| RESOURCE TITLE | ROLES | |
|---|---|---|
| Teams | ||
| System Integrators | Product and team integration | |
| Financial Officers | Managing Budget | |
| Tool Officers | Maintaining workspace | |
| Information Officers | Interface to librarian | |
| Safety Officers | Product and team safety | |
| Yoda Officers | Facilitate teamwork excellence | |
| Story Officers | Tell the team’s learning experience | |
| Task Forces | Ad-hoc tasks | |
System Integrators
There are two systems integrators per team (one per section). In the first team meeting all students interested in this role should be identified. Then, each interested person should have one week in the position before a section vote is made to choose the integrator for the rest of the term. After the convergence, when the two sections reunite as one team and members decide on one product concept, it is customary for the two system integrators to continue on and cooperate in the role.
The system integrators will assume a number of coordination and integration functions during the project, from both a project management and technical design viewpoint. While they are not the owners of the design vision (the team is), they are the hub of team communication. (Note: All team members should actively share ideas, information, and feedback and not expect the SI to always elicit or motivate it.) The system integrators will have management responsibilities that include:
- Coordinating weekly team meetings, agendas, and goals.
- Structuring the process to define task forces.
- Ensuring that the meeting minutes and team’s Slack workspace is properly maintained.
- Facilitating communication within and between team task forces.
- Forming and maintaining the overall project schedule in consultation with the team lab instructors.
- Spearheading the development of the product contract and specifications.
- Forming and maintaining a system image of the product as it is designed.
- Helping with the physical integration of product subsystems.
Financial Officers
Each team has two financial officers (one per section) who track expenditures and monitor the project budget. The financial officers also ensure that purchases follow ethical guidelines (to be discussed in class). Team financial officers will be selected during the first team meeting.
Financial officers are responsible for initiating the process of purchasing project materials (team credit card or purchase order) and reimbursements. The financial officers will have a team credit card in their name.
Financial officers are expected to keep receipts, keep an accounting ledger for the project, and be prepared to provide a budget status report at each team meeting. Each week they will update an expenditures spreadsheet documenting all charges—credit card, requests for payments, and requests for reimbursements. The spreadsheets may also be reviewed by team instructors during weekly staff meetings.
In many cases the financial officers also play a lead role in product cost modeling.
Tool Officers
Each team will have two tool officers (one from each section). The tool officers will be responsible for coordinating the cleaning of the team workspace and the weekly organization of the team tool cabinet.
Tool officers will be elected during the first week of lab. Tool officers will sign a form verifying that the team is responsible for the tools in its cabinet. Then, the tool officer will receive a list of tools that are in the team workspace and the combination for the team tool cabinet. At the end of the semester, the tool officer will inventory tools in the team’s cabinet, compare it to the initial list, and replace ones that are missing.
Tool officers will also help with the care of the PDL prototyping facility (toy lab) in 3-004.
Information Officers
Information officers (two per team, one per section) are the primary contacts who work with the course librarian to facilitate secondary research, helping team members obtain any information or relevant standards that the team needs. The information officers should also take responsibility for observing team meetings, paying careful attention to note when decisions are difficult or arbitrary due to insufficient background information, and bring this issue to the attention of the team. They should help with sharing information, monitoring team use of information technology, and proposing ways to use the technology more effectively. In many instances the information officers will help integration officers by recording and maintaining team minutes, or designating other team members to record and maintain minutes in both task force and team meetings.
It is also expected that the information officer will play a significant role in research related to the development of your team’s business model, along with financial officers and other team members.
Safety Officers
Each team has two safety officers (one per section), elected during the first team meeting, who assist shop staff with monitoring working conditions within the team space and reminding teammates or instructors about safety issues when dangerous practices are observed. Safety officers will also be responsible for reminding teammates to follow 2.009 safety procedures, including PPE guidelines and safe tool handling procedures. Additionally, the officers will identify safety issues related to their team’s product and conduct research to identify relevant regulations or standards. They should obtain and post material safety data sheets (MSDS) in the team area for potentially dangerous materials.
The safety officers will meet for a tutorial with the department EHS Presenter near the start of the term.
Yoda Officers
Each team has two Yodas (one per section) who monitor work distribution, individual engagement, and team dynamics. Team Yodas will be selected during the first team meeting.
The team’s Yodas’ ultimate purposes are to promote balance and productive engagement within the team and to assist members in reaching their full potentials. They may fulfill these duties by acting as a mediator or an active listener, or by supporting individuals in voicing their needs to the team. While Yodas can act as a team resource for any interpersonal conflicts, they should be particularly sensitive to any and all imbalances due to team member identity, including (but not limited to) gender, race, or religion.
Yodas are encouraged to work closely with System Integrators to identify opportunities for a) improvement in the division of labor and b) students who wish to expand their knowledge and capabilities to do so. With guidance from mentors, Team Yodas should both proactively and passively engage with team members to discuss ways to optimize their 2.009 experiences.
Yodas are expected to keep track of their observations on team dynamics and of their role-related interactions with team members in their notebooks. They may be called upon by System Integrators and/or lab instructors and/or the course instructor following class milestones and team review surveys to provide recommendations on how to address weaknesses in team operations.
Yodas will have periodic meetings throughout the term with the Meta Yoda (our Yoda coach) during the term. The meetings will be scheduled once all team Yoda officers are appointed.
Story Officers
Each team has two Story Officers that serve to share a real-time telling and celebration of their team’s experience. The objective is to improve multimedia storytelling skills. Story Officers post stories on the 2.009 Storytelling Slack Channel. The students and staff are your target audience for Slack Channel storytelling. Stories with the most engagement will be recognized in lecture.
Story Officers will consult with their team about if and how the team wants to use the existing individual team Instagram account.
Working with the course Media Coordinator, the Story Officers will develop a 3-minutes Chronicle Video for their team that captures their team experience throughout the semester. This video may include short interview clips, images of the evolution of your product, b-roll of you working and brainstorming, pictures of your sketches and lab notebooks … any kind of content that captures your 2.009 experience.
Ad-hoc Task Forces
The full team is needed to tackle the problem of developing the product concept and alpha prototype in roughly 3 months. However, it is rare that all members will be able to simultaneously work together on the same thing.
Throughout the development process, the team will typically divide into ad-hoc task forces ;with different responsibilities. Each task force is a mini-group with 2-4 members typically. One of the main functions of the weekly team meetings is project coordination through the sharing of information between task forces, making group decisions, and terminating, adjusting, or forming new task forces to address current project demands.
The system integrators are responsible for coordinating the ad-hoc task forces and facilitating the task force definition process.