Pulling your own weight

I will pull my weight if you pull your weight. This applies not only to the students but also to the mentors, parents and teachers involved. It is realistic to point out that in the majority of project teams and organizations I’ve been in, there is dead weight. These are people who claim that they are capable of taking responsibility and delivering on their promises, but don’t live up to their claims. This is ignorance, arrogance and stupidity to put it frankly. I have all the respect in the world for people who are aware and sensitive of their limits and their abilities, and when they realize they cannot deliver on a promise, they have the integrity to go ask for help as soon as possible. We cannot do much on our own – everyone leans on everyone else to pull through, but when you do not do your part and are afraid to admit it and ask for help, it hurts everyone else, a lot.

The lone inventor is a myth. Thomas Edison had hundreds of people working with him to invent the working lightbulb. He alone could not have tested thousands of materials to come upon the tungsten filament, which finally proved to be the right material. Robotics here is the same. If you promise to hit a deadline, if you promise to have something prototyped, if you promise you can have a certain amount of money raised, if you promise to show up get something done, you should hold to that promise and if you cannot, at least raise your hand early enough and let the community know. We will not berate you for not trying and ask for help. It is when you do not ask for help and wait until little can be done anymore will we ALL fall to the ground.

I have been hurt, a lot, during the last six weeks, by people who claim they can do things, but don’t raise their hand and share with everyone when they have trouble delivering. I’m on my last straw – and I want to make it clear that it is not only the students, but some of us big people who are not pulling our own weight. There are many of you out there who are being proactive and doing more than your part, but there are a few of us in the community who have been given a lot of responsibility but are not or cannot deliver. How many more times do I have to get a slap on the wrist for picking up after you?

I'm crying. This is unfair. I don't know how else to be polite and honest at the same time.