Students team up to work on an ambitious project of their choice or with actual organizations or other student teams to co-develop software products. This experience simulates many challenges and opportunities of actual work environments including, managing stakeholders, cross team collaboration, leading teams, managing up, conflict resolution, advocating for their ideas, increasing probability of adoption within an organization and users. Key concepts of how to lead and how to follow, how to manage and how to be managed are taught through role playing, discussion, and and in depth reading list of both current and classical writings on leadership. For students who never want a job as a manager to those who want to climb the corporate ladder, the course provides vital lessons on how teams work and how to make them great.
Students can find an organization to work with on their own or select from a group of preselected organizations. Students also have the option to work on their own original idea.
Course Delivery: hybrid | 7 weeks | 14 sessions
Course Credits: 3 units | 37.5 Seat Hours | 75 Total Hours
By the end of the course, you will be able to ...
- Collaborate cross functionally to various stakeholders such as engineers, project managers, and founders. (PLO 4)
- Proactively set and clarify expectations with collaborators and suggest solutions (PLO 4).
- Utilize project management and decision making best practices to build a product (PLO 4, PLO 6).
- Ship a product to actual users and iterate to user needs (PLO 3).
- Conduct agile sprints with a team of 5+ engineers (PLO 3).
Course Dates: Tuesday, August 24, 2021 – Thursday, October 7, 2021 (7 weeks)
Class Times: Tuesday and Thursday at 09:30 – 11:00am (14 class sessions)
Lab Time: Wednesday at 09:30 – 11:00am
Hybrid sections are a mixture of online and in person components. In person sessions include labs and group work as noted on your schedule. These sections will run according to the Hybrid Delivery Policy: make.sc/hybrid-delivery-policy
| Class | Date | Topics | In-Person Labs (Standups) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tues, Aug 24 | Ideation and Team Formation | |
| 2 | Thur, Aug 26 | Client Relationships | |
| 3 | Tu, Aug 31 | Meet Industry Partner! | Standup @ 11:30am |
| 4 | Thur, Sept 2 | Managing Timelines and Dependencies | |
| 5 | Tu, Sept 7 | Sprint Planning + Assignment Feedback | Standup @ 11:30am |
| 6 | Thur, Sept 9 | Sprint Retro/Planning + PRD Feedback | |
| 7 | Tu, Sept 14 | Decision Making | Standup @ 11:30am |
| 8 | Thur, Sept 16 | Sprint Retro/Planning + Role Breakouts 1 | |
| 9 | Tu, Sept 21 | Delegation and Follow Through | Standup @ 11:30am |
| 10 | Thur, Sept 23 | Sprint Retro/Planning + Behavioral Interview Practice | |
| 11 | Tu, Sept 28 | Shipping Is Superpower + Industry Collab Resume Tips | Standup @ 11:30am |
| 12 | Thur, Sept 30 | Sprint Retro/Planning + Work Time | |
| 13 | Tu, Oct 5 | Quiz & Project Work Time | Standup @ 11:30am |
| 14 | Thur, Oct 7 | MVP Presentations |
In place of a final exam, there will be 3 quizzes held throughout the course of this term. They will be done in class on the below dates:
- Quiz 1: Managing Timelines & Dependencies - Thursday, Sept 2
- Quiz 2: Decision Making - Tuesday, Sept 14
- Quiz 3: Delegating and Follow Through - Tuesday, Sept 21
We will be using Gradescope, which allows us to provide fast and accurate feedback on your work. All assigned work will be submitted through Gradescope, and assignment and exam grades will be returned through Gradescope.
As soon as grades are posted, you will be notified immediately so that you can log in and see your feedback. You may also submit regrade requests if you feel we have made a mistake.
Your Gradescope login is your Make School email, and your password can be changed at https://gradescope.com/reset_password. The same link can be used if you need to set your password for the first time.
Although all assignments for this course live in gradescope but I repeat the main ones here:
DUE DATE: Thursday, September 3
For your project, you will need to conduct user interviews, craft user journeys, build out wireframes, and construct ERDs to provide an origin story and starting point for your project. You will also be adding some of these to your product requirements document (PRD), which you will be sharing with your industry partner.
Evaluation: You will be evaluated on this assignment using the following rubric. You must get at least half of the points in the above rubric to pass the assignment.
DUE DATE: Tuesday, September 7
For your project, you will construct a PRD, a document frequently used in industry to convey the purpose and specifications of a product. You will be sharing this artifact with your industry partner.
Copy the PRD Template and fill in all of the sections. Remember you will be putting in your User Journeys and Wireframes in this document as well. See example PRD here.
Evaluation: You will be evaluated on this assignment using the Writing Rubric. To pass the assignment, you must...
- Fill out each section of the PRD
- Get an average score of 2 on the above rubric
DUE DATE: Thursday, October 7
By the end of this course, you should have an MVP of your product that you will present both in class and to your industry partner.
Evaluation: You will be evaluated on this assignment using the Portfolio Project Rubric. To pass the assignment, you must...
- Get an average score of 2 on the above rubric to pass the assignment.
- Have your project be live/launched (or on test-flight or demoable if partner doesn’t want it public)
- Get an average score of 2 on your Peer Evaluation
Presentation format for SPD 2.1 Final, Thursday Oct 7:
10 minute MVP presentation to Dan in class: 1. Dan user tests features on app (share link) 2. Each teammate shows their code and describes contributions 3. PM explains future feature roadmap 4. Share who will work on the intensive project during Intensive (if anybody)
Evaluation: team must present to pass
To pass this course you must meet the following requirements:
- Pass all assignments according to their associated rubric
- Get an average score above a 2 on your Peer Evaluation
- Present an MVP of your product
- if MVP is not live, can still pass if code exists for features that would earn a pass if live, and teammate is at or under limit of excused absenses
- product does not have to be live if partner specifically requests it not to be live (must show proof)
- Pass at least 2 of three quizzes
- Actively participate in class and abide by the attendance policy
- Make up all classwork from all absences
- Student Expectations - see this flyer to gauge interest from prospective industry collaborators.
- Participating Organization Expectations
- Expectations for Instructors
- User Interviews - user interviews help you understand and validate user needs. Here are user interview best practices and a template script
- Best Practices for User Narratives, Wireframes - see best practice articles, videos, and slides See class slides here.
- Entity Relationship Diagram - see articles of ERD basics and advanced use
- Trello Kanban Board - template Kanban board that teaches you how to use it! Kanban Checklist that unveils opportunities and risks in your project.
- Sprint Planning Meetings (1 hour, weekly) - Meeting Agenda Template. Led by the PM. Team checks their roadmap and evaluate teams’ needs to decide what goes into the next sprint, and assign tasks. Teams can use planning poker to estimate task effort. Everything is logged into Trello. You can copy this Sprint Planning Trello Board template.
- Sprint Retrospective (½ hour, weekly) - Meeting Agenda Template. Complete the old sprint board by checking all tickets and moving incomplete ones over to the next sprint board. Then estimate the tickets that the PM have moved into the board ahead of meeting. Go over what was completed, what went well not if it didn’t go so well, but double check how everyone felt. Anyone feel overloaded on work? Anything the PM could have done differently? Sprint Retrospective Trello Board Template.
- Letter of Engagement Templates - customize these templates to outline the objectives, scope, and timeline for your project/
Any additional resources you may need (online books, etc.) can be found here. You can also find additional resources through the library linked below:
- Program Learning Outcomes - What you will achieve after finishing Make School, all courses are designed around these outcomes.
- Grading System - How grading is done at Make School
- Diversity and Inclusion Statement - Learn about Diversity and Inclusion at Make School
- Academic Honesty - Our policies around plagerism, cheating, and other forms of academic misconduct
- Attendance Policy - What we expect from you in terms of attendance for all classes at Make School
- Course Credit Policy - Our policy for how you obtain credit for your courses
- Disability Services (Academic Accommodations) - Services and accommodations we provide for students
- Student Handbook - Guidelines, policies, and resources for all Make School students