There are two major overarching goals that I want to achieve throughout the rest of the time in EDD. I first want to, obviously, produce a product which Team Rubicon could possibly implement. Secondly, I want to work with each student to help achieve their individual goals and bring about a sense of accomplishment in the class. Beyond that I have listed goals for 5, 10, and 15 weeks from this day.
5 weeks (February 12th)
Now that the class is getting into the project and the routine of working towards developing/getting help for the app I have several goals that I hope can be achieved by the end of the 5 week period.
Have programming research/prototyping completed: Through the five weeks, I will work with any students who wishes to finish tutorials and get every person who wants to take part in the app development on track to make a meaningful impact on the development. This means that each person has some knowledge in the aspect of the app that they will be in charge of developing. After the five week period I am hoping that I can help get each student to a spot where they are familiar with their aspect of the app and are able to replicate their work in the final project.
Have an outline for the final app project: As members of the app development group continue to work on prototyping and testing, I will work closely with each member to outline how their aspect of the app will be implemented in the final project. This would include documentation of current prototypes, and brainstorming of how to incorporate each aspect of the app into one homogenous product.
Have solid communication with professionals: Many of the students not taking part directly with the app development are still making huge strides in completing this project by contacting professions in the field. I will work with these individuals to identify, and get in contact with these professions who could help us accomplish our goal. This would include contact through email, as well as hopefully some video chat conversations.
Work with team members to complete individual goals: One of the major goals is that individuals are gaining for their experience in EDD. Keeping that in mind, I hope to work with each member individual to help them achieve their 5 week goals and beyond. This will be a constant effort to have each person know that they have made a meaningful impact on the project as a whole.
10 weeks (March 19th)
The 10 week mark represents a critical time in achieving the goal of producing an app for Team Rubicon. At this point the group should be well into the creation of the final product and/or communication with outside resources who may be able to complete the app. At this point, several of the major features should already be accomplished in the final app and we should be well on our way to finishing the project. With that in mind, I have laid out the following goals.
Have each member of the development team finalizing the app: By the end of the 10 week period, I plan that each member of the app development team is working towards finalizing their aspect of the app. This would include documentation, as well as group discussions on the progress made over all. During this time, I plan to be relying heavily on Trello and Slack to have the individuals keeping on target to finish this project.
Regular code reviews: One of the most important parts on any successful app development project is the constant review of the code produced. In order to complete a coherent app, we must all take it upon ourselves to discuss the code we produce as well as the approach we are taking. It will be my responsibility to make sure these code reviews take place and that each member of the programming team is keeping up with the development of the app as a whole.
Keeping professionals up-to-date and part of the project: In order to be most successful, we must make sure to keep professionals part of our engineering process. This would include regular emailing with updates on progress, video calls detailing issues we may be dealing with, and keeping the blog up-to-date with progress. All this could allow us the potential to have outside experts help produce the best possible app for Team Rubicon.
Clear vision of the finish line: Team Rubicon deserves the best possible app that we could provide for them. The best way to ensure that we are providing the best iis by keeping our goals in mind. During the entire project, but most importantly during the completion of the final project, I will make sure that we are meeting the needs of Team Rubicon, not just making another communication tool.
15 weeks (April 16th)
The 15 week mark represents where our project could be meet with success or failure. If by the 15 week period we are not in the testing/finalization period then the likelihood of producing a quality product is close to zero. This time is generally busy for seniors already so we must keep that in mind when considering what needs to be accomplished in EDD.
Testing/Finalizing App: One of the biggest part of any large technical project is the fine tuning and adjustments made after testing. Even with perfect planning it is likely that changes will have to be made based on testing. My goal is to have clearly outlined a testing procedure to put the application through, to best represent success for Team Rubicon. This testing outline will allow us to test the success of the application and make the adjustments needed.
Preliminary Presentation to Team Rubicon: Throughout the project we will be keeping in contact with Team Rubicon, validating the steps we are taking in the app development. This presentation will be a complete rundown of where the app currently is. It will highlight the major features Team Rubicon needs as well as outline how the app will be further developed. This will be the final change to make any adjustments as well as validate the app in its entirety.
EDD is left better then we entered it: EDD has been successful thanks to the previous classes that came before us. We would not be able to approach professionals in the field, or have as much money as we do, if it were not for the past EDD classes. I want to ensure that the next years of EDD will be as successful as possible. By the end of the 10 week period I hope that as a team we will have run several successful fundraiser projects as well as make professional contacts that future students could hopefully benefit from.
Team Reflection: After the 15 week period is over, I would like to sit down with each member and discuss the success and failures that they have viewed through the year. The goal would be to see if any changes could be made in the last few weeks for each student to come away with a personal accomplishment as well as document successes and failures for next years EDD. This would encapsulate both this goal as well as the previous one as being able to provide a stepping stone for next years EDD class is a success itself. I would like to work with the class to compile a list of suggestions that we would be able to pass down to the next class so that they may start out just a little bit ahead of where we started.
These goals may seem far off, but they will come much faster than we expect. I will do everything within my ability to reach these goals as I belief, the accomplishment of each goal will allow our class to succeed in producing a meaningful addition to Team Rubicon’s efforts around the country.
Collin Bolles
Project Manager
