⏰ Competition · Team Operations

Time Management
for V5RC Teams

A 2-hour practice is short. A 6-month season disappears fast. Teams that arrive with a plan — for both — get three times the work done and show up to competitions ready.

1
2-Hour Session
2
Season Phases
3
Priority Rules
4
Rookie vs Advanced
5
Notebook Time
// Section 01
How to Structure Every 2-Hour Practice
The difference between a productive session and a wasted one is made before you arrive.
⏰
One rule: before every session, write one specific goal on the whiteboard. “Practice” without a goal is just hoping. “Test intake at match speed and log 10 cycle times” is a goal.

The 2-Hour Session Template

0:00–0:10
Pre-check
Drive check, batteries, port verification, screw check. A dead battery found at 0:45 costs you 30 minutes.
0:10–0:15
State the session goal out loud
Everyone hears it. Write it in the notebook. Now you have a success condition.
0:15–1:30
Focused work
One task at a time. Engineer works the problem. Driver runs drills. Strategist logs data. No one doing three things at once.
1:30–1:45
Full-match simulation
Timer running, no stops. Log cycle times, error count, and simulated match score. Not optional.
1:45–2:00
Close out
Write the notebook entry. Pack the robot. Charge batteries. Write next session’s goal before you leave.

How to Divide Focused Work Time by Role

🏎 Driver
  • Structured drill time (see Driver Practice Curriculum)
  • Full-match simulations with logged times
  • Pre-match checklist review
⚙ Engineer
  • One focused mechanical or code problem per session
  • Test protocol, not open experimentation
  • Document changes in real time
📊 Strategist
  • Log test results and cycle times
  • Update the notebook while testing happens
  • Review game analysis, scouting data
❌
The most common time waste: 40 minutes troubleshooting with no diagnosis plan. Before fixing anything, spend 5 minutes identifying exactly what is wrong. See the Stall Detection and PID Diagnostics guides for structured troubleshooting.
1 / 5
// Section 02
Allocating Time Across the Season
What you spend time on in October looks different from what you spend time on in January. Plan for it.

Most VRC seasons run 20–24 weeks from kickoff to State. Below is a time allocation framework by phase. Adjust percentages based on your competition schedule — but the direction of the shift holds for every team.

Phase 1 — Build and Prototype (Weeks 1–6)

70%
Build + Test
20%
Programming
10%
Notebook

Get the first working prototype on the field as fast as possible. Imperfect and driving beats perfect and still on the table. Log game analysis, initial design decisions, and first test results.

Phase 2 — Iterate and Develop (Weeks 7–14)

35%
Refinement
30%
Autonomous
20%
Driver Practice
15%
Notebook

This phase is where most teams lose time. Fix one mechanism problem per session. Hit 80% autonomous consistency before adding new features. Do not skip driver practice.

Phase 3 — Competition Prep (2–3 Weeks Before Event)

35%
Driver Practice
30%
Reliability Testing
20%
Notebook + Interview
15%
Competition Admin

No new features. Stabilize what you have. Run the inspection checklist. Practice the judge interview out loud. Lock the code with a git tag. Do not push untested changes.

⚠️
Design freeze. Set a hard date — typically 10–14 days before a competition — after which no new mechanisms are added. Teams that violate design freeze frequently arrive with an untested robot. Teams that hold it arrive confident.

Competition Week

2 / 5
// Section 03
Priority Rules — Deciding What to Work on
Not every problem is urgent. Not every idea is worth building today. Use this system.
💡
The filter: before starting any task, ask “does this directly improve our score or reliability at the next competition?” If the answer is no or maybe — it goes on the backlog.

The Priority Stack

P1
Robot is not working reliably — everything stops until this is fixed. Drives before mechanisms. Mechanisms before autonomous.
P2
Autonomous is not consistent — 8/10 runs within target is the standard. Until you hit it, auton time comes before mechanism improvements.
P3
Driver control is not optimized — curves, macros, partner controller, and drill time before adding new mechanisms.
P4
Scoring rate can be improved — P1–3 are solid. Now you can experiment, add features, and pull from the backlog.
❌
Classic mistake: three sessions improving a mechanism that already works while the autonomous cannot complete a single run. Fix what breaks matches first.

The Backlog

Keep a shared list (whiteboard, Google Doc, paper) of every idea, improvement, and experiment the team wants to try. Every session, look at it. When P1–3 are solid, pull from the backlog. Good ideas do not get lost — they get sequenced.

When You Are Running Out of Time Before a Competition

3 / 5
// Section 04
Rookie Teams vs Advanced Teams
The same principles apply — but first-year teams need different defaults than experienced ones.

If This Is Your First Season

Rookie Team Defaults
  • Simplify the robot. A 4-motor tank drive that works beats a 6-motor holonomic that does not. One reliable mechanism beats three experimental ones.
  • Do not skip driver practice. Most rookie teams underinvest here and regret it at the first competition. 20 minutes of structured driving per session minimum.
  • Start the notebook on day one. Catch-up is hard. Real-time entries are easy. See Getting Started with the Notebook.
  • Use the Season Timeline planner. Set milestones before you start building. A plan made in week 1 beats improvising in week 8.
  • Your first competition is practice. Go to learn. Have goals other than winning — “complete 3 matches without a mechanical failure” is a valid goal for event 1.

If You Have Competed Before

Experienced Team Defaults
  • Do not default to last year’s robot. New game, new analysis. Run the game analysis first, then decide on mechanisms.
  • Set earlier milestones. Returning teams often overestimate how fast they can move. Set the same aggressive milestones as a rookie team, not easier ones.
  • Your biggest risk is scope creep. You know how to build more things now. That is dangerous. Use the priority stack every session.
  • Notebook from game analysis forward. Do not recycle last year’s entries. This season’s notebook starts fresh on kickoff day.
  • Post-competition rebuilds need a plan. After event 1, identify the 1–2 biggest problems. Fix only those. Do not rebuild the whole robot.

After a Competition — The Rebuild List

Write a rebuild list the night of the competition. While it is fresh:

💡
The rebuild list becomes your sprint plan for the next 2–3 weeks. Do not carry more than 3 items from it into active development at once.
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// Section 05
Making Time for Documentation
Notebook entries written at the end of the season are reconstructions, not records. Here's how to stay current.
📝
Budget 10–15 minutes at the end of every session for notebook entries. Writing what just happened takes 10 minutes. Remembering it 3 weeks later takes an hour and produces a worse entry.

The 10-Minute Notebook Rule

2 min Date, team members present, session goal stated at the top
5 min What you tested or built, what the result was, what changes you made
3 min Photos (take them during the session), a sketch, or a screenshot — then next session’s goal
✅
Assign one person as notebook lead per session. They do not write everything — they make sure it gets written before the team leaves.

Weekly Notebook Review Routine

At the end of each week — 5 minutes:

If You Have Fallen Behind

STEM
Time Management as an Engineering Skill
Professional engineering projects use sprints, standups, and retrospectives — the same concepts this guide covers. Gantt charts, critical path analysis, and feature freeze are standard industry practices. Learning them in VRC is not just useful for this season — it is practice for every engineering project you will ever run.
5 / 5
Related Guides
📅 Season Timeline & Planner → 📋 Project Management → 🎮 Driver Practice Curriculum → 🔬 Testing, Data & Iteration → 📝 Engineering Notebook → 🏆 Tournament Pit Crew →
← ALL GUIDES