Team Contests?

Few things I'd worry about with any form of group project.

1. One person doesn't end up doing most/all of the work, as others can't/won't.

2. One person doesn't end up doing the dregs/left overs, and didn't get to choose what they wanted to do.

3. Anything that has to be chain mailed to cross each member's desk for them to work on. That's got to slow down progress, what happens if something gets lost in the mail ?

Ideas that are more workable.

1. IoT based project with a common website/API to bring the results together. Each member could build a sensor, that way the devices don't need to be physically brought together.

2. Some form of common bus boards plug into, for instance an 8 bit bus + CE + power or Arduino shields, all the boards could be mailed into one location to be assembled.

I would think given the sort of timelines any team project would need, it's practical to have actual PCBs made up, with or without bodge wires.

Few things I'd worry about with any form of group project.

1. One person doesn't end up doing most/all of the work, as others can't/won't.

2. One person doesn't end up doing the dregs/left overs, and didn't get to choose what they wanted to do.

3. Anything that has to be chain mailed to cross each member's desk for them to work on. That's got to slow down progress, what happens if something gets lost in the mail ?

Ideas that are more workable.

1. IoT based project with a common website/API to bring the results together. Each member could build a sensor, that way the devices don't need to be physically brought together.

2. Some form of common bus boards plug into, for instance an 8 bit bus + CE + power or Arduino shields, all the boards could be mailed into one location to be assembled.

I would think given the sort of timelines any team project would need, it's practical to have actual PCBs made up, with or without bodge wires.

Situations like 1 or 2 can always happen, and they are part of life. Checking the E14 participation of members could eventually give you some clues if any of those situations could occur when grouping with those members.

How components are handled is up to every group. There  are many alternatives, as you say mailing from one member is a risky business, so alternatives are to use readily available components that each member has or are available locally or from big distributors with a short delay. Its up to each time to see how they solve those issues, but I agree that project that don't require that many special/odd components are much team friendly than those that do.