc. But when there's no repercussion for writing garbage reports, or not doing work...

The workload really isn't that bad if people just put in 15-20 hours a week of actual effort. It's when folks put in 5 hours a week (for a 4 credit class), thinking their little deadlines aren't important, that stuff starts goin bad.. then the little deadlines all start piling up as missed, and everyone else has to make up for it.

[Mechanicaldan]

If the FSAE.com Forums were organized into a book, it would do wonders for students.

How many FSAE Alumni does it take to collaborate on writing and publishing a "Guide to FSAE" book?

This quote should define the book:
"A brilliant design that is not finished on time is useless. A simple design that has been properly developed is a better exercise in engineering.
--carroll smith"

Ha! Look what I just found: "How to Build Motorcycle-engined Racing Cars" Publisher link: http://www.veloce.co.uk/shop/products/productDetail.php...ac1efe07b1708cca2184

[Drew Price]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">The workload really isn't that bad if people just put in 15-20 hours a week of actual effort. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Just 15-20 hours per week?!?! I know I have no problem putting in that much time, and several other of the key players, but like I said, that kind of dedication and time commitment is the exception, not the rule (for those of us not submitting supervised work for credit). Different situation.

Of course, it's different everywhere. I certainly don't want to assert that the courseload we see on the quarter system is any more or less difficult than anyone else's, but I have seen a number of unis where there is a large difference. It's hard to get new people even around 5 hours per week for us. Look at how Alex Kwan and Stanford faired. For some of us there just isn't that much time available for everyone, which is where my observations were coming from.

My personal feelings have begun to come to grips with the fact that the amount of coursework certainly does not reflect the level of the education you get from it. I'm sure many of you feel the same way. At least for our team the key people are some of the top mechanical designers in our undergrad department anyways.

End of rant. Back to the shop.

Best,
Drew

[JD232]

15-20 hrs/week??

Are you kidding me?

I haven't slept over 5 hours (except for five days when I got sick, n for two days after we succefully launched our car) for one year now, giving 10-15 hours per day to college and the project combined... and the division of labor is tilted towards FSAE...

Its sad we dont have grades for FSAE project,

[exFSAE]

Yes, only 15-20 hours a week is what I would expect for FSAE senior design (we do get grades for the project).

For us, one semester was 3 credits, one was 4 (I forget which is which).

15-20 hours is what, about 2-3 hours a day in the shop? That's not much. I vaguely recall in some freshman orientation when I was entering engineering school, that there was something like 3 or 4 hours of work per week expected/required per credit hour (in addition to lecture time, for which there really isn't any in FSAE). FSAE is obviously a little more intense than most classes, but that gets it in the ballpark.

For underclassmen / volunteers.. put in as many hours as you please. It's all appreciated. 1 hour a week, 5, 20, whatever.

There's a LOT of work, and it has to be done. The end goal is "build racecar" which cannot be adjusted once you're committed. It's when the core/senior group slacks on their 15-20 hr a week, that other folks have to pick up the slack. This is why I was generally working 60 hours a week on the car (maybe 2 hours during the day between class, then 6pm-midnight.. then at least two 10 hour days over the weekend), and at times up to 70 or more.

Like I said, the work is there and needs to be done. So when a core guy with responsibilities slacks off, they are fucking someone else over, hard, because they have to pick up the slack.

I think Silverback may be experiencing some of this Been there, done that man.. many times.

It's hard to say ahead of time which people will be the workers and which will be the flakes, when it comes to seniors. For us we had some guys who had been on the team before who knew what it took, and put in a lot of work. There were others that had been around a while as volunteers, but could not take the step up in responsibility. My theory was that they had gotten too used to just coming by and helping out here and there, and when it came to upped responsibilities and expectations having to actually do work took out some of the fun factor and turned em away.

We had guys that were completely new to the team, and treated it as a serious class, were really into it, and put in as many hours as anyone else. Had fun too. God bless em.

And then we had one new senior who vanished off the face of the planet for 6 months and failed all his classes for two semesters.

[exFSAE]

And yes, I would agree there is a wide range of correlation between coursework and lecture hours, and education gained. Starting sophomore year and increasing as time went on I skipped out on a ton of lecture.

I could either go to lecture and in the course of an hour or hour and a half learn nothing new, while the professor went over how to take the damn mean or standard deviation of a data set.. or any number of things.. at the end of which I would literally be on the verge of sleep.. OR I could go down to the shop, grab a red bull, put the AC/DC on, fire up the CNC and make some parts.

The latter option often won! GPA dropped from a 3.6 sophomore year to a 3.3 senior year, but it was way, way, way worth it in terms of practical education gained. Apparently my current employers agreed when they hired me...

Likewise there were classes where HW was optional and your grade could be entirely exams.. which I always chose.. and freed up a ton of time doing what otherwise would have been pointless work. The graphic method of vector addition? No thanks..