Project14 | Which Past Themes Would You Like to Work On as a Team?

Given the internet, the rube goldberg device section to section could be triggered via web services, so the team doesn't have to be local to each other.

A nice thing about/related to this, perhaps some individual threads/forum areas could be created for each country/state/region, so some people who don't currently know how close they are could get together to do something in person

I just have seen this poll and the concept is interesting along with the discussion about it on the comments. I would like to add my two cents, though.

- I think that 2 or 3 general topics (like wearables, robots, automation, monitoring networks, etc) should be selected at the start, instead of specific projects or technologies (solar panels, RFID)
- One person should be in the leader/manager role and would be in charge of the architecture, system design, and tasks assignment. I think the success of the team project is 50 % dependant on this role -- modules, assignments, and tasks should be clearly defined.

- If the tasks are split into hardware and software, members of the team should at least have the main dev board/platform for the testing to be consistent between them.

- If the hardware tasks are split, for example, if one member is in charge of power (energy harvesting, solar) and another is in charge of communication (BLE, WiFi), those modules should be duplicated if development is in parallel. Otherwise, modules should be clearly designed from the beginning, and once one of them is ready, it could be sent to the next member if possible.

- Version control systems should be mandatory for both hardware and software.

- Documentation (posting, video editing, writing) could be done by everyone or could be assigned to someone.

A point of start could be a project application by someone in the lead role, with a draft plan about the project indicating which profiles or tasks are needed from other members (skills, experience, location (?), etc). This will foster the communication between members and will help to align interests.

After 2 or 3 weeks of team formation and discussion, a final project plan including team description, schedule, goals, and deliverables will be submitted and the project starts. At this point, each team should have defined how shipping, spending, and prizes will be handled.

I hope to see this team projects working this year.

This can follow a hackaton type format with a longer time span and a virtual presentation of the components. Video could be used and edited to share the work of the team. Virtual because Skype or other server based technology be used to discuss the project. Maybe Element 14 could facilitate this. Anyone want to comment?

I think that team collaboration is great idea to get awesome final effects for projects.

What was the reason that it failed before?

We should try to avoid whatever caused it to fail before...

Now on topics I suppose that those that require common or inexpensive components would make it easier for team members to duplicate the project. Personally I find a novel contests more intereating than a past project14, but im ok with revisiting a past project14 if others want to. For instance those projects proposed for november p14 are all very interearing (which is not very surprising as l suggested 3 of the alternatives).

I usually delay my vote because there are a couple of alternatives that I find interesting, but some of them have no chance of winning. On the other hands there are themes that I have little interest in. I don't think the voting system can be tweaked, but it would make sense if one could vote for aĺl themes one is willing to participate.

I think the bottom line is that we have to find how to make this as attractive as posaible so that we have the highest engagement.

Hi genebren here are some notes on my past attempts:

Forming a team.

• I wanted to start small to see how it would work so both times it was just 2 team members
• Both times I knew the teammate, so synergy was already solved
• Both times the teammates were local, so we could get together and discuss the project or hand off material. However hand-off didn't happen very often - just a few times

How does a team decide what project to do?

• Both times I chose the project and architected the design
• One time my teammate was interested in collaborating on a project, but didn't have alternate ideas of what it would be.
• The other time my teammate's interest was more about the money than the specific project (sponsors had agreed to pay for the project although  that did not pan out)

How to decide who does what.

• Both times we had a general division - I would do the hardware and my partner would do the software. However in both cases we both ended up doing some of the work in the other's area.

How to ensure the project gets done.

• This was a problematic area - I was blogging about progress each week, so updates were regular, but the work didn't dovetail very well and there were lots of delays in getting material transferred.

How to transfer hardware between team members

• In one case we had partial duplication (the main computer bits) and the rest of the machine had to be transported back and forth for each of us to work on our parts
• In the other case I completed the hardware and handed it off to be programmed.

How to deal with expenses

• In both cases I bought enough material to do the complete job, My partner bought some material to allow work to proceed in parallel. We each kept the material we bought.

Dividing the spoils

• In one case we weren't sponsored and didn't win, but we each received finisher prizes. We had an agreement that my partner would get the prize if we won first or third, I would get the prize if we finished second.
• In the other case we were supposed to be paid on completion, but there was a personnel change at element14 and the project died during the final software development phase.

The interview is here:

https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-89484#comment-130152

Sort of a related question - do the element14 T&Cs make all published content open source under something like MIT (free to use) license?

I think for me to want to work with a team I would want to be allowed to re-use any part of the project for any future project that I might want to work on.

(Anything I publish is always intended to be MIT license)

-Nico

Hello Tariq,

I love the idea of members of the community forming teams to work in projects, contests. This could be absolutely a huge added benefit for the community. One problem I see here is ironically the starting point, how members can communicate with each other as the message system is very restrictive and can only happen if the other person follows you.

Luis

This a very comprehensive list of good questions Doug. I've been thinking about them for a while came up with just two ideas so far:

• Members that are geographically close could be one criteria for a team to form, which will help with costs, logistics, scheduling, duplication of work and so on.
• Members with different talents/strengths/skills could form together a team that complements. E.g. a person with an electronics background could complement his/her work with someone with experience/access to 3d design/printing.

Luis

I'll give my opinion on how I think some of your questions could be solved:

How to form  a team.

• How big should the team be?

     I suppose that all teams should have the same amount of members, and 2 is probably the best size number unless we later find there are too many E14 members interested in the team contest.

• How to find synergy.

     We could use the forum to publish what we are good at and what kind of other members we would like to work with, or maybe just message directly other members. Many members are quite active in the community and its easy to check from past projects what their strenghts and weakenesses are

How does a team decide what project to do?

• One way to handle this is for individual members to publish proposals and see who else is interested in contributing and then form a team.

     Yeah that's one solution, a different one could be to communicate directly with prospective team members and see if there is any project both members (assuming the teams are of 2)  would be intersted in working on.

• Another way is for a pre-formed team to brainstorm a bunch of ideas then vote on which is preferred.

   Thats another alternative but I it would require teams bigger than 2, and I think it could make many things more complex, I think that for a attempt of this kind of competition teams should be of 2, as it would make the team more agile and flexible.

How to decide who does what.

• Tasks need to be defined and assigned.

     I would leave that to the team itself, members should discuss how they will contribute to the project development.

• Interfaces between each contribution need to be defined.

     I don't understand what you mean with interfaces here

How to ensure the project gets done.

• weekly meetings with action items and deliverables
• a schedule with milestone dates

    Each team could decide this...

How to transfer hardware between team members

• Does each member duplicate the build? 

• Does it all get put together in one place?
• Does it get shipped from member to member?

     As you have suggested there are many alternatives, I would leave this up to each team too.

How to deal with expenses

• How to decide on a budget? Everyone has a different tolerance.
• Who pays?

     Each member would pay just like each member pays on the development of a project14. This point and many others should be discussed with the prospective team member so that things go smooth...