One thing that went well during the JPL project is our ability to innovate. Frequently we had to change our design as a way to solve the issues that would present themselves. One example that comes to mind was when we were trying to figure out how to mount our laser pointer. To solve this I sawed off the top half of a PVC pipe and left a bit completely intact at the front . The laser pointer would slide through and catch on the completely intact pafrt forcing the button down and keeping the laser on until we slid it back out.
In a perfect world we would have accounted for the fact that the balls may be a little flat. Next time around we should dedicate more time to brainstorming any isssues we could encounter and incorporate a solution to each just so that we are better prepared for the worst case scenario.
In the future i would tell myself "Don’t waste time", even on days were you feel like there’s nothing to do. There where certain days were we weren’t able to work on our project because we where waiting on parts or waiting for glue to dry. On days like that, the group should meet to discuss what we could do to further improve our design and discuss what the design plan is going forward in case anything has changed since our original design which is exactly what happened multiple times in my group.