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One of the main causes of leads stepping down is the amount of responsibility put on the shoulders of a few or even one person. To fight counter this, Interiors is implementing a Co-Lead system as of S2021. This “core” team will consist of:
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Important Things to Keep in Mind
Documentation
In an ideal world, there would be an endless lineup of members who are uber-interested in the team all the time, but this is never the case. What we need to get efficient at then, is preparing for rapid changeovers at short notice. The answer to this problem is clear, constant documentation. This allows any new member taking over a project to quickly get up to speed on its current progress.
A prime example is Kevin Bui’s (previous mech lead) design log for MSXIV’s bell crank:
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Another example of good documentation on Confluence is Eric Zhao’s page on the connection port for MSXIV’s Catamaran Cover: CC Connection Port
What both these examples have in common are that they record every decision that was made as well as the reasoning/validation behind it. The plan moving forward is to have design logs for every project and task, no matter how small, so that nothing is left out. Although this seems like a lot of work, putting in the effort now will save
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the stress later on. Documentation is a skill after all, meaning it can be improved through repetition.
Commitment Level
Any lead position on Midnight Sun requires a greater time commitment and responsiblity, since leads have much more stake in the completion of the car. Naturally, the lead position attracts those who are willing to put in the blood, sweat and tears to get this car out on the road, so commitment isn’t a problem. However, each person has different priorities and there is absolutely no expectation that leads give themselves entirely to the team - it's just a matter of time management, knowing your limits and most importantly, communication
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Lastly.
Scouting New Leads/PM’s
So you’ve been a lead for a while now….what’s next?
Maybe you’re ready to step back into an advisor position, or you’re academic, co-op or personal lives are getting too busy and you can’t make time for Midnight Sun anymore. What do you do then?
Obviously one of our team goals is to be sustainable. It is quite difficult to start a student team after it’s members have completely disbanded, let alone a new student team from scratch. And Midnight Sun has been in this situation before where the team, in a sense, fizzled out and was later brought back to life by some committed students for their fourth year design project.
To prevent this from happening again, there needs to be lineup of potential leads who are motivated and committed enough to take on the role and keep the team alive. It is largely on the current lead and PM to look out for these members and bring them up so that they develop the skills to one day take over.
The most important thing about scouting these members is that they have to be willing to be a lead. This is a student team after all and nobody is getting paid, so all you have is people’s interest. No point in passing responsibility onto someone who isn’t fully invested in sticking around.
There is no step-by-step guide on how to find the right lead or PM candidate - mostly it’s due to chance. Fortunately Midnight Sun is a well-established team with a lengthy history so attracting talent isn’t that hard (also…Waterloo). It’s on you as the current lead to make joining the team as fun and rewarding as you can.
If you get stuck, just remember why you became one.
To conclude, enjoy this generic motivational poster 
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