diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4368ee7 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitignore @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +/planning.pdf +/planning.tex diff --git a/planning.org b/planning.org new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc724ce --- /dev/null +++ b/planning.org @@ -0,0 +1,64 @@ +#+title:How to plan your project +#+options: toc:nil +#+latex_class: scrartcl + +* What you need for your reports +In your reports, you will need to provide some form of table or chart that shows /when/ you plan to complete each `feature'. + +I'm assuming here that you have already convinced yourself to take an /agile/ approach to the work, which means that you start with a /backlog/ (or list) of /features/. +Your list of features might be something like this: + +| Feature | +|-----------------------| +| RNN model | +| Data cleaning | +| Hyperparameter search | +| LSTM version | +| Evaluation strategy | +| | + +You need to make sure that there is enough detail in the description that you know what each item in the list refers to. +You will then need to organise the feature list into a priority order. +Usually, you want to do basic or generic things, like work out your evaluation strategy, first. +So a revised feature list might look like this: + +| Feature | Relies on | +|-----------------------+-------------------| +| Evaluation strategy | | +| Data cleaning | | +| RNN model | clean data / eval | +| LSTM version | " | +| Hyperparameter search | rnn and lstm | +| | | + +I added a "Relies on" column so that you can see the reasoning behind this ordering. + +The next stage is to work out how much time you have and to make a table with a column for the week beginning date. +These will be your /sprints/, to use the agile term for them. + +| When | What | +|------+------------------------------------| +| 12-7 | Evaluation strategy, data cleaning | +| 19-7 | RNN model | +| 26-7 | LSTM model | +| 2-8 | Hyperparameter search | + +Note that I have not left time in here for reading the literature and writing up your results. +That's because you should incorporate such reading and writing into each sprint. +Here are some of the things that need to go into a sprint: + +| How much | What | +|----------+-----------------------------------| +| 20% | Literature review | +| 20% | Write what you plan to do | +| 40% | Do it | +| 20% | Write about what you actually did | + +You may be tempted to produce more glamorous project Gantt charts for your final document. +However, keep in mind that these are generally just gloss and don't provide any more information than a simple table with headings of /When/ and /What/. + +* What you need when you meet with your supervisor +When you meet with your supervisor, it's a good idea to have your plan at hand. +In the case that you are ahead of schedule, your supervisor will be encouraged to give you ideas about how to deepen the study and mine the available `bonus' points for your thesis. +However, if things are not going well or perhaps need to be done in a different order, your supervisor might be able to help identify how to short circuit problems or get something done more quickly. +You may feel some difficulty in admitting that things aren't going well but be assured that it is quite normal for some problems to be encountered in any study.