CSE 403 Course project: Project proposal

Overview

1. Develop an exciting project idea with one or two other students. As you develop your vision, think about the problem you are trying to solve, the customer’s point of view, and consider the feasibility and novelty of your project.
2. Present your idea with your team partners to the class.
3. View other groups’ proposals and rank them (including your own) by which project you would prefer to work on.
4. The staff will use these rankings to organize project teams, taking into account project and team-member preferences.

Setup

Select one or two other students to work together with you on a proposal. You can leverage the class discussion board to find a partner, as well as section on Thursday. If you don’t have a partner after section on Thursday, contact the 403 staff who can help connect you with another student.

Fill out and submit the class form (watch Ed Discussion for the link) identifying your team members by DEADLINE: Friday 9/29/23 11:59pm so we can get Canvas set up for your assignment.

Instructions

1. Write a 1-2 page proposal document (PDF)

• Develop an interesting project idea.
• Pick a short and catchy title.
• Introduce your project idea.
• Discuss the problem to be solved and your vision. Provide a competitive analysis and explain what makes your idea different.
• Discuss your proposed technical approach: explain what system architecture, technologies, and tools you may use.
• Highlight the single most serious challenge or risk you foresee with developing your project on time. How will you minimize or mitigate the risk? Don’t state generic risks that would be equally applicable to any project.
• Name your PDF ProjectName_LastName1_LastName2[_LastName3]-PROPOSAL.pdf. Remember, it should be 1-2 pages maximum.

2. Prepare a 3-minute slideshow presentation - an elevator pitch (PDF)

• Pitch your project idea at a higher level compared to your proposal document.
• Your slide deck must have at most 3 slides and include at least one diagram or figure.
• Save your slidedeck as a PDF file named ProjectName_LastName1_LastName2[_LastName3]-SLIDES.pdf.

3. Submit your proposal and slideshow deck DEADLINE: Monday 10/2/23, 11:59pm (see Calendar)

• Zip your two PDF files (proposal document and slide deck) into a file named ProjectName_LastName1_LastName2[_LastName3].zip and upload it to the Project Proposal Canvas assignment.
• Write an abstract of at most 3 sentences that captures the vision of your project. Then, fill out the class form (see Ed Discussion for the link). Students will be able to refer to this information when they rank their preferences. We'll also use this information to put an order to the presentations.

4. Present your proposal

• During Tues-Thurs, 10/3/23-10/5/23 (see Calendar), present your proposal in class at your designated time. You will have 3 minutes and we will be running a tight clock so we can hear about all the projects. Practice your delivery beforehand to ensure it fits the time! Focus on the essentials - give the elevator pitch.

5. Rank your project preferences DEADLINE: Thurs 10/5/23, 11:59pm (see Calendar)

• Consider all project proposals presented by your classmates.
• Optionally reach out to members of the class over the class discussion board for clarifications.
• Fill out and submit the class form (see Ed Discussion for the link) with your project preferences.

  Note: The 403 staff will use the results of the form to influence the projects selected for the class and to assign you to a project team. There is opportunity to identify 1-2 students that you’d like to work with, however the request must be mutual and the 403 staff cannot guarantee any groupings.

FAQ

Will my grade depend on whether my project is chosen?

No. Your grade is not based upon whether your project is chosen (by other students or by the 403 staff) to be implemented. Rather, your grade is based on the quality of your materials and your presentation. We will be evaluating whether you have addressed the identified project elements, made reasonable judgments concerning them, and organized and presented your proposal well.

What is an interesting project?

It is essential to clearly indicate the problem, and why it matters to potential users of your system. For example, how will the system change the way they perform some task? Too often, this most important bit is missing in proposals. Only after that is it worthwhile to say that the project will be possible (or even fun) to build.

Do I have to work on the project that I proposed?

No. Your ranking does not have to include your own proposal, if you are more excited about other teams’ ideas. Also, you can split up your proposal team and work with a different group for the class project.

How many people can work together on a project?

We will aim for groups of 4-6 students per project. If a project proposal is particularly popular, it is possible that more than one group can work on the same project idea – with a different focus or technical approach.

How will you create the project groups?

• We will try to give you one of your top project choices, based on your project ranking.
• If a set of students submitted identical group members and project preferences, we will try to keep that group together.
• We will select projects that we believe will be a good fit for the class (scope, resources, etc.), and for which students are interested in developing.
• We will avoid assigning you a project that we think will not be successful in the class, based on our experience.

What do you mean by discussing our vision?

Try to focus on important questions about the addressed problem and possible impacts of your solution rather than technical details of that solution: What is your product, at a high level? Whom is it for? What problem does it solve? What alternatives are available? Why is this project compelling and worth developing?

What is a competitive analysis?

You should spend nearly as much time understanding what already exists as you do coming up with something new. For example, don’t propose to develop a web search engine without knowing that Google exists. You could propose, however, some search engine features that you believe would be super useful and that Google doesn't provide.

Clearly explain what differentiates your project from the alternatives. Differentiate the top-level objectives, target customers, scope, and technical approach of your product from existing, alternative products. Indicate what is novel about your proposed features. Don’t belabor features that are standard in existing packages.

Also, indicate how the proposed project poses interesting design (or other) challenges from a software engineering point of view.

What does it mean to pitch an idea at a higher level?

Don’t dive into too many technical details in your project pitch. You can say a few words about the underlying technology, but your first priority should be to convince the staff and the class that the project is interesting and solves an important problem.

Remember that this delivery is the basis for the class to decide which products to develop and deliver this quarter.

Any advice regarding writing and presentation?

Excellent question! Here are some tips:

• Be specific and give examples – whether you are explaining a problem or a solution.
• Include mockups if you are proposing a system with a GUI.
• Make your slides simple and readable. Make sure your fonts are large enough; there is sufficient contrast between the text and background color; and the slides are free of distracting design elements.
• Put the take-home points on the slides. You can also use these as memory joggers during the presentation. Your live presentation can go beyond what's on the slides - referring to the prior point, keep your slides simple and readable.
• Use color effectively but be aware that some people have challenges seeing the full color spectrum. Highlight the key points to draw the reader’s eye and indicate what really matters about the slide.