Project execution
Project Advice
contact info
Dr. Ir. Hugo JonkerOpen Universiteit
Valkenburgerweg 177
6419 AT Heerlen
Netherlands
| phone: | +31 (0)45 576 2143 |
| email: | hugo.jonker@ou.nl |
| www: | http://www.open.ou.nl/hjo |
| twitter: | @hugojonker |
- Fail! Fail again! Fail better!
You may find that you went down a wrong path. Don't worry, that's normal. Your supervisor would've prevented it had (s)he seen this coming - so you've all learned something. - Redo from start
Sometimes you realise - belatedly - that the project should've had a different focus. Be realistic: will restarting benefit the project? If yes, then restart. On the other hand, if you cannot restart and still finish in time, don't restart - but do clearly formulate your insights in your project report! Explain why you made those choices (e.g. "only by doing it this way could you experience its shortcomings", or "we didn't study literature well enough and therefore missed a well-known solution"). - Collaboration
If your project is team work, you're going to have to collaborate.- Use (online) tools for this: version control, chat, video conferencing, report writing, etc.
- Play to each other's strengths.
- Everyone contributes, but not to every part an equal amount.
- If someone's slacking off or skiving off, it's up to the team to address this, not up to the supervisor. Do keep the supervisor informed (i.e., be honest).
- A project is more than programming
You're expected to be able to program. That's not what's going to get you a pass grade. It's necessary, but not sufficient. What's going to get you a pass grade is how you report about your project. What you learned, what mistakes you made, what technical challenges there were and how you solved them, etc.