thesisbeans

Research/Development Plan – draft

I have created a research and development plan!

The first person I showed this to (Frank) thought this was rather promising. The second person I showed this to (a developer at a startup) laughed and said to build in an extra 10 months, just in case.

So… I guess we’ll see how this goes. :) But here it is!

October (what remains)

• final research/development proposal

• final thesis proposal

• learn how to build a web app with Python and MongoDB

• “Hackathon” weekend to jump-start buildout of MVP (front end)

     - define base feature set

     - wireframe sketches

     - final aim: develop working website with basic video chat/recipe viewing interface

November

• Continue building MVP (back end)

• Recruit 10 testers (from my network) to begin using site so far

     - goal: have each person use the site with their friends at least once within the month

• Interview testers to understand their reactions

December

• Continue building MVP

• pinpoint 3 candidates for advisor

• recruit 10 more testers (again from my network)

• interview testers

• create “coming soon” page to gather email addresses for a bigger test pool

January

• Finalize MVP (bare minimum, core features) over winter break if possible

• work on product branding and design, refine interface

• send out up to 100 invitations to email addresses gathered from “coming soon” page

February-March

• gather use metrics from all the new users (surveys, site analytics)

• bug fixes & work on tweaking site based on user feedback

• 10 more user tests / interviews (via Silverback)

• analyze results from user tests 

April

• write thesis documentation

• produce promotional video / demo?

• bug fixes, further tweaking as time allows

• prepare for public alpha release at thesis final presentations

May

• done!

• sleep for, like, 72 hours straight