Task List Excel/Organization

[TheGreatBenny]

I am hoping to get some ideas regarding team management, and task list. I am the team leader for our team this year, and looking to create a task list/check list that I can use to keep things in order.

The team has 17 members including me, and I have read all the articles and documents on the main FSAE site regarding team management and organization, however, I am having a hard time actually creating a proper excel sheet with all the information on it.

Any ideas and advice is appreciated.

[TheGreatBenny]

I am hoping to get some ideas regarding team management, and task list. I am the team leader for our team this year, and looking to create a task list/check list that I can use to keep things in order.

The team has 17 members including me, and I have read all the articles and documents on the main FSAE site regarding team management and organization, however, I am having a hard time actually creating a proper excel sheet with all the information on it.

Any ideas and advice is appreciated.

[RobbyObby]

http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/t...=217101453#217101453 (http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/125607348/m/217101453?r=217101453#217101453)

This. Read it. Front to back. Anything and everything you need to know in terms of team management, structure, and design process has been covered in that one thread.
That being said, not much is discussed on crating an Excel-like task list as you mentioned. What we do is have each subteam/group leader create a timeline/task list for their system, which is then compiled into a master gantt chart in Excel that myself and the team manager have access to. It is the subteam/group leader's responsibility to keep their team on schedule and my responsibility to keep the subteam leaders on schedule with the both the overall vehicle and the competition deadlines. This has seemed to work well for us.
We also typically have 15-20 members, FWIW.

[wagemd]

If you can get a copy of Microsoft Project or similar software, tracking progress becomes orders of magnitude easier than in Excel. Excel is hard to beat for some things, but Gantt charts are not one of them.

I think the standard edition is pretty cheap, and you may be able to get it through your school or department. There are also some open source and free alternatives if you look around.

[Lorenzo Pessa]

You can share data through internet using google document.

In many cases it is very useful the work on the same spreasheet.

Start with a simple task and contact list. With time you will update with useful information.

[exFSAE]

1. Get a whiteboard.

2. Divide it into sections. Funding, suspension, powertrain, whatever.

3. Make and a list of the things you need to do.

4. Do the things on the list.

[Rex Chan]

From what I've experienced of FSAE at my uni, the whole challenge is to manage team members, sponsors, uni admin, etc.

The whole point is to design + build a car. So the process goes like this: design>tech drawing>material>make>assemble>drive. The car is made up of parts, so I would use a parts driven spreadsheet: pretty much to keep an eye on every part and to track its progress. Simple tools get used - I prefer Excel for timelines, as I/everyone knows how to use it (We tried dedicated Gannt chart software in 2010, but wasn't really used).

Of course, this means 1-2 people have to know about everything on that list.

[Adambomb]

I prefer MS Project, as we can get it for free from school (and all the lab computers have it anyway), and if you know how to use Excel, then you know how to use Project.

[Spetsnazos]

I hate how some universities push Excel as the best thing since sliced bread and useful for programming, hw, scheduling, etc. There are things it does well, and alot of things it does horribly(all of the above). Just because it can do it, doesn't mean it should be used.

Microsoft Projects is what you need.

[exFSAE]

If you take the MS Project approach be sure to add a stop/check item for, "ensure drive shafts are within recommended misalignment limits" right around the design review stage.

Sorry, man. Too easy!

In any event, I'm all about using the simplest solution that works. MS Project, Excel, Notepad, or my favorite a whiteboard hung in the middle of the shop for maximum visibility.

But more important than ANY of this is making sure there is ACCOUNTABILITY! All the deadlines, stages and gates in the world are worthless if no one is held accountable for blowing them.

[Spetsnazos]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by exFSAE:
If you take the MS Project approach be sure to add a stop/check item for, "ensure drive shafts are within recommended misalignment limits" right around the design review stage.

Sorry, man. Too easy!

In any event, I'm all about using the simplest solution that works. MS Project, Excel, Notepad, or my favorite a whiteboard hung in the middle of the shop for maximum visibility.

But more important than ANY of this is making sure there is ACCOUNTABILITY! All the deadlines, stages and gates in the world are worthless if no one is held accountable for blowing them. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Whiteboard infront of the room is probably the best IMHO. The comment about Excel was aimed toward people who learn to use it well and think Excel is the answer to every single task. Solving phasor stuff in excel using built-in complex functions is beyond moronic but we have people who think Excel is God's gift to engineers and should be used for everything.

And I don't take any offense on the axle thing. Its something that was overlooked and I dont expect myself or anyone else to really get things right the first time around(seriously everything I read said up to 20 degree is kosher with minimal losses). I had alot more tasks other than designing the axles at that part of the year. I have yet to see any kind of chart published by TalorRace. They're great guys and have always been helpful(never called them about this issue specifically because I didn't think it would be a problem), but their website is a NIGHTMARE navigating.

I'm also going to go right ahead and blame the annoying bastard on my team that kept wasting my time talking about a turbo and getting the team captains convinced its the way to go to when designing a light, simple and reliable car.

[Chris B]

we use a facebook group. sounds silly I know, but its the 21st century equivalent of the big whiteboard in front of the shop. most people are on facebook most of the time they are on a computer so it becomes something they see often and therefore cant forget theyre tasks.

its also good because it means if other people come across something that needs to be done but don't know/cant do it themselves they can just post it on the group and someone else can pick it up etc. pretty much works like a white board for the cyber world.

[Adambomb]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chris B:
we use a facebook group. sounds silly I know, but its the 21st century equivalent of the big whiteboard in front of the shop. most people are on facebook most of the time they are on a computer so it becomes something they see often and therefore cant forget theyre tasks.

its also good because it means if other people come across something that needs to be done but don't know/cant do it themselves they can just post it on the group and someone else can pick it up etc. pretty much works like a white board for the cyber world. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm also considering something to this effect, ie using one of those silly play websites to help team management. An identified problem with getting new members active is that sometimes they can't make it to our regularly scheduled "work times" due to work conflicts, etc. We're in plenty of other times doing stuff, but often a new member won't want to take the risk of heading into the shop and not finding anyone there. I've never been into Twitter at all, but I can see the value of having sort of a "digital whiteboard" where we can publicly post all the mundane things, like "final drive is in the shop timing the diff," or "we're out in lot X testing the car." Any other thoughts?

[Some Guy]

I've been using twitter for our FSAE team for over a year now. If you have a smart phone it is no big deal to use and MANY of the teams are on twitter as well. We have the same problem, a lot of new members dont have access to our shop and cant make it out there as often as I would think they want to. If you were to start a team only twitter I could see it potentially working to improve that situation.

Anyway, while excel can do Gantt charts, your better off learning MS project. It is a much more powerful program and isnt actually all that hard to learn.

[PabloH]

We've added a webcam in the shop, to access it, we have a link/login on our website, so anyone who has the password can check to see if anyone is in the shop.