For those who follow our social networks and are searching for extra content on our blog, or for those who are always around, we will introduce you to the tools and software used by our team, FRC5800.
Imagine our team as a system of gears, like those of a watch, the digital tools work as a lubricant for these complex mechanisms, making work happen with more fluidity and agility.
We work with short deadlines and limited resources, so we are always looking for ways to optimize time, yet still guarantee excellent results.
If you want to know a little more about these tools, I invite you to continue reading and maybe you will learn some tips on how to work on your next projects.
But first, a disclaimer: We are not advertising these tools, we have tested many others, but the ones presented are the ones we as of now use and that currently meet our needs.
Communication and Management Tools:
Telegram
We believe that the basis of a successful project or team is having great communication with the outside community and most importantly, clear and direct communication amongst team members.
Trying to bring a more “exclusive” and more functional communication platform to the project, Telegram was found as a solution to some of our most recurring problems.
Imagine having an application that every time a notification appears, you just know that it is something related to your team.
Among the main features that our team uses in Telegram, some are: polls, which makes it easier for us to schedule meetings and find out what is the best time for each of our group members;
Being able to accessTelegram on the computer without the need for an active network connection on your cell phone (it is easier to find an available network cable than a mobile or wi-fi connection inside our lab; Transferring files of unlimited size, and YES, you can send an entire 3D project of the robot through the App.
Search for a little more information and even comparisons between other apps, maybe Telegram can be the answer to your problems as well.
Trello
Like any project, we need agility and transparency within activities. To have those, we use Trello.
I believe that you may have heard of it or of Kanban or seen a wall full of colorful post-it notes, if not: this is the opportunity to get to know and begin to understand the importance of these methods for organization, which can be useful even for your private activities, like cleaning your house.
Trello is popularly known as a project management tool and it’s an online, free, visual and very intuitive platform that our team has tried and approved!!
We believe that there is no correct way to use Trello, but one thing’s for sure: if used, your productivity levels are bound to be improved.
This is how our team uses this application, hopefully you’ll get inspiration from it! inspiração para você.
Simply put, we use Trello as a digitalization of our own Kanban system, in which the tasks are organized in three main levels (Card, Column and Table);
The first level is the Card, it would be one of the post-its on the wall. It represents an action or task that needs to be performed and with the help of some of the tools of Trello, it’s possible to identify the person responsible for the activity, degree of priority and due date.
Then we have the Columns, more generally we organized everything in five columns (Ideas, Tasks, In the making, Review and Completed), these columns are ordered so that the cards go through them all until the activity is completed;
Finally, the Board, each area of our team is responsible for managing and organizing its own Board, so our team works on five main boards (Marketing, Programming, Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Mentors);
Although we are new to the Kanban management system, we have already managed to list some of the benefits it causes within our team, such as:
Managing the progress of our activities;
Limiting the number of tasks by assessing the schedules of members during the week; prioritizing certain tasks;
Agility in performing tasks and solving challenges;
And the development of collaboration and empathy among our members, since everyone can see and follow up on what others are doing.
Online meetings
This seems to be a great challenge for our team, online meetings.
Even with so many platforms available, so many user accounts already created and the most diverse personal preferences, we have not yet reached a consensus on the platform to hold our meetings "at a distance".
Some time ago we tested Discord, an application designed for the gaming community and which at the time did not have the video conferencing and screen broadcast function, but we didn’t use it for long. There are still faithful supporters of the platform, but we migrated most of the team's meetings to Google Meet, which had some releases and conditions of use facilitated, due to the pandemic of COVID-19 and, it seems, will be available for use from now on.
Have we finally found the solution to this challenge?
We will certainly have to wait a little longer for the answer, because, according to information released on Google's own communication channel, as of September, the video conferences held on the platform will have limited time and number of participants.
This will be a golden moment for the gamers of our team, as they can vouch for the return of Discord.
Cloud Data and File Storage
As you may already know, we are a robotics team, right? This means that we have to save files of the most diverse types and sizes, for that we use three main platforms: Google Drive,, GitHub and GrabCAD.
The vast majority of our files are in the cloud and there’s a reason for that. Today we have more security against loss of external hard drives, flash drives and even against invasions by malicious users; We were able to find, transfer and even edit files in a more agile and organized way; Regardless of whether it is by computer or cell phone, all members have access to the team's data and files
To maintain a better organization of these different files and to improve the management of this data, we try to maintain a more objective division of the types of files that are in each repository.
The division takes place as follows: Photos, videos, documents, handouts, spreadsheets and forms are stored in Google Drive; Source codes, files and programming libraries are stored on GitHub; 3D models, parts, mechanical assemblies, old designs and engineering references are stored in GrabCAD.
It may seem a little confusing for members who are not so familiar with these technologies, but we are always looking to optimize time and resources within our project and this organization has contributed positively to our results.
Did you already know and use any of these tools? Are you curious to test them? Share with us here in the comments. For more tips like these don't forget to keep following our blog and follow us on other social networks, @frc5800.
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