A Quick Proposal Review - Setting the Ranking Standards

I took the time this evening to scan through the other students proposals. I wasn't looking for detail this time through, I mostly wanted to get a general sense of what was being proposed. Once I got through the herd of zombies I found some real original ideas. Something I had not counted on was that as I was reading the proposals, the idea of who I would want on my team, and who I wouldn't want, was paramount in my mind.

I think I am going to base my rating on the following scores:

1. Is this project possible - Is it well defined enough, will it fit in the time line, do I believe the writer of the proposal knows enough to actually lead a team through this project.
2. Presentation - A good presentation score could be considered "judging a book by its cover", but in this case I think it reflects on the writers ability to be a potential leader. A poor proposal could mean a poor final product. Not something I want to be involved in.
3. Is it needed - Is there a good justification for this product even existing?
4. Completeness - Did the writer actually follow the requested general format or did they just "wing it". Is there a time line and a budget that made sense.
5. Excitement - Did I get excited about this project, would it be a fun project or just a coding exercise. Might as well enjoy the ride!

I'll grade each proposal on a scale of 1 to 5 on each topic and let the scores fall where they may. Hopefully this will result in a fair ranking of the proposals.

I really think that every student should abstain from ranking their own proposal, at least from the standpoint of establishing the rank in the class. We should all give ourselves a score as to how we compared to other students as part of the leaning process; self-reflection is always a learning experience.

PS: Sorry about the zombie comment at the beginning of this blog entry. The older I get , I guess the less influence pop culture has on me (something about old dogs and new zombie bones).