As much as possible, the course schedule has been designed so that we will study various analysis techniques before you need them for your project. In addition, in-class activities and individual assignments will provide additional practice. The needs of each team and project vary, however, so this isn't guaranteed for all.
Important! I am here for you and your team to consult! Please do not hesitate -- I want these to be successful projects for you and your clients.
Project deliverables are designed to fulfill several purposes:
Read all the problem descriptions, and pick out 4 that you would be interested in working on. Among other things, your decision may be based on the type of problem, the setting, and how feasible you think the project is. Email your list of 4 interesting problems to me by Wednesday, 9/19/12, 12:00 noon. Based on these lists, and my own judgment about the projects' feasibility and appropriateness, I'll select several descriptions, and post them on the website by the end of the day. Your individual grade for the problem definition is independent of whether your definition is a candidate for the projects.
Forming
Project Teams
Thursday, 9/20/12
Before class
on Thursday, 9/20/12, read the candidate problems
from which
you'll choose projects. In class, I'll post the descriptions around the
classroom. People interested in a particular problem will meet by the
description, and discuss skills and schedules (VERY important!). We'll
repeat the process a couple of times, giving people a chance to look at
2 or 3 problems. Final project teams should have 3 or 4 people,
in them, and team members' schedules should allow for meetings.
Progress
Reports
Each team will submit two brief progress reports
during the course
of their project. The purpose of the reports is to tell me
about your accomplishments, plans, and any questions or concerns
your group has. Reports should be about 1
page.
Important! The reports are intended to help us track
the course of your project. If your team encounters any problems, do
not wait
until your next progress report to consult me!
Each report should include:
Information Gathering Plan
Due Thursday, 10/4/12, 10% of grade. Please follow
the
submission guidelines
when you submit your assignment on the course Sakai site.
This is a brief (approximately 5-7 pages) description of
1. Problem definition (required).
This may be revised from the original definition
(in consultation with me) as
a result of your preliminary investigations.
2. What information you need to gather, and why it is important. This
may
include information
about existing processes or information, the expected users, the
environment of the new system, any constraints on your design,
standards
or
"best practices" that may be pertinent, products or equipment, etc.
3. Where you will seek the information. This may include people
(known, or known only by job title), vendors, other places with similar
situations, research literature or trade journals, the site itself,
etc.
4. How you will get the information. This may include types of
interviews
or observations, artifacts you want to collect, searching through
indexes
or on the Web, etc.
5. How you plan to record and organize the information. This may
include
the models
that you think will be useful, notes or sketches, and so on.
6. Your schedule for gathering and organizing information, including
which team members are responsible for which tasks.
7.
Your team organizational structure: who is reponsible for
project/team management, document management, meeting management team
communications, client contact.
8. Your team communication
structure: expectations for attending and preparing for meetings,
establishing and meeting deadlines, providing feedback, requesting
revisions, expressing criticism, concerns, and praise.
Note: The more specific and detailed your plan is, the easier your project will be. I understand that your plans may change as you proceed, and learn more about what you need to learn, but this report will help you get organized, and give me an opportunity to make suggestions.
Grading: 55 points total
Draft Models 1
Due Tuesday 10/23/12 (not graded).
The contextual
inquiry/design approach suggests a variety of models that
may be used to describe particular aspects of a system and its
context. You will have an opportunity to work with each of these models
in
individual assignments, and will be creating models for your team
projects. Models are created as you conduct contextual inquiry
interviews
with individual users or other system stakeholders. As multiple
interviews
are conducted, these individual models are "integrated" into summary
models that represent the input from multiple people.
At this point in the semester, we will have completed our coverage of a variety of models, but your submission is not limited to these. A team is not expected to include instances all of the models we discussed in class. Instead, you are expected to select a few models (2-3) that are most critical for the success of your project. While your data collection may not be complete by this date, you should have begun developing the selected models, and these drafts will be turned in for feedback from me.
Include a brief narrative for each model that provides the following information.
Draft
Models 2
Due Tuesday, 11/13/12
(not graded).
This deliverable has the same components as Draft Models 1.
Presentation
to Class
Tuesday 11/27/12, Thursday 11/29/12, Tuesday 12/4/12.
Each team will present the project results to the class.
Your team may designate one or two members to present, or you
may decide to have each member give a part of the presentation.
Other members of the class will
provide feedback to help the team identify areas that need
clarification, consider different perspectives, and otherwise prepare
for presenting their proposal to the client.
Presentations must be polished and professional:
Final
Specifications
Due Tuesday 12/11/12, 12:00 noon
The full specification of the project, is
due at this time. This report documents your findings, recommendations,
and justifications for the entire project. The
sample
outline will
give you a general idea of what should be included, but
you should use your judgment as to how best to present
it. Most of the sections should be appropriate for presentation
to the client, but I also ask you to reflect on your
experiences and learning in an appendix.
The final specification are worth 25% of your course grade.
Team
Evaluations
Due Tuesday 12/11/12, 12:00 noon
The Lessons Learned section of the final specifications
will include an evaluation of your team as a whole. In
addition, each team member will evaluate the contributions of all
his/her team
members; evaluations should be written and submitted independently.
Briefly describe how well and in what ways,
each of the team members, including
yourself, contributed to the success of the project.
What are each person's strengths? What advice might you give to improve
the person's performance? You can consider this as a type of job
review, such as a manager or co-worker would do on a regular basis, at
the conclusion of a special assignment, or in considering the person
for promotion. Please submit your evaluation on the course Sakai site.
Summary:
Timeline and Grading
Timeline
Tuesday, 9/18/12, problem definitions due.
Thursday, 9/20/12, choose teams.
Thursday 10/4/12, information gathering plans due.
Tuesday 10/23/12, draft models 1 due.
Tuesday 11/13/12, draft models 2 due.
Tuesday 11/27/12, Thursday 11/29/12, Tuesday 12/4/12, team
presentations.
Tuesday 12/11/12, 12:00 noon., final specifications and team
evaluations
due.
Grading
As a rule, the team members will receive the same grade for the
project. In extraordinary circumstances, the members' evaluations of
each other may affect an individual's grade slightly.
The project as a whole is worth 45% of your grade as follows:
Criteria for evaluation of the final specifications include the clarity of the description of the current system, the quality of the design proposed in terms of its ability to improve the system's effectiveness for the client's organization, the clarity and completeness of the description of the proposed system, the feasibility of the implementation plan, and your reflections on your experience.