Project Kick-Off Guide

A brief guide for students and sponsors to get your project started right!

When your project is assigned, you will receive an email from the capstone coordinators with contact details for the student team and sponsors.  

The goal of this course is to provide an educational environment where students have a low-risk environment to prepare for the professional world.  This involves engaging in engineering activities, but students should not be relied upon for important production releases or deadlines.  Capstone students are not staff augmentation.

Student Team Expectations:

• Contact the project sponsors within 1 week of receiving the team assignment to setup an initial meeting.

• Each team member should spend 10-12 hours per week on the project, and be prepared to demonstrate evidence of this level of contribution during Sprint Retrospective Meetings with the sponsor.

• Meet with the Sponsor every week for the first 4 - 6 weeks then upon the decision of the sponsor, the meetings can be done every 2 weeks, prior to the Sprint Retrospective Due dates (See Schedule Below).  

• Before Sprint Retrospective Meeting with Sponsor, team will share a draft version of the Sprint Retrospective Report with their sponsor to be discussed during the meeting. (Example Report)

• Be responsive to Sponsor communications within 1 business day.

• Take Notes during sponsor meetings, and share notes and action items in a follow-up email and/or post to a shared drive.

• Use Taiga, Trello, or other software for Sprint Task Tracking.   

• Report any changes to the project / scope of the project to instructors.

• Report any issues related to communication with the team or sponsors to instructors.

Sponsor Expectations:

• Projects must meet requirements for Unpaid Internships under the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

• Be responsive to student communications within 1 business day.

• Meet with the Students every week for the first 4 - 6 weeks then upon the decision of the sponsor, the meetings can be done every 2 weeks, just before Sprint Retrospectives are due (see schedule below).

• Be respectful and flexible with student schedules and timezones.

• Provide any resources the team may need to complete their project.

• Review Sprint Retrospectives with Team.

• Provide detailed, individualized feedback twice per semester (you will receive a survey from the Capstone Coordinator).  

  • Student evaluation should be based on their professionalism, communication, and contribution under the student expectations.  Grades should not be based on whether or not the project is production ready or meets deadlines.  However, significant progress should be demonstrated.

Kickoff Meeting Outline:

• Schedule meeting for 1-2 hours.  Use a scheduling tool like When2meet or Doodle.

• Team Introductions

• Project Overview

• Discuss Project Requirements, Use cases, etc.

• Set Learning goals for technologies or frameworks to be utilized.

• Schedule Recurring meetings for the semester (at least one meeting just before each Sprint Retrospective is due (see schedule below))

• Discuss expectations for Communication methods and frequency.

Fall Schedule: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kRf11HaIo2pDAtUsi2aB8Emhsa28LJXaddSllpSBm5I/edit?usp=sharing