project phase 4

/in /by

Instructions

[Use this drop box to post your written report, which is due on March 2nd. A separate Team Presentations assignment has been created for the presentation file and audio/video recordings.]

In the final phase of the team project, your team will create a formal proposal for its project, which will both include and expand upon the content prepared for the first three phases. Each team will create and submit audio or video files in which individual team members present its proposal to the instructor.

Project Proposal

Your team’s project proposal should include the following components:

  • Company or organization description
  • Project / product description
  • Product backlog listing and prioritizing features in the form of user stories, including estimates derived by the team
  • A release plan for the product
  • A full description of the agile or hybrid method used to create the product. Approaches which combine the agile frameworks and methodologies discussed in class and / or integrate them with traditional predictive approaches are welcome! Be sure to identify at least a few agile techniques you will use. Teams should put strong emphasis on this part of their proposals and presentations. This assignment is intended to demonstrate your knowledge and mastery of course material related to agile project management. Your company and product content is intended to support your discussion of project management approaches, not overshadow or replace it!

Your team’s proposal should be submitted into the system in the form of a Microsoft Word document by midnight ET on August 5. (No PDF files please!) Each team will be allowed to develop its own format for this assignment. You may organize your user stories within your submission as you see fit, as long as the format and content are intelligible to the instructor. Please be sure, however, to provide a cover sheet identifying the assignment and the team submitting it.

Presentation

Each team will present their proposal in class in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. Team members will submit audio or video recordings in which they talk through their respective segments of the presentation. Think of your presentation as an opportunity to pitch your proposal by persuading your audience (namely, your instructor) of its soundness, especially with regard to the project management methodology you recommend using for the project.

Teams are allowed to divide up the speaking responsibilities as they see fit. Each team member will, however, be responsible for handling a portion of the speaking responsibilities. Teams should plan on speaking for at least fifteen but no more than twenty minutes. The instructor may send questions to teams after a review of the proposal submitted. Teams should be sure to address those questions in some way in the delivery of their spoken presentations.

The selection of audio / video technologies for the presentations will be left up to the team. Teams have recorded presentations within Microsoft PowerPoint in the past. Keep in mind that may require uploading additional files along with the PowerPoint deck. You may also record mp4 files. It will be acceptable to talk the instructor through the presentation by providing an audio file with instructions to move to the next slide in the presentation.

Each team’s project proposal must be submitted in NYU Classes by 8/5. The PowerPoint slides and audio / video files delivering the presentation must be uploaded into NYU Classes by 8/8. Separate assignment pages have been created in NYU Classes for the written proposal and the presentation material.

Each team’s grade for the team project will be determined on the basis of the overall quality of its proposal document, its PowerPoint slides, the team’s delivery of its presentation and ability to answer audience questions. Quality can be thought of as having two main components. First, both the proposal document and the presentation should be formatted in a professional manner. Second, the materials submitted or presented should reflect a superior understanding of the content discussed in the course. Teams should take care to address any questions, concerns or suggestions offered by the instructor in the annotated versions of previous submissions.

In order to provide an idea as to the instructor’s standards for suitable presentation slides, see the attached Presentations Dos and Don’ts PPT file. It offers tips for formatting and designing slides in a professional manner.