B.Tech. Proposal Workshop

Aaron Hunter

British Columbia Institute of Technology

Overview

Objective of the major project:

Apply specialty knowledge in real-life project,

study or applied research project

Constraints:

Must have finished pre-requisites

Must finish in 12 months

Must complete entire degree in 7 years

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From your program

The Process (So Far)

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Proposal

The Major Project

Committee

Yaas!

Senior Supervisor

The Major Project Committee

Question:

Who is on the committee?

Answer:

None of your business. (but we all work here)

This is not a real secret…

But the feedback you get is anonymous

The process is “blind” in this sense

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Sequence of Events

1. Pick idea

2. Submit proposal (PDF format) to Program Head (Elsie Au)

1. Proposal reviewed by Major Project Review Committee

2. Revise proposal if necessary

3. Committee assigns Subject Expert to supervise project

3. Work on project

4. Draft report and submit to supervisor and client1. Revise report with supervisor and client if necessary

2. Get supervisor and client to sign off

5. Submit report1. Revise report for committee if necessary

Project/Proposal Guidelines

The information is out there: https://share.cas.bcit.ca/btech/HelpfulResources/MajorProjectsGuidelines.pdf

You should review this document

But we’ll go through the main points today

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Proposal Writing in 2 Steps

1. Win their hearts

2. Win their minds

The rest is of this presentation is details about

how to do this for the Btech project…

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Proposal – Required Components 1

Cover page

Name, student number, course number (including

no. of credits)

1-page personal profile

Education, work experience, area of specialization

These are needed… but don’t worry about the

details

Proposal – Required Components 2

Description of project What is the main idea? (brief synopsis)

Background, nature and complexity, depth of information available Related products? Importance of problem?

Scope and depth of project The problem addressed may be large… exactly how

deep are you going to go?

Detailed test plan Include procedures, methodology, tools, verification,

pass/fail criteria, examples of test cases

This is important… forgetting will lead to rejection

Proposal – Required Components 3

Describe the methodology, approach, and technologies to be used Languages? Frameworks? Development process?

Include a system/software architecture diagram If applicable

Innovative components and technical challenges innovative, experimental or exploratory elements

new leading edge technologies, even experimental ones

even if not required by client or practically feasible, include research on these areas

Proposal – Required Components 4

Details about estimated milestones

Both time and effort

Number of hours assigned to each task or

milestone identified

Detail all deliverables

What is going to be handed in?

Explain how project will further enhance

expertise in chosen specialization

Again… chosen specialization

Proposal evaluation - Basics

Student has met prerequisites

Related to specialty area

Relevant in contributing towards stated

learning objective

Specifies deliverables

Includes detailed test plan

Includes detailed work schedule

Endorsed by Industry Sponsor

Proposal evaluation – Part 1

Clearly written in accordance with the specified guidelines

Write objectively – focusing on what you are going to deliver

Well defined goals, aims, scope and depth

Do we know exactly what you are going to do?

Feasible within time and cost constraints

Do we believe you can do it?

Has value to employer, client or other parties

If applicable

Proposal evaluation – Part 2

Contains innovative, experimental or exploratory elements

This is one of the most important aspects

Use of appropriate software development methodologies

This normally is not such a problem

Appropriate level of rigor and research methodologies

You need to be solving a problem… not giving an opinion

Main Focal Points

Three particularly important points to revisit:

Complexity

Technical challenges

Innovation

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Complexity

What does complexity mean for this project?

This is not a class project

Can not just implement something straightforward

But it also is not a master’s thesis

There are limits to the effort required

Try to fall in between...

The focus here typically is not on how “hard” the

software development is…

Think about solving and interesting/important problem

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Technical Challenges

A technical challenge is something that is

hard to, for technical reasons

Some problems are hard to solve quickly

In terms of complexity/efficiency

Some technologies are new to you

Some technologies don’t work well together

Sometimes real data isn’t available for testing

…

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Technical Challenges

Normally, technical challenges are things that are hard for you to do in the project There can be a personal element here

But not entirely personal

You need to choose a project where you are technically challenged… You have hard problems that you have to really think

about and work on to solve

If you know exactly how to solve the problem to start… it is probably weak in this area

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Innovation

What does innovative mean?

If someone else has done the exact same thing…

it is not innovative

If it is a straightforward coding problem… it is not

innovative

Innovative just means it show element of “new”-

ness or creativity

Not inventing a whole new branch of science

Just something novel, that duplicates an existing product

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Innovation

Some typical ideas…

Take a problem that is solved by existing tools…

then tweek it slightly

Or add a new interaction mode

Or build a tool that does something faster/more

effectively using a newer methodology

Think of incremental improvements or

unaddressed problems

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The Big Picture

You will eventually submit three things:

Proposal, project, report

The proposal is like a contract

If it is approved…

we are saying “this is good enough”

So:

Make us believe you can do what you are saying

Then go out and do it

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Common Questions

But what if I hate my idea later?

What if it does not work?

What if I come up with a better idea?

Answer:

Talk to your supervisor immediately

If you change the project… you need to have a

revised proposal

AND it has to be approved again

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Final Remarks: Be Pragmatic

Do not give the committee a dilemma:

We want you to succeed

We are hoping you succeed

But there are things you need to do

Now… in the proposal

And then later… in the project

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Final Remarks: Be Pragmatic

With this is mind:

Include all sections listed, all main sections

Put effort into the writing

Propose something feasible

Make sure there is an innovative component

When you get feedback… take it

Arguing that you have better ideas almost never works

Even if it is true

Cooperate with the process

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Questions?

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