Listen to the episode: [musicsingle file=”https://www.thevillargroup.com/ftcteam6024/wp-content/uploads/captains-log-3-troubling-tribbles.mp3″]
Tip #1: For most teams, the Engineering Journal can be a pain in the butt. It’s really easy to get behind on or to not effectively convey what you did well. So firstly, DO NOT let yourself get behind because it’s very hard to catch up. Tip number one is to have someone in charge of the journal as one of their team roles, so that they can keep on top of everyone.
Tip #2 is to not create an opportunity for procrastination. Remember that the longer you wait to write the journal, the more you’ll forget and the less well you’ll get the message across. The person in charge of the journal should make sure that anyone working on an entry has it properly formatted and turned in before they go home at the end of the meeting, and that they’ve done a good job documenting what happened that day.
Tip #3 is to take turns writing the journals, but also take turns checking journals; having more team members working on them leaves less room for error. The person who’s in charge of the journal should probably only be in charge of making sure that they’re turned in on time, in the right order, and maybe briefly skimming them to make sure they have pictures or drawings and are correctly formatted. They should not, however, do all the work writing and checking them.
Tip #4: on top of having people both writing and checking journals, it’s probably beneficial to have multiple journals written per meeting. It’s a ton of work for one person to write about what everybody did in the meeting and for another person to check that. What our team does is have several journals written based on who did what. For example, if two people worked on the robot, and three people worked on outreach, then there could be a journal assigned to both groups.
The people who worked on the robot would select one member to write the journal and one to check it, and that journal would be the “Engineering Team” journal. Those working on outreach would be the “outreach team” and would likewise write a journal. This means that people writing journals don’t have to pay attention to everything at once, and if the people on the engineering team are wondering what the outreach team did that day, they can just read the outreach team journal.
Tip #5:
You can handwrite your journal or do it electronically.
Tip #6 is to use templates. We use templates to ensure that all our journals are written consistently with each other and so that it’s easier for team members to organize their thoughts and convey them clearly. We have three templates: one for meetings, one for event summaries, and one for personal progress reports. The meeting template includes goals, which should be written down before the meeting starts, then tasks and reflections, and bullet points going into more detail about them. Remember that including diagrams or pictures that document your process are very beneficial. The event summary template is used when you attend or host an event, but it isn’t a meeting. It’s very useful for outreach opportunities. At the top of the page there’s a paragraph summary of the event, and then there’s one task and reflections box and some bullet points going into more detail beneath all that. Then there’s the personal progress journals. These may not be necessary for all teams, but if members are working on robotics things outside of meetings, they can be used to document what they’ve accomplished.
Tip #7 is to take notes during the meeting. Write down your team’s goals before you start, and then document the process as you go so you don’t forget anything. If you do this, then by the time you actually write the journal it’s almost just copying your notes down and takes far less time.
To Summarize:
Tip 1 is have someone in charge of the journals to make sure they get turned in on time.
Tip 2 is to write the journals during the meetings.
Tip 3 is to split the work equally: have one person write a journal, another check it, and then the person in charge of the journals skim it to make sure everything’s in check and organize it with the rest of them.
Tip 4 is to have multiple journals written during meetings depending on what team members did.
Tip 5 is that it’s probably beneficial to write the journals digitally.
Tip 6 is to use templates
Tip 7 is to take notes during the meetings instead of just trying to keep it all in your head.
For more tips & tricks, listen to our radio show, Captain’s Log, every other Sunday at 7:00 PM.
http://mixlr.com/captains-log–2/