# 1. Course Introduction & Getting Started
# Course Overview
There are four phases to the client applied project course.
- Research & Planning 30% of final grade
- Design & Prototyping 20% of final grade
- Development & Testing 20% of final grade
- Finalizing & Client Hand-Off 30% of final grade
The Phases are roughly equivalent to the four months in the Semester. See the Badge beside each phase name for the weighting of the assignments during that phase.
In the first phase we are trying to really get to the root of the problem that is needed to be solved for the client.
In the second phase we are designing the interface and optimizing what will become the user experience in the app.
The third phase is all about doing the development work of turning the designs and prototypes into a functioning app, while doing iterative development and testing.
The final phase is about wrapping up the final development on the required features, working on a deployment plan, documentation, and handing the completed project off to the client.
# Course Outline
# Team Identity
Your first deliverable is the Team Identity assignment. You should have a first draft of your logo completed for the status meeting during the first week. The final version of your logo and the team name are due for the start of the class in week two.
# Team Conduct Contract
We will discuss and agree on a late / absence penalty policy during the first class.
Each team will also need to come up with a code of behaviour that all team members agree to. This policy should cover things like responsibility for assignment submissions, communication with clients and each other, attendance at team meetings, attendance at team work sessions, turn around time for required work, and so on.
# Course Unexcused Absence Policy
These are the penalties for missing a class, missing a status meeting, missing a client meeting or showing up more than 30 minutes late for any of these.
If you are going to be late or absent, you MUST let your team leader know BEFORE the start time of the event.
- 1st: Warning & 5% off your final grade.
- 2nd: Meeting with Adesh and/or Adam plus an additional 10% penalty.
- 3rd: Removed from your team.
Additional penalties may apply, depending on your team's Code of Conduct.
# Client Meeting
Every team should have a decent idea what their project is now but you need to have a full meeting with your client as soon as possible to really start to understand what you need to do. This meeting will lay the ground work for your research work during this first phase.
List of Possible Client Questions
# Client Terms & Conditions
All the clients have signed off on the terms and conditions for the project.
The biggest things to note are that:
At the end of the semester the client owns the intellectual property of the app;
The client pays no money for the work but they have agreed to give their time to work with your team;
You will be allowed to use the finished app as part of your portfolio;
We will not be putting the app on the App Store or Google Play, but the client may opt to hire one or more team members to do this or future work on the app after the semester ends;
Here is a copy of the Terms & Conditions document
# Status Meetings
Every Monday between 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM there will be instructional activity. These meetings will be held on ZOOM.
Every Thrusday between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM there will be team progress status meetings. These meetings will be held in T127.
Some of these meetings will be where you submit deliverables. Some will give you an opportunity to ask questions that are specific to your team's project.
Attendance at these meetings is required for all team members.
We will randomly select the time slot for each team using this: Meeting Picker We will run this in class.
# Status Meeting Times
Thursdays:
| Time | Team |
|---|---|
| 00:00 PM | Team 1 () |
| 00:00 PM | Team 2 () |
| 00:00 PM | Team 3 () |
| 00:00 PM | Team 4 () |
| 00:00 PM | Team 5 () |
Please plan to be 10 minutes early for the meeting. The Status meetings might run late or finish early. If you are there early and the group before finished early, then you have a chance to use the extra time for your meeting.
# Software
While much of the software that you use will depend on your project, we will be using Azure DevOps as the project management software.
The communication software:
# Journey Mapping
We will "use story and its underlying structure to craft intended experiences of use that are optimized for audience engagement,"
- Concept Story: Position your product, it’s big picture story, and what it means to your target audience
- Origin Story: How and why your character(s) will discover and use your product the first time ( ideate: marketing, sales, business development, and advertising intersect with product design and development)
- Usage Story: How your product works, how people use it, and how and why they will love using it(usage scenarios)
Let's map: Story Mapping
- Who is this product for? (Current State: Exposition)
- What is their problem? (opportunities)
- What is their big goal? Secondary goals? (Exposition)
- What is this product? (Rising Action)
- What is the competition? (Crisis)
- Why might someone not want to use this product? (Crisis/opportunities)
- How is this product better than the competition? (Value)
- What does this product need to do? (Resolution)
- What is the straightforward solution to the problem? (Resolution)
- What is the awesome solution to the problem? (Take away > Use the app)
Reference Book – The User's Journey: Storymapping Products That People Love, by Donna Lichaw
# Team Roles
There are many roles that a team member can take during the project. Nobody on the team will only have one role. Roles that you could take on include:
- Project Manager
- Graphic Designer
- Dev Ops
- QA specialist
- UX Tester
- Client Liason
- Developer
- Lead Developer
- Client-side web developer
- Server-side web developer
- Interaction designer
- UX designer
- UI designer
- Icon design
- Branding specialist
- Catering Manager
- Meeting secretary
- Database Administrator
- Network development specialist
- Security tester
- Technical Writer
Each team will collaboratively be allowed to assign all the roles to members of the team. It will be a balance of personal preference and project needs.
# Sample Meeting Agenda
When you are going to hold meetings with your clients, you should give them notice of the meeting at least three days prior. The agenda for the meeting should be sent to the client at least 24 hours before the meeting. This will give them a chance to review the agenda, propose changes, and prepare any required documents for the meeting.
When sending a notice about something or a request to a client, if it is something official, then you should send it in Memo format. Below are a couple sample documents that you can use.
Here is a Sample Agenda document
Here is a Sample Memo document
Meeting Minutes can also be created based on the Meeting Agenda document. Things that you want to record from each meeting include:
- Who was in attendance
- What was discussed (this comes from the agenda)
- What were the action items from the meeting (Who is doing what)
REMEMBER: You can also record each meeting with your phone or laptop.
# Things To Do in Week 2
- Get familiar with the features in Azure, and how tasks will be assigned.
- Do you have a standing meeting time with your client established yet?
- Submit your Client Responses
- Submit your Team Branding
- Start working on Team Code of Conduct
# Agile Methodology
Agile is an approach to building software and planning projects. We use our own approach to the Applied Projects but Agile comes the closest to what we do. When you work for a company chances are good that they will have a process like Agile in place for you to follow.