Aloe Terra - Lawrence Tech University 2007 Solar Decathlon Team

• Team
• Timeline
• In the Media

• Top
• Experience
• Changes in Team Structure

In the beginning, we created structure. A textbook business plan may have been jealous of our organized hierarchy. Groups were formed and team leaders were strategically selected. We spent hours upon hours identifying our roles and defining our responsibilities. We held long meetings to discuss significant topics like market value, community outreach, and design philosophy. Although impressive on paper, our Solar Decathlon 2007 "team" had failed to do one thing . . . work! Without so much as an inkling of a product, our fancy association quickly went sour.

Since the fall of our chain of command, ALOeTERRA has evolved into a team bonded by a force greater than our comprehension. We eliminated superior positions and threw traditional business models out the window. We knew that it was going to take a different kind of team to promote this "different kind" of energy.

Now, just like the sun, our team is bright, powerful, and full of energy. Okay, so we're not always perfect, but maybe we like it that way! We're organic, we're beautiful, and we work very well together.

Our near perfect union has recently developed into the creation of the ALOeTERRA Architeers. Yes, you read right, we're Architeers! You see, our team is composed of students from a plethora of disciplines, but The Solar Decathlon has brought out the architect and the engineer in all of us; hence the name "Architeer." The name alludes to our flexibility. Sure, we all have our specialties, but the duties implied by our titles are irrelevant when serious work needs to be done.

Since we became Architeers, ALOeTERRA has elevated to a level that we never knew existed. Somewhere in the midst of it all, we became more than a team . . . we became friends. As it turns out, we enjoy, respect, and really, really like one another. Our solar-powered home is a reflection of not only what our team has accomplished, but also of how much fun we've had leaping hurdles together along the way.

1. This is where we started, a classic organization model although not flushed out:

2. We then made it even more complicated with cross references, student consultants, liasions and sub-sub leaders. Whew!

3. Below is the final re-organization. We started to practice what we were preaching, we reduced and simplified . . . meaning we actually got to work and stopped talking.

So . . . instead of categorizing subteams in traditional ways like "engineer" or "architect", we have only architeers. There are focus groups working on particular areas, like 'plumbing systems' but the membership of this group would include mechanical engineering students, architecture students, professional and technical communications students for documentation, business students for purchasing and cost analysis . . . all working together at the same level . . . all having input into the design and solutions.