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- Use more than one method of communication to make sure you're reaching all members. Not everyone checks Slack- some people might check their emails more often. If you're sending important information, use more than one method.
- Organize weekly meetings and make sure as many of your members as possible can come. Whenisgood is a good way of getting people's availabilities.
- If someone is lagging behind on a task, focus on what you can do to help them rather than the fact that they haven't completed a task yet. Using this approach shows that you care about them, and is more likely to get results, rather than creating more stress for them. Being understanding is an important method of teaching team members to be more comfortable reaching out to you to ask for help.
- On the other hand, if someone has consistently failed to get a task done, you can reassign it to someone AFTER communicating with the person.
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- If you're organizing a meeting, give people at least 24 hours in advance
- Use whenisgood or similar tools to coordinate meetings if more than 3 people are involved
- Remind people that the meeting is happening at least 30 minutes in advance because people forget sometimes.
- Don't make a habit of cancelling meetings. If you have a good excuse that's fine, but try to honor your commitments and hold others to this same expectation.
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- Unless you know EXACTLY how to build a part (which you probably don't), assume that you'll need to build it 3 times before you get it right.
- Identify all the materials you need for a part BEFORE you start building it. Too often, the cause of delaying a part comes down to the fact that it takes 2-3 weeks to arrive.
- Identify what you need (ask someone who's built it before if you don't know)
- Look up the delivery time. If it's not shown, assume it takes 1 week for the part to get here.
- Submit an order for it to the treasurer
Social Events
It's important not only to manage your team technically, but take the time to organize fun events to give people a needed break from work and bond your team! You don't have to go crazy, but having a couple of events per semester is a nice thing to do, and you can get suggestions and help from your team if you don't have time to plan everything. Here are some things to keep in mind.
- Events don't have to be fancy- something as simple as tea time is fine. The point is to bring people together and take a break from work!
- If you plan on spending money, first ask the Social Chair/Treasurer if you can get a social budget. If not, you can ask members to chip in a reasonable amount ($3-5). Try not to spend too much money in any case.
- Try to make sure as many of your members can come as possible, because they've all been working hard and they all deserve to come! Sending out a whenisgood is a good way of doing this.
- Don't exclude people. If someone from another subteam on Rocket Team wants to come, invite them too! In the past we've had problems where people would exclude others, and this causes drama and sadness. Don't be like that! You don't have to go out of your way to invite the whole team, but in the case that someone specifically asks if they can come, be nice and say yes.
- Keep allergies/dietary restrictions in mind if events involve food. When in doubt, ask questions to make sure you understand what they can and can't eat.