The Design Review is an opportunity to get final feedback from your sponsor on the state of your design. The following steps are necessary to complete this assignment
- Conduct a face-to-face meeting with your project sponsor
- Write a brief – one page summary – report of the meeting (content described below)
- Have your sponsor indicate their agreement with the accuracy of your report
- Submit the report by the due date, April 17, 2018
Meeting with Sponsor
Arrange a meeting with your sponsor with the goal of getting their feedback on your conceptual design, the final deliverables for the project, and the budget for remaining prototype development.
Note: Some teams have already had a design review meeting with their sponsor, e.g. over Spring Break. You do not need to have another meeting as long as you have addressed the issues described in this section. If you have unanswered questions about the scope of the project and the budget, describe those unanswered questions in your report and describe your plan for getting answers. Perhaps another meeting is necessary
The overarching goal of the design review meeting is to make sure that both the team and the sponsor have compatible views of the project. Before going to the meeting with the sponsor, develop a list of key questions you would will ask the meeting.
Recommended agenda
- Brief summary of project status: Where are you in the design process (5 minutes)
- High level view of conceptual design (5-10 minute presentation, 10-30 Q&A).
- Confirm list of deliverables for the project (5-10 minutes)
- Review action items: who is committed to doing what by when
Please review the ME 491 web page about meeting with sponsors.
Report on Design Review
Write a brief, one-page, summary of the meeting. The summary should address
- Key client requirements
- Final deliverables
- Budget
Key client requirements: List the most important client requirements. Three key requirements is a good number. Do not list more than five. You team should have a plan for concrete verification – preferably by some form of objective measurement – of the key client requirements. In other words, by identifying a requirement as a key requirement your team is agreeing to providing concrete, objective evidence of whether that requirement has been met. Therefore, not only must your key requirements be carefully chosen, those requirements should be precisely specified so that an objective evaluation will be easier to make.
Final deliverables: Teams will produce a final report and submit all design artifacts for their project. In your review with the sponsor, make sure you understand what they consider to be the most important deliverables.
Budget: There are many different budget arrangements. Make sure you and your sponsor understand how all purchases for the project will be handled. Also make sure you understand the upper limit on purchases, or whether certain items will need specific approval. The best way to approach this is to supply a detailed Bill of Materials for the project that includes all past and future purchases.
Client Acceptance of the Report
Send a copy of the report to your sponsor (email is fine) and have them reply to you and to me (Recktenwald) indicating (1) that they received the report, and (2) whether they agree or not with the substance of the report. If they disagree with issues in the report, ask them to identify those issues and their preferred resolution of those issues.
Submit the Report
Submit your report via the D2L dropbox for your team.