Team Build - Do's and Don'ts

[kquiggle]

Our machinists group is thinking about doing a team build, and I'd like to get some feed back from others who have done this:

What makes for a successful team build?

What lessons did you learn - what to do over, and what to avoid?

How did you pay for raw materials?

When the build is done, what happens to the final "product?"

What did like (or not like) about your team build?

 

[Herbiev]

Team builds are great but sometimes members need a little encouragement along the way. We started one middle of 2012 and still going.

 

[kquiggle]

Herbie - what is your project, and how many people are involved?

 

[GailInNM]

I have been involved in several team builds here on HMEM. All had had some problems, but most of the problems were able to be resolved without too much effort but some of them took the considerable time.

I think that the most important consideration is selecting a strong team leader or captain that has good organizational skills and has been in modeling long enough to understand the complexities and problems with making the parts so the difficulty of the parts matches the skill level of the participants.

Team builds tend to attract more beginners than experienced builders. Try to keep a good balance between the beginners and the more experienced members so that adequate help is available to the less experienced. Beginners often times under estimate the skill level required for a part and get in a little over their heads. This is particularly true if they have built things where if they miss a dimension they just make it up on the next part. This doesn't work if someone else is making the next part.

On all of the team builds here we each built enough parts so that every member of the team received a finished product. Sometimes enough parts were made to have an extra that could be auctioned off at a model show and the proceeds donated to some predetermined charity or organization. Most members of the teams were not used to making multiple copies of the same part that were identical and within specified tolerances.

Keep the team size small so no one gets overwhelmed if they are doing a complex part that is near the limits of their capabilities.generally each team member supplied the material for the parts they were making, however in some cases other team members would share materials that they might have on hand.

Be prepared for many unexpected delays. It is a good idea to have alternate or spare members of the team that can take over is someone is unable to complete a part. We have had members who were unable to complete their parts due to illnesses, job relocations, family related problems and in one case I think one of the team members died.

Take your estimated time for the build and multiply it by at least 10.

Gail in NM

 

[Herbiev]

Kquiggle. The build is "Australia and New Zealand team build anyone?"
About a dozen people are involved. Most parts are done. Just waiting on a couple of smaller components.