This is a problem i have experienced a bit myself, as i’m my team’s programmer i dont have much say on the robot, and can’t do much if i have an objection as im also not very confrontational. Luckily our coach is pretty good.
I recently retired as an Engineering Executive with over 40 years of experience. I worked at a Fortune 500 company and had over 200 of our counties smartest engineers and scientists with Bachelors, Masters and PhD degrees working for me across the world. Why am I telling you all this? To let you know that whether you are 12 years old and in 7th grade or are a seasoned engineer/scientist the issue you raise about TEAM DYNAMICS is exactly the same everywhere.
Learning how the handle these issues at your stage in life will pay big dividends for you in all walks of life going forward. Here are some tips that I have shared with my engineers over the years:
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Everyone’s TRUE personality comes to the surface under stress. You learn a lot about yourself and your teammates when times get tough. If you can maintain a sense of humor when this happens it can be a bit entertaining.
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Meet with your team members one-on-one behind closed doors so you can keep the conversation honest, open and professional (meaning focus on the issue, no name calling). Express your desire for team success first and how you are trying to contribute. Try to understand the other person’s issues and how you can help lower their stress in the process too. Repeat this with all team members.
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We hold “peer reviews” where we ask people from outside the team to look over our design options and give us feedback. Outsiders have no emotional connection so they can be impartial.
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Creat a “Decision Matrix” where you list the desired attributes of your final design and grade each design option against that list. The design with the best score is given first priority of team resources.
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In many cases I have seen engineers go off on their own time and simply design, build and test a prototype of their idea and bring the results back to the team for consideration. If your idea works better than the current design then it’s hard to argue with success.
You are learning some very important life lessons being on a robotics team. Stay positive and keep looking for ways to make your team successful.
Hope this helps…
last year I was with two people who were always arguing, and me being the people pleaser I am, recruited myself as their official mediator
not fun