Capstone Project Selection Amir Niroumand

Course Objective Research, design, build, and test a device Research, design, build, and test a device Integrate what you have learned Integrate what you have learned –Engineering design Technical Technical Regulatory Regulatory –Business development –Soft skills Assess your strengths and weaknesses Assess your strengths and weaknesses

Project evaluation Outstanding project Outstanding project –Address a real problem –Meet specifications –Has an existing customer –Accurate schedule –Economically viable –Useful documentation –Convincing presentation Poor project Poor project –Technically driven –Specs not verified –Fictitious customer –Unrealistic schedule –Poor pricing –Incomplete and unorganized documents –Ineffective presentation

Project selection criteria Your project title should fit one of these categories: Your project title should fit one of these categories: 1.Has a scientific value 2.Has a customer Faculty endorsement Faculty endorsement Industry endorsement Industry endorsement 3.Continuation of previous projects

Sample past projects (2005) Micro Fuel cell labs Micro Fuel cell labs –Funded by NRC –Complete work –Extensive testing –Very organized –Professional product brochure –Website ThinQ innovations ThinQ innovations –Built for Kinesiology –Exciting idea –Complete work –Reliable demo –Good documentation

Scheduling Amir Niroumand January 2007

Kickoff Schedule Tasks #TaskDeliverableDependencyDurationWhoNote 1Schedule Gantt chart 4 6 man.hour CEO Add margin 2 Formulate problem Project title Customer 1 week All Critical path 3 Kickoff Meeting Signoff1 1 hour All Next week 4Tasks Task table 2,5 4 man.hour All Per person 5AdviceFeedback2 2 hour CTO Use experts

Critical Path Method Highest priority tasks Highest priority tasks Plan around the critical path Plan around the critical path Use expert advise Use expert advise Eat the frog! Eat the frog!

Project Time Line Plan the whole R&D cycle Plan the whole R&D cycle Expect the unexpected Expect the unexpected –Best case scenario + 50% total over head –Best / Worst case analysis Kickoff April Working prototypeEngineering prototype Manufacturing prototype β-version Production Next week

Milestones Kickoff Kickoff Freeze options Freeze options Parts ordered (fund) Parts ordered (fund) Bottle neck tested Bottle neck tested System integrated System integrated Specs tested Specs tested Dry run presentation Dry run presentation

Summary 1. Write down tasks 2. Set milestones 3. Manage around the critical path 4. Evaluate the plan 5. Update!