Project design
Read a real project blueprint
- 1 Your instructor will share the example blueprint on-screen.
- 2 Read it in full. It follows the Project Canvas template.
- 3 Identify: who are the users? What data comes in? What decision happens? What comes out?
- 4 Find the risk section. What did the team identify as the highest-risk component?
- 5 Find the MVP definition. What did they build first and what did they leave out?
- 6 Come prepared with one question about something you would design differently.
You can describe the example project in one sentence and name its highest-risk component.
The Project Canvas
Key concept
A project that is not constrained is a project that is never finished. The MVP definition is the most important part of the canvas. It forces you to answer: what is the one thing this system must do to be useful? Start there. Everything else is post-MVP.
- ?Who is the most specific user you can name? The more specific, the better the design.
- ?What data does your project need that you do not currently have access to? How would you get it?
- ?If your entire pipeline went down for a week, what would your users do instead? Is your tool a nice-to-have or a must-have?
Fill in your Project Canvas
Your task
Complete the Project Canvas: users, data, risks, MVP, and a rough architecture sketch.
- 1 Download the Project Canvas template from the course materials.
- 2 Fill in Users: two sentences describing your most specific target user.
- 3 Fill in Data: list every input and output with format and source.
- 4 Fill in Risks: at least one privacy risk, one model failure risk, one dependency risk.
- 5 Write your MVP in one sentence: 'The MVP is a system that does [X] for [user] using [data source] and produces [output].'
- 6 Sketch the architecture: 3-5 boxes connected by arrows. Label each box with the tool or service.
- 7 Share your canvas with a classmate for peer review.
Deliverable
Completed Project Canvas shared with your instructor.
Self-check · tick before you mark done
✎The MVP definition is where most projects fail — they try to build too much. What are you most tempted to add that is not in the MVP? Why? What would you lose by leaving it out?