Design reviews are an integral part of the design process where a team presents their work and checks their ideas and prototypes against the requirements that have been developed. It’s also a good time to check project scope, as well as get directed to useful resources.
Build for Ukraine has two design reviews and a final presentation.
Guidelines for the design reviews are below. Not every component applies to every project, so teams should adjust as needed.
Preliminary Design Review
By the time of the preliminary design review (PDR), you should have initial answers to the following modified version of the Heilmeier Catechism. That means these are the first questions you should be trying to figure out about your project.
- What are you trying to do? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon.
- How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?*
- What is new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?*
- Who cares? If you are successful, what difference will it make? How do you know that this will be the impact?
- What are the risks?
- How much will it cost?
- How long will it take?
- What are the midterm and final “exams” to check for success?
Items marked with as asterisk (*) are only applicable to new projects. Skip these questions if they are not relevant to your project.
Presenter Guidelines for PDR:
- Presentation is 12-15 minutes long (may be adjusted depending on the number of teams)
- Provide a brief summary of the background of your problem
- Answer the questions posed by the Heilmeier Catechism as they fit to your project and to the best of your ability
- Where relevant, give a visual representation of what you are trying to do (e.g. initial drawing, CAD, flow diagram, etc)
- Share any initial results
- Tell us about the scope of your project and where your team’s skillset is strong or lacking (which informs mentors about how to help)
- Tell us what you need – questions you need help answering, resources, connections with users, etc
- Share your next steps
- Tell us what you plan to have accomplished by the end of January
Critical Design Review
By the time of the critical design review (CDR), you should have made some progress towards your project objective.
Presenter Guidelines for CDR:
- Presentation is 12-15 minutes long (may be adjusted depending on the number of teams)
- Provide a brief summary of the background of your problem
- Tell us about the progress you have made so far
- Tell us about any remaining risks to your project’s success
- Where relevant, give a visual representation of what you are trying to do (e.g. initial drawing, CAD, flow diagram, etc)
- Share any results
- Tell us what you plan to have accomplished by the end of January, and if there have been any scope changes
- Tell us about any considerations for project continuation beyond IAP
- Tell us what you need – questions you need help answering, resources, connections with users, etc
- Share your next steps
At this point, if your team has ideas that have been discarded, but may be good to follow up later, please write them down.
Final Presentation
Remember that unlike previous presentations, a part of the final presentation audience will have never heard your talk before. There will also be people who want to know how to join or support your efforts in the spring in the audience.
Final presentation requirements:
- Presentation is 10-12 minutes long
- Provide a summary of the background of your problem that is understandable by someone with no background in your topic
- Provide a one-sentence, jargon-free statement of your project’s objective – this sentence should be understandable by your grandparents
- Tell us what specific challenges you faced this January, how you overcame them, and what challenges remain
- Give us a demonstration of your work
- Tell us how your project will continue beyond IAP – specifically focusing on any opportunities for others to join in or otherwise support the work