Team Roles

Adapted from Source: http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/teammanual/TeamRoles.html

Overview

Resource Title	Roles	Resources Allocation
Student Design Team	Product development execution	~20 per team (3 task forces)
System Integrator	Product and team integration	1 per team
Financial Officer	Managing budget	1 per team
Tool Officer	Maintaining workspace	1 per team
Information Officer	Interface to librarian	1 per team
Team Site Master	Team project site management	1 per team
Safety Officer	Product and team safety	1 per team
Yoda Officer	Facilitate teamwork excellence	1 per team
Video Log Officer	Capture the team’s learning experience	1 per team
———	———	———
Task Force	*3 ad-hoc tasks of machine design*	6~7 per task force
Design Engineer	Translate need to design solutions	2 per task force
Feasibility Engineer	Analyze design towards production	1~2 per task force
Fabrication Engineer	Balance between machining and cost	1 per task force
Assembly Engineer	In charge of assembling the machine	1 per task force
Test Engineer	Create process to verify product specs	1 per task force
———	———	———
Teaching Staff	product teaching support	~30 in total
Course Instructor	Set course vision	Supports all class participants
Course Advisor	Advise course preparation	1, from MIT
Admin Assistant	Workshop preparation & budget management	1, available to all teams
Teaching Assistant	Student team management & assistance	1 for 2 teams, 2 in total
Meta Yoda (TA)	Coach to team Yodas	1 per class
Lab & workshop Instructor	Technical managers and prototyping experts	3, available to all teams
Student Mentor	Design consultants	1 per task force, 12 in total
Technology Consultant	Develop tools that supports the class	3 per class
Media Coordinator	Coach to team video loggers	3 per class
Librarian (TA)	Aid in finding resources	1 per class
Domain Specialist	Provide on-demand consultancy	1 per class
Course Sponsor	mainDL investors	Resources that fund team budgets

Student Design Team

Students on a design team are ultimately responsible for identifying a promising product direction and designing and building an alpha prototype in a manner consistent with the course vision, using the course instructor, course TAs, lab & workshop instructors, student mentors, and librarian as resources. The course grading outline provides a concise summary of milestones by which success will largely be measured.

Each team shall prepare a code of ethics to be honored by all members throughout the semester.
Each student will submit a two-page highlight of your Design Notebook on a weekly basis to [Media Coordinator] @Chen Mingdong & @He Jin, which will be later posted on the team webpage and used during peer review.
Due to the last-minute increase in student enrollment of the class, we have increased the size of each task force from 5 members to 6~7 members, with an extra request:
- The System Integrator must be selected from the Design Engineers.
- The Video Log Officer must be selected from the Feasibility Engineers.

The team owns and drives their product development process and the vision for their product. The team creates and coordinates an internal structure; develops and follows a schedule for the project; and plans for how the prototype will be manufactured and assembled. The team begins by working in three task forces, and then in the middle of the semester converges to a single concept and builds a carefully designed and well-executed alpha prototype.
All members of the team will play two or three roles throughout the semester.

As a Mechanical Designer: each member of the team is required to conduct mechanical design within their task force towards the team’s design goal on wasteless. The Design Notebook will be a key record of design learning and effort in the project.
As a Role of the Team: within the team of 15, a list of team roles are to be elected and agreed by all members of the team, playing volunteering roles in coordinating the team’s design and building activities. Each member will contribute a specific section in the team’s final report regarding their role.
As a Role of the Task: within the task force of 5, each member is assigned a role to be the key coordinator of the specific task. Each role will be in charge of a specific report submission, but all members of the task force must participate in the preparation of the report. Keep in mind that the report is marked as a team/task force grade.

System Integrator

There is one system integrator per team. The System Integrator must be selected from the Design Engineers. In the first lab meeting, all students interested in this role should be identified. Then, each interested person should have one week in the position before a team vote is made to choose the integrator for the rest of the term. After the convergence, when the three task forces reunite as one team and members decide on one product concept, it is customary for the system integrator to continue on in the role.

The System Integrator shall contact [Wasteless System Mentor] @Liu Xiaobo at least once per week to update the team’s progress towards the wasteless theme.
In the Final Report, the System Integrator will contribute the section of presenting the team’s design philosophy towards the wasteless theme, and give an overview description of the team’s achievement and limitations in the wasteless theme.

The system integrators will assume a number of coordination and integration functions during the project, from both 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 the team’s Tower site 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 Officer

Each team has one financial officer who tracks expenditures and monitors the project budget. The financial officers also ensure that purchases follow ethical guidelines. Team financial officers will be selected during the first team lab meeting. Financial officers are responsible for initiating the process of purchasing project materials (purchase orders through the mainDL store).

The Financial Officer shall contact [Admin Assistant] @Fu Tian at least once per week to update the team’s purchasing activities and budget management.
In the Final Report, the Financial Officer will contribute the section of budget summary during the team’s design activities, present the product cost modeling, and summarize their effort in balancing the design from the team and the budget limit during fabrication and testing.

Financial officers are expected to keep purchase records and 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 expenditure record over Feishu documenting all charges. The spreadsheets may also be reviewed by lab & workshop instructors and admin assistants during weekly staff meetings.

Tool Officer

Each team will have one tool officer who is responsible for coordinating the cleaning of the team workspace and the weekly organization of the team tool cabinet.

The Tool Officer shall contact [Lab Instructor] @Xiao Xiaochuan at least once per week to update the team’s tool management.
In the Final Report, the Tool Officer will contribute the section of tool management during the team’s building activities, report the team’s use of the tools, and present suggestions to improve the tool management in team activities.

Tool officers will be elected during the first 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.

Information Officer

Information officers (one per team) 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 also play a key role in developing a team web site and mechanisms for members to share information, monitoring team use of information technology, and propose ways to use the technology more effectively. In many instances, the information officers will help integration officers by recording and maintaining team minutes on the team project site, or designating other team members to record and maintain minutes in both task force and team meetings, and maintain a shared folder in Feishu to gather information for all team members.

The Information Officer shall contact [Course Librarian] @Yu Dongwei or @Zhang Zhen at least once per week to update their progress in search of information to help the team better prepare the project.
In the Final Report, the Information Officer will contribute to the section that reviews the machine designs and key technologies of the three task forces that support the design philosophy of the team. Proper citation is also required for the Information Officer in the final report.

Team Project-management Site Master

Each team will have a project site master, elected during the first team lab meeting. This person, who is ideally web savvy, is responsible for taking the initiative in utilizing the team’s project management site to its full potential as a communication and project management tool. A key responsibility of the site master is to advocate for and educate the team on the use of the project management tool.

With many team members contributing, it is important to have somebody to make sure everything that should be posted is, and to keep things organized. While everyone on the team can and should add pages and materials, the site masters work to lead the organization of the information and files on the site. Site masters will suggest procedures to the SIs and team for the efficient and consistent use of the project site in a way that supports team product design goals.

The Team Site Master shall contact [Lab Instructor] @Xiao Xiaochuan at least once per week to update the team’s site management.
In the Final Report, the Team Site Master will contribute the section that reviews the on-site activities of the team during the project, report how they maintain the team site organized, accessible, and informed to all team members during the project, and provide reflections on how to further improve team site management in group activities.

Safety Officer

Each team has one safety officer, elected during the first team lab 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. 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 Officer shall contact [Lab Instructor] @Xiao Xiaochuan at least once per week to update the team’s safety update.
In the Final Report, the Safety Officer will contribute the section that reviews the safety measures and risk management activities that ensures a safe working environment for all team members, report the safety situations of the team during lab activities, and provide reflections on how to further improve safe operation in lab activities with teams.

Yoda Officer

Each team has one Team Yoda who monitors work distribution, individual engagement, and team dynamics. Team Yodas will be selected during the first team lab meeting. Yoda Officers should prepare themselves as experts in using Feishu as the main channel of communication, and encourage all team communications within Feishu to keep all members informed of the design decisions and team activities towards the project theme.

The Yoda Officer shall contact [Course Librarian] @Yu Dongwei or @Zhang Zhen at least once per week to update the team’s communication activities, depending on which teaching staff is assigned to your team.
For any technical questions regarding the use of Feishu, please contact @Xiao Jing for solutions and consultancy.
In the Final Report, the Yoda Officer will contribute the section on the communication activities within the task force and within the team to honor the team’s code of ethics, their use of Feishu on project management as well as communication among the team members, and provide reflections on how to further improve communications in lab projects with large teams.

The Team 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.

Team 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 ME303 experiences.

Team 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. Team 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.

Video Log Officer

Each team has one video log officer who serves to document their team’s learning experience in video. Video loggers should be passionate about video, and interested in learning and developing their craft. Video loggers will gain experience as a storyteller, cinematographer, and graphic historian. Video log officers will be selected by the team during the first team lab meeting. Each team will be provided with camera equipment to be shared by its Video Loggers.

The Video Loggers will receive instruction/mentoring on video and audio technique, and in building a documentary narrative from the course media coordinator. After an introductory session with the media coordinator, the Video Loggers will deliver media files and receive feedback on a weekly basis throughout the term. The meetings will be scheduled once all team video log officers are appointed.

The Video Log Officer shall contact [Media Coordinator] @Jiang Haiyang at least once per week to update the team’s photos and videos of the lab, workshop, or group activities.
The Video Log Officer will lead the preparation of the Final Presentation, which includes a 3-minute video presentation of their project learning experience and achievements, followed by a 10 min presentation of their project and machine design. All team members will coordinate with the Video Log Officer in preparing the presentation delivered by a total of 3 presenters.

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 5 members typically. One of the main functions of the weekly lab 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.

Each task force is allocated with a [Student Mentor] on the specific machine design. There are 3 student mentors allocated for each team, 12 student mentors in total for the class.
All members of the task force are free to contact your designated student mentors through Feishu or email for consultancy. Each allocated student mentor is equipped with related knowledge or experience in related machine design.
Please respect the student mentors’ volunteering time and effort while answering your questions. The student mentors can be viewed as consultants for suggestions only, and it is the team’s responsibility for making the final design decisions.

The system integrators are responsible for coordinating the ad-hoc task forces and facilitating the task force definition process.

Design Engineer

Besides the role as a mechanical engineer of the task force, the Design Engineer also plays a leading role in coordinating with the rest members of the task force on translating the design needs into potential engineering designs that may be analyzed, fabricated, assembled, and tested towards a working machine of the wasteless production line.

The Design Engineer is mainly in charge of the submission of the Design Need Report on behalf of the task force, but all members of the task force shall be involved or consulted while preparing the report, and it is the Design Engineer’s job to properly allocate any necessary sub-tasks to the rest of the task force towards a working report submission.

It should be noted that it is rarely the case that the first design will work perfectly towards the alpha prototype. Therefore, it is critical for the design engineer to keep refining the engineering design during the process by listening to the feedback from the task force and the team, making informed decisions on the necessary changes to the engineering design, and making sure that the design needs are still being met throughout the process.

In the Final Report, the Design Engineer will contribute a section within their task force explaining the design iterations of the task force from the initial Design Need Report to the final iteration of the alpha prototype through engineering drawings, clarifying how the design meet the need of the wasteless production line, and summarize the potential issues or compromises if the design is to be further developed for final production in actual scenario.

Feasibility Engineer

Besides the role as a mechanical engineer of the task force, the Feasibility Engineer also plays a leading role in coordinating with the rest members of the task force on conducting the feasibility analysis in sizing the dimensions within safety factors, selecting the specific mechanical parts through mechanical analysis, and suggesting the necessary changes towards a feasible design, based on the Design Need Report.

The Feasibility Engineer is mainly in charge of the submission of the Engineering Feasibility Report on behalf of the task force, but all members of the task force shall be involved or consulted while preparing the report, and it is the Feasibility Engineer’s job to properly allocate any necessary sub-tasks to the rest of the task force towards a working report submission.

It should be noted that when conducting specific calculations and analysis of the design, it is common that many changes will be involved to resize, redefine, and redesign many aspects of the original design, considering the engineering fact and limitations. Therefore, it is critical for the feasibility engineer to keep updating the feasibility analysis throughout the design process by listening to the feedback from the task force and the team, making informed decisions on the necessary changes to the engineering design, and making sure that a feasible design is being selected during the process.

In the Final Report, the Feasibility Engineer will contribute a section within their task force explaining the feasibility analysis of the design from the initial version to the final iteration of the alpha prototype, presenting the detailed calculations and analysis while sizing the dimensions and selecting the parts within safety factors and design need, and summarize the potential issues or compromises if the design is to be further developed for final production in actual scenario.

Fabrication Engineer

Besides the role as a mechanical engineer of the task force, the Fabrication Engineer also plays a leading role in coordinating with the rest members of the task force on the fabrication of the necessary parts within the budget limit, choosing the suitable machining method within the time frame, submitting purchase request to the financial officer, and making sure that all parts can be delivered in time.

The Fabrication Engineer and the Assembly Engineer will work together to ensure the submission of the Fabrication & Assembly Report on behalf of the task force, but all members of the task force shall be involved or consulted while preparing the report, and the Fabrication Engineer is mainly in charge of the machining method and part selection within budget limit and time frame.

It should be noted that many uncertainties are involved during the fabrication considering the engineering limitations. So it is critical for the Fabrication Engineer needs to think ahead of the design while the team is preparing the Design Need Report and Engineering Feasibility Report. When moving to the stage of fabrications, cost starts to rise significantly besides manpower and an informed lead time consideration is of critical importance for the team to complete the task in time, making it even more difficult to suggest last-minute changes to the design when reality kicks in. Therefore, it is critical for the fabrication engineer to keep updating the fabrication and assembly report throughout the design process by listening to the feedback from the task force and the team, making informed decisions on the necessary changes to the engineering design, and making sure that the design is being machined, purchased, and delivered in time to the team.

In the Final Report, the Fabrication Engineer will contribute a section within their task force explaining how the design is being fabricated, what changes or compromises made when making the actual prototype and why, what is the budget record and lead time record during fabrication, and summarize the potential issues or compromises if the design is to be further developed for final production in actual scenario.

Assembly Engineer

Besides the role as a mechanical engineer of the task force, the Assembly Engineer also plays a leading role in coordinating with the rest members of the task force on the assembly of the machine based on the parts delivered by the Fabrication Engineer, working closely with the Design Engineer, Feasibility Engineer, and Fabrication Engineer on the necessary changes that were made during the assembly process, and making sure the assembled machine performs at the designed condition as much as possible.

The Assembly Engineer and the Fabrication Engineer will work together to ensure the submission of the Fabrication & Assembly Report on behalf of the task force, but all members of the task force shall be involved or consulted while preparing the report, and the Assembly Engineer is mainly in charge of the assembly of the machine with detailed instructions of the assembly process and changes made during the assembly.

It should be noted that in many industries, the Assembly Engineer is usually the highest paid engineer on the engineering floor, mainly due to the fact that his/her skill will directly impact the performance of the machine being made. The Assembly Engineer shall be involved since the very beginning of the design process to think ahead of the potential issues that may be involved if a specific design is chosen for production. Even if the parts are made to the specifications, there will still be the issue of tolerance and fit. The assembly engineer needs to deal with the situation that the deadline is approaching and there may not be possible to make a new part or even a new design. During alpha prototyping, most parts may also need a final touch of adjustments or treatment before being assembled, which is common among machined parts and 3D printed ones. These are the situations where assembly engineers play a key role in realizing the design, making sure that a working machine can be delivered to the team based on the design.

In the Final Report, the Assembly Engineer will contribute a section within their task force explaining how the design is being assembled, what changes or compromises made when assembling the alpha prototype and why, and summarize the potential issues or compromises if the design is to be further developed for final production in actual scenario.

Test Engineer

Besides the role as a mechanical engineer of the task force, the Test Engineer also plays a leading role in coordinating with the rest members of the task force on arranging the test procedures of the assembled machine to meet the engineering need and providing constructive suggestions on the optimization of the machine design that is actionable and maybe innovative also.

The Test Engineer is mainly in charge of the submission of the Testing & Optimization Report on behalf of the task force, but all members of the task force shall be involved or consulted while preparing the report, and it is the Test Engineer’s job to properly allocate any necessary sub-tasks to the rest of the task force towards a working report submission.

It should be noted that the test engineer is the one that tells the truth, both to the design team and also to the clients making the design request, about the machine’s actual performance. And in order to do so, the test engineer should think of himself or herself as an “independent” third-party of the team to design and develop the necessary test equipment and method that can be used to effectively measure the performance of the machine against the metrics in the Design Need Report. Furthermore, the test engineer should also consider the actual scenarios given the alpha prototype and give suggestions on potential ways to improve the design. The test engineer should be the one working closely with all members of the task force from the very beginning of the design cycle with the Design Engineer of the task force as well as the System Integrator of the team to make sure that the chosen design meets the engineering need of the system.

In the Final Report, the Test Engineer will contribute a section within their task force explaining whether the design meets the engineering need of the team’s wasteless production line system, how the design is being tested, what optimizations can be made to further improve the design, and summarize the potential issues or compromises if the design is to be further developed for final production in the actual scenario.