This document outlines how your milestones and deliverables are graded. You can
think of these as grading rubrics.
Status reports
Status reports are how you communicate and keep track of constant progress.
General rubrics include:
Are the status reports complete and and submitted on time?
Are the goals and accomplishments numbered and measurable?
Do the status report match the requirements and specification for the
project?
Requirements document
The requirements are possibly the most important part of any project. Get the
requirements describe what the customer wants. General rubrics include:
Does the introduction provide sufficient background for understanding the
requirements, but not itself describe requirements? Are all non-obvious terms
defined in the introduction?
Are all things given to you listed in the assumptions? Are the assumptions
reasonable and non-trivial?
Are the requirement items all numbered and measurable?
Are the requirement items in order of priority for the problem being solved?
The requirements does not describe implementation, but can be reasonably
implemented?
The document is formally written, well formatted, without grammatical and
typographical errors, contains names, contact information, version, date, and
page numbers in the form of page x of y?
Design review
General rubrics include:
Is the problem clear? Was necessary background presented to make the
problem clear?
Was the design clear (clear = someone else could go and implement it)?
Was confidence inspired that the design could be realized?
Did the analysis include comparative data, or was it just a restatement
of requirements and/or specification material?
Did the plan include clear measurable milestones? Did the plan inspire
confidence in that the project would be completed on time and to spec?
Were the slides neat (e.g., was the font size sufficient, the images neat
and large enough, and were the slides well organized)?
Was the presentation style suitable (e.g., loud enough, looked at the
audience, etc.)?
Were the presenters suitably professional in appearance and manner?
Specification document
I cannot over stress the importance of having ideas and then being able to
describe your ideas in a specification/design/patent application so that someone
else can implement your idea. General rubrics include:
Are the "minor details" including names, contact information, date, version,
and page numbering all in order?
Is there an introductory paragraph that sets the stage for the document?
Are unusual terms defined and specialized concepts explained?
Is the syntax described? This might include descriptions of fields and user
screens?
Are the semantics described? This must include a diagram of some sort (such
as a flowchart or FSM)?
Are all input, outputs, and data transformation described?
Are appropriate standards identified and properly referenced?
Is there a traceability matrix (with trace back to requirements)?
Could this document be given to a third person - someone who is "skilled in
the art" - where this person could correctly implement your project so as to
meet your requirements?
The document is formally written, well formatted, without grammatical and
typographical errors, contains names, contact information, version, date, and
page numbers in the form of page x of y?
Test plan
Being able to describe how to test something is very important. Many of you -
especially those of you joining large companies such as IBM, Microsoft, or Intel
- will likely begin your careers in test. General rubrics include:
Are test cases described so that someone completely unfamiliar with the
project could execute them?
Do all test cases descriptions include a) test case name, b) system
configuration, c) exact input, and d) exact expected output?
Is there a description of how test cases will be selected to include best,
worst, typical, and corner cases?
Is there a traceability matrix tying test cases to requirement and
specification items?
Do you have the small details covered such as cover page with names, contact
information, version, and date? Also, do you have page numbers on all pages?
Final presentation and demo
Being able to clearly and coherenlty present your ideas and accomplishments is
very important. General rubrics include:
Was the presentation well organized and smoothly presented? Was everything
made clear?
Was the problem clear? Were the requirements clear and did they follow from
the problem?
Did the demo go smoothly and CLEARLY show that all requirements had been
met?
Was the design clear?
Was the implementation clear?
Were the slides well prepared (organization, font size, use of figures,
etc.)?
Is there a clear plan for delivery and transition of the project to the
company?
Final deliverables
Your final deliverables are graded following the rubrics given to you in the
feedback for your requirements, specification, and test plan (see above). The
grading rubrics are:
Quality of your final deliverable artifact. Have you met your requirements?
Is any software clear and well documented? Is any hardware well documented? Is
correct functionality validated and clear?
Delivery of final artifact. Has your artifact been delivered and installed
(as appropriate) at your customer site?
Quality of poster. Does it tell your story in a standalone fashion? Is the
background, problem, requirements, design, and implementation clear? Is the
poster "neat"
Quality of mini press release. Does it cover the 5 Ws and 1 H? Does it
contain a user quote? Is the picture suitable?
