Introducing Wollongong 2003!!!

[Fergus Wilson]

For those who don't know, I'm the 2003 project manager for UOW Racing. December 2003 is a long way off - and much can happen between now and then. There are many top FSAE teams in Australia, but i hope Wollongong will remain one of them.

Readers of the Australasian listserve will know that i'm not actually an engineer. I'm a commerce/law student. (In Australia we have a law degree, and with that and 6 months of law school we are eligible for the bar) I joined UOW Racing as i was interested in the project and event managment side of things, and little did i know that I would be in this position! Who knows where the next year will take me!

I'm keen to hear about the management of teams, and the decision process that teams go through. The weight target (see 'how much does your car weigh' thread) is one particular aspect. I have picked up enough basics to be able to weigh up options, but I still rely on others to justify their position.

How do other teams reach consensus among members, especially with such a broad range of ideas?

Feel free to email me directly. I'm more than willing to talk about most of the project! Also, if anyone has time for Argus' distractions (see 'off topic' F1 thread), I would like you to share your secret- we rarely have time for anything other than fsae these days!

All the best for 2003,

Fergus Wilson
Project Manager
UOW Racing 2003

fw01@uow.edu.au
www.uow.edu.au/eng/racing/ (http://www.uow.edu.au/eng/racing/)

If you've achieved all your goals, you're not ambitious enough!

[Dominic Venieri]

check your mail

www.formularpi.com (http://www.formularpi.com)

[Scott Wordley]

Hi Fergus,

I just wanted to say welcome to Formula SAE. I've been involved with the project for 3 years now and I'm just heading into my fouth year. Here at Monash the team is made up mostly of mechanical engineering students but I think its great that people from other faculties can get involved.

Good luck with the coming year and be prepared to lose a lot of sleep.

Regards,

Scott "Maverick" Wordley &
Roan "Goose" Lyddy-Meaney
MOnash FSAE Wingmen

[Frank]

hey there,

welcome to fsae. I was the first manager for the qld team. I'm sure you'll have fun. Congrats UW so far, i'm sure you'll do well again. We've actually had a hard time getting anyone 'cept mech eng students on board. I'm really interested to hear how you go with it, and your opinion on how to "persuade" the Bus/Law/Comm guys to get involved.

[Michael Jones]

In terms of getting non-mechanical engineers involved, it's a question of actively recruiting such folk, yes, but more important giving them an intrinsically motivating reason to be around doing things.

So, it helps if they're into cars or racing to start, but not necessarily exclusively so or they're just fountains of trivial knowledge completely useless to the task at hand. Or want to drive all the time and won't work. Both are annoying.

It helps if they have tasks and projects that are directly related to their interests and/or areas of expertise. For me (a Ph.D. candidate in Communications...) it's my dissertation topic - knowledge management and organizational learning issues. Our last two business managers were quite effective because they were given the space to do what they wanted - the goals and objectives of the position changed slightly to compensate. Our EE's of course have a mess of stuff to immerse themselves in - ECM design, traction control, etc. keeps them busy.

In terms of keeping it under control, capitalizing on diversity is hard. In some respects, non-mech folk have to be flexible and learn at least the gist of everything going on. There's adequate formal training and informal learning going on to make that happen here.

A more interesting divide is the knowledge gap between mechanical and electrical engineers - out of the gate, few mechs understand even fundamentals of electronic circuits, and electrical folk can't mount a circuit board worth a damn. Working together - which has been better over the last couple of years, especialy around the dyno - works wonders.

It's a mix of innate interest, basic training, capitalizing on existing skills and interests, and perhaps most important - and hardest to accomplish - creating a organization committed to personal and professional development and learning.

I can write a thesis on this (oh, wait, I am, aren't I?) so I'll cut out now. One thing I've learned is that as a Comm person, I talk too much. Of course, another thing I've learned is that engineers feign bare levels of functional literacy - unless of course it's a technical debate, in which case it becomes like the wing discussion. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_razz.gif

---
Cornell Racing
http://fsae.mae.cornell.edu

[Argus Tuft]

Hi Fergus,
Unfortunately, Argus' off topic distraction today is a sad one. Please accept our condolences on the hurt your University suffered this morning at Waterfall.
Argus

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy !

[Superfumi]

Frank you old dog, you cant help yourself can you?! hehe. Anyway, hope we see you around uni next year.

Adam
(aka superfumi)