UG Individual Project CHP2524

1. UG Individual Project CHP2524 • This week: • PART 1: TIME MANAGEMENT • (thanks to Dave Brignell for his slides) • PART 2: ADVICE ON CHOICE OF PROJECT

2. PART 1:TIME MANAGEMENTSome famous laws: • SOD'S LAW, • ALSO KNOWN AS MURPHY'S LAW: • If anything can go wrong, it will. O'TOOLE'S COMMENTARY ON MURPHY'S LAW: Murphy was an optimist.

3. Some famous laws • NINETY-NINETY RULE OF PROJECT SCHEDULES. • The first 90% of the job takes 90% of the time, the last 10% takes the other 90%. • FAIL TO PLAN, PLAN TO FAIL.

4. Mountain to climb? PLAN AHEAD. BE SYSTEMATIC. TAKE ONE STEP AT A TIME.

5. Your project • 40 Credits • The biggest module you take at university (apart from the placement) • Needs more time to do it properly • Largely up to you • Easy to lose control of it

6. You need to • Develop a strategy to cope with it • Manage your time • Plan effectively • Monitor your progress

7. Plan A

8. Plan B

9. Managing your time • Main points • Start early • Work consistently • Don’t let things drift • Balance your commitments • Make to do lists • PLAN as much as possible • PRIORITISE in your planning • Assess risks

10. The Salami method Best eaten in thin slices Reduce task to small chunks

11. Planning • FAIL TO PLAN – PLAN TO FAIL • Use a project management tool such as MS Project • Break down your project into manageable tasks, e.g.Research – Requirements – Analysis – Design – Production – Testing – Delivery - etc

12. Planning • Estimate how long each task should take • Enter deadlines • Ensure that your plans allow you to meet the deadlines • Allow some slack for contingencies“Sod’s or Murphy’s Law”

13. Use Gantt charts • Show graphically what tasks you should have done and what is still to do • Shows durations, dependencies, e.g. Wake up Go To Bathroom Wash

14. Update regularly • Save a baseline version • Modify your plan to show- • Re-scheduled tasks • Additional tasks • Deleted tasks • These versions show that you have been trying to manage your project

15. Stick to your plan • Don’t exceed the planned times by large amounts • Move on to the next phase • There will always be a certain reluctance to end a task. • Realise you could spend double the time on it and only improve it by 5%

16. Scope your project • Clearly identify what you really need to deliver • Consider the product, what are the core deliverables • Look at the assessment strategy, what do you get the marks for • Concentrate your effort on these.

17. Use MOSCOW • This is a tool developed by the DSDM Consortium (Dynamic Systems Development Method ) • M - MUST have this. S - SHOULD have this if at all possible.C - COULD have this if it does not effect anything else.W - WON'T have this time but would like in the future.It’s just as important to get the Won’ts right as the Musts

18. Apply to your task lists • ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ M • ~~~~~~~~ W • ~~~~~~~~~~~ S • ~~~~~~~~~ M • ~~~~ C Use the module handbook to guide you in doing this

19. Set Goals • Long TermProduce an application and a report • Medium TermProduce a research report by week 8(IS students only) • Short termArrange meeting schedulesDefine research areas Try to make weekly schedules

20. Don’t think that- • you are the only one in this situation • you will fail if you don’t complete everything • you can’t make small changes(agree with your supervisor though) • you have plenty of time and you will be able to catch up later

21. When things go wrong • DISCUSS with your supervisor know • Work out a new strategy • Review what you can do in the time left • Re-prioritise

22. Summary • PLAN • Use: • MOSCOW priorities • SALAMI method to split up work • Update plans regularly • Apply consistent effort • Stay positive – it can be done!

23. More quotes … • The bad news is time flies. • The good news is you're the pilot. • --Michael Althsuler

24. CHP2524 PART 2: ADVICE ON CHOICE OF PROJECT PROJECT PROPOSAL WRITING AND EXAMPLES OF PAST PROJECTS

25. Your Project Idea – Questions to Ask and Desirable Answers- the YES’s 10 QUESTION TO ASK ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL - THE NEARER YOU GET TO 10/10 THE BETTER…. • Is the project one that I am motivated to do and will enjoy doing? YES • Have I identified a problem to be solved, or a research question to be answered? YES • Is the problem “open ended”, does the problem’s solution involve investigation and research, and then the construction of a tangible product ? YES • Will doing the project make me an expert in some topical/advanced area such an active research area, or enable me to learn about an active research and development area? YES • Will the project enable me to be creative, innovative and use my own initiative? YES

26. Your Project Idea – Questions to Ask and Desirable Answers – the NO’s • 6. Can the problem be solved with off-the-shelf system, or is it a problem that has been solved many times before ? NO • 7. Have I chosen the project mainly because I want to use a particular technology – eg I want to learn about “web programming” so I want to do a project using “web programming”? NO • 8. Have I chosen the project mainly because my ex-industrial training company wants me to do it as a development project? NO • 9. Have I chosen a project which has no links to my degree? NO • 10. Is the problem to be solved of same complexity as a piece of final year coursework? NO

27. EXAMPLE OF A POOR WAY TO START A PROJECT PROPOSAL… (someone doing MultiMedia and Software Development) “I want to do my project using C# v.3.2 in order to create a MySQL database of honey bee qualities. I will create a web solution to the honey bee problem. Using Flash v1.4, which is the premier solution to web media integration, I will do an animation. I will highlight the honey bee population downturn by using MySQL operations on the data. I will research into the best version of Flash to use.”

28. EXAMPLE OF A BETTER WAY TO START A PROJECT PROPOSAL… (someone doing MultiMedia and Software Development) “The population of honey bees in the UK is declining [reference]. Scientists require help in visualising and analysing this decline to emphasise regional and geographical trends … [-CONTEXT, TOUCHING ON PROBLEM]. No appropriate decision software exists to help them in the honey bee area. The aim of this project is to help environmental scientists in their research into bee decline…. [-PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED, NEED IDENTIFIED] To achieve this I intend to acquire available bee statistical data, and produce a computer tool to integrate, analyse and visualise the data that will assist the environmental scientists in their research… [that’s the PRODUCT] My client is Dr Honey of the Dept of Biology. Likely areas of research will be database integration and multi-dimensional data visualisation.

29. EXAMPLES OF SOME PAST PROJECTS… NByou can “borrow” 1st and 2:1 project reports from last year for a limited period from the Informatics Office on the 4th floor

30. “Phone a Friend” – M. Duckitt[2008] BSc Computer Science • Problem: How to get answers to factual questions • Area: Software, Information Retrieval, Entertainment • Product: A Web Service that can find the correct answer to a factual question • Research: Natural Language Processing, Information Retrieval Methods such as Document Ranking • Evaluation: Checked accuracy using questions from a WWTBAM book • Open Ended? Getting a computer system to answer arbitrary questions has not been achieved yet.

31. First Person Shooter Games for the Blind – Z.Adeel BSc Computing Software Devel. • Problem: there is a need forentertaining computer games for the blind • Area: Games, Entertainment • Product: A FPS game that Blind people can use, where interaction is done using sound and keyboard only • Research: Sound, Current use of Sound in Games, Games Engines • Evaluation: User trials and feedback • Open Ended? Clearly a novel area, and a high degree of difficulty

32. Mobile Interactive Learning Materials [2008] D. Hudson BSc Software Devel. + Multimedia • Problem: Platforms for E-Learning need to be extended for Mobile Work • Area: E-Learning, mobile learning • Product: A “learning content editor” to create learning content for mobiles • Research: E-Learning, Mobile Learning, Mobile Technologies, Platforms and their capabilities • Evaluation: User trial by clients: 2 academics - “learning managers” at HU • Open Ended? Clearly a novel area as there are no common tools in use

33. Stocks and Shares Extraction (Anon) BSc Computing and Business • Problem: Need an automated way of finding useful information about stocks/shares etc of a company • Area: Business, Economics, Knowledge Extraction • Product: A web service that, given the name of a company, will extract information about it from the web • Research: Automated Extraction of information from the Web, Company features and characteristics • Evaluation: Test using business clients for usefulness again doing manual searches • Open Ended? The amount and quality of information that can be extracted from (largely) human–readable sources is open-ended

34. CONCLUSIONS • Picking the right project for you is EXTREMELY important. • Good luck with your choice.