Segmenting the Job

Refer to Reach Out, Describe, Plan which concerns information-gathering, reflection, and distillation into a few sentences that describe a project or a task. Continue here if work you did accomplished both information-gathering and development of a written statement. If that is not done see the above pointer.

1. Write a project description - tell about the overall job. In nontechnical language explain what your group will do for an intelligent reader.

The project description is a brief statement, something consisting of a few sentences, that describes what happens as a result of the project activity.

2. Write a work statement. Delimit the things you or someone in your team will do.

Supply detail about a specific task. It should be enough that you could give the work statement or task description to another person. When the person returns with some results you will need to measure the accomplishments against the written statement you provided to determine whether there is a satisfactory result.

3. Describe the design process in stages. Create a set of activities that comprise the overall project.

Find key parts that compose the desired whole activity. Is there an interface, networking, algorithm, or database aspect? Should market research be done? What new technology might be useful? How would the system be sold?

Benchmarks and milestones give dates or items that need to be done.

4. Seek specifications. Look for quantitative items, definite needs.

Create a short written document that supports the project by stating detailed needs part of the overall job.

Examples of milestones to complete follow.

Giving an initial talk to gain experience at giving presentations and to gather feedback or gain partners. Creating a visual to represent some work done (or the variation in estimates of pi). Exchanging weekly progress reports or summary/reaction items about a paper or chapter you read with a classmate. Writing an interim project report.