Highlights from the past two weeks
– Something that went well - Have additional 3D designer and clarified the problem
– Something that didn’t go so well - Locked out of comms with Richard
– Something the mentee learned during the cohort call - Not able to attend due to work commitments.
Review goals/timeline - Break down into 12 weeks.
Weeks
1 - Onboarding
2 - Sent Felipe devices. Defined HW problem
3 - Devices arrive? Check timeline with Felipe of when he expects to work on it. If he has an interest in Arduino/WebUI. Finished 12-week plan. Order Encoders from Richard & New motor & Tracks
4 - 3d modelling stuff. Get the first draft? If Felipe not doing it: Do Tweets and Discord posts looking for someone to work on Arduino/WebUI.
5 - Felipe turns wheels? Encoders arrive.
6 -Order version 2.0 3dprint. The hardware focus week.
7 - Arduino/WebUI focus
8 - Further work webserver/ Arduino. 3D print arrives.
9 - V3.0 & Order 3D parts. Motors arrive.
10 -
11 - V3.0 3D arrives.
12 - Demo
Review assignments from the curriculum
Assignment:
-
Think of the files that you need to track along the life of your project.
-
Which are these files?
-
Which platform suits your needs better?
-
How do you plan to organize your repository so people can quickly find your project files? Rosmo · GitHub
-
Which are the main functions required for your hardware to operate?
-
Based on that, how many would modules you need to create and how would they group the components of your project? E.g., power module, microcontroller, communication, temperature sensor
-
How would you interconnect those modules? How much space will your modules take once interconnected? (Think of enclosures!)
Review your project and create small actionable steps that will incrementally build it up. To do this, go back to your project vision and review your project goal. Now think back: which minimum functions are needed to achieve that goal?
Assignment: Make a plan for your documentation
- Decide on a writing platform/system - Gitbuilding for Dev, Hackaday for users
- Make sure you regularly dedicate time to work on documenting things
- Remember that documentation needs to be aimed at different audiences:
- Users with different initial knowledge and skills
- Developers that can bring skills and help to different project aspects
Assignment: Improve your documentation
- Revisit your contribution guidelines and documentation plan - Review Gitbuilding
- In previous modules you worked on your documentation plan. You can now work on adding content to that plan, check if it is useful or if it needs changes. Doesn’t matter if you can’t have a polished version right now, but add as much detail as possible to your documentation considering users (using and assembling) and developers (contributing).
Assignment: Reach a minimal viable documentation
- Update your documentation with:
Assignment: Improve your documentation
- Revisit your documentation and take a look at the files formats you share, adjust if needed
Assignment: Write a minimal viable documentation for users
- If you do not yet have a bill of materials/tools/skills, write them
- Write building instructions/assembly guide/recipe
- Write something about how to use your hardware, try to include common pitfalls
Assignment: Write documentation for developers (if it makes sense for your project)
- Write up your contribution guideline. It is OK to leave some things empty for now. We will discuss a few of them again in detail in other sections.
- Be sure to describe the current state of development of your project and point to open tasks
Assignment: Write a minimal viable documentation for users
- If you do not yet have a bill of materials/tools/skills, write them
- Write building instructions/assembly guide/recipe
- Write something about how to use your hardware, try to include common pitfalls
Assignment: Write documentation for developers (if it makes sense for your project)
- Write up your contribution guideline. It is OK to leave some things empty for now. We will discuss a few of them again in detail in other sections.
- Be sure to describe the current state of development of your project and point to open tasks
Assignment: Define a clear goal you want to achieve with your project.
Before you start a roadmap for your project, you should be sure about it’s goal and vision. Before you go to the next session review of the project’s goal and think of possible intermediate steps which are necessary to reach it.
Assignment: “Reverse-plan” and list the milestones and responsibilities for achieving your goal
- Pick 1-3 milestones for your project.
- List tasks to complete for each milestone
- Short description of each task required to successfully complete project work on a milestone.
- Explanation why you are doing this task (one sentence). This will reinforce your vision for the project and help others see why each step is meaningful in the larger timeline.
Assignment: Revisit you project and roadmap in light of time management
- Take a look at your milestones and check if you are really comfortable with the deadlines/time frames.
- Think of contributors’ pathways for your project and create issues that others can help you with. Remember to frame things in a way people can easily start working on the tasks (considering what skill is needed, how much time, etc).
Assignment: Determine critical points and pitfalls in your roadmap
