Schedule
Fall has a week 0 because the term starts midweek; winter and spring start at week 1. Sprints are two weeks long in every term.
The assignment pages are the source of truth for what is due and how it is scored; this page only lays them out in time. Read points at the guides that help that week. Recommended points at optional activities from the practice library. A week with no Lecture line has no class session unless Canvas announces one.
Weeks marked TA check-in carry your team’s check-in and the sprint demo that goes with it. Check Canvas for the schedule.
Fall (CS 461, 3 credits)
Section titled “Fall (CS 461, 3 credits)”Discover, specify, walking skeleton.
Week 0
Section titled “Week 0”| Lecture | Welcome; project bidding opens |
| Due | Bidding survey |
| Read | For Students, Assignments Overview, Project Types |
Week 1
Section titled “Week 1”| Lecture | Teams announced and seated together; workshop: Team Formation Strategies Assessment, then the Team Charter kickoff. Email your project partner this week. |
| Due | Workshop Activities |
| Read | Shipping, Sprint: Preparing for Your First Sprint |
| Recommended | Set Up Your Repository’s Skills |
Week 2
Section titled “Week 2”| Lecture | Workshop: User Story Mapping |
| Due | Team Charter, Resume and Intent, Workshop Activities |
| Read | Working Agreement, Requirements |
| Recommended | Kanban Board Setup, Definition of Done |
Week 3
Section titled “Week 3”| Lecture | Workshop: architecture and the safety net in one session, Describe your Architecture and Audit Your Safety Net |
| Due | Workshop Activities, two items |
| Read | Technical Design, Git and GitHub, Testing Strategy |
| Recommended | Map Your One-Way Doors, which picks your RFC topic; Evaluate Different Technologies |
Week 4
Section titled “Week 4”| Due | RFC draft, Sprint Note 1 |
| Read | Generative AI |
| Recommended | Six Thinking Hats |
Week 5
Section titled “Week 5”| Lecture | Demo day 1 |
| Due | Repo Checkpoint 1, RFC cross-team feedback, Resume and Intent resume meeting by this week |
| Read | DevOps, Documentation |
| Recommended | Deployment Plan, Plan Prototype |
Week 6
Section titled “Week 6”| Due | Sprint Note 2, midterm peer evaluations and partner evaluation close |
| Read | Presentations, Security |
| Recommended | Software Release and Versioning |
Week 7
Section titled “Week 7”| Lecture | An RFC review round, if announced |
| Due | Defense, yours is in week 7 or 9 |
| Read | Conflict and Performance Conversations |
| Recommended | Learning Journal |
Week 8
Section titled “Week 8”| Due | RFC final, Sprint Note 3 |
| Read | Retrospectives |
| Recommended | External Feedback Session |
Week 9
Section titled “Week 9”| Lecture | No class, Thanksgiving |
| Due | Term Retrospective, Defense if yours is in week 9 |
Week 10
Section titled “Week 10”| Lecture | Demo day 2 |
| Due | Sprint Note 4, Repo Checkpoint 2, final peer evaluations and partner evaluation close |
Winter (CS 462, 3 credits)
Section titled “Winter (CS 462, 3 credits)”Build, verify, real users.
Week 1
Section titled “Week 1”| Lecture | Workshop: Dependency Mapping or Critical Path Analysis, the calendar backward from your Definition of Shipped |
| Due | Workshop Activities |
| Read | Shipping, Planning |
| Recommended | Identify Success Metrics |
Week 2
Section titled “Week 2”| Lecture | Workshop: Team Dysfunctions Assessment |
| Due | Sprint Note 1, Workshop Activities |
| Read | Working Agreement: Keeping It Alive |
| Recommended | Find Users |
Week 3
Section titled “Week 3”| Lecture | Workshop: Test Plan, which tests to write before real users arrive |
| Due | Definition of Shipped, Workshop Activities |
| Read | Testing Strategy: Validation |
| Recommended | Write a Literature Review |
Week 4
Section titled “Week 4”| Due | RFC draft, Sprint Note 2 |
| Read | ADR |
| Recommended | Engage Users |
Week 5
Section titled “Week 5”| Lecture | Demo day 1 |
| Due | Repo Checkpoint 1, RFC cross-team feedback |
| Read | Security |
| Recommended | Risk Management Plan |
Week 6
Section titled “Week 6”| Due | Sprint Note 3, midterm peer evaluations and partner evaluation close |
| Read | Documentation |
| Recommended | Proof-of-Concept, Peer Technical Design Review |
Week 7
Section titled “Week 7”| Due | Defense, yours is in week 7 or 9 |
| Read | Presentations |
| Recommended | Run a Self-Audit and an Architectural Review Pass |
Week 8
Section titled “Week 8”| Due | RFC final, Sprint Note 4 |
| Read | Retrospectives: Post-Mortem Format |
| Recommended | Fishbone Diagram |
Week 9
Section titled “Week 9”| Due | Incident Postmortem, Defense if yours is in week 9 |
| Read | DevOps: Rollbacks |
| Recommended | Run an Acceptance Pass |
Week 10
Section titled “Week 10”| Lecture | Demo day 2 |
| Due | Sprint Note 5, Repo Checkpoint 2, final peer evaluations and partner evaluation close |
Spring (CS 463, 2 credits)
Section titled “Spring (CS 463, 2 credits)”Ship, prove, hand off.
Week 1
Section titled “Week 1”| Lecture | Welcome back; Expo registration opens |
| Read | Shipping |
Week 2
Section titled “Week 2”| Lecture | Workshop: Team Health Assessment, with the charter refresh |
| Due | Sprint Note 1, Workshop Activities |
| Read | Retrospectives |
| Recommended | Learning Journal |
Week 3
Section titled “Week 3”| Lecture | Workshop: Identify Success Metrics, what number proves it worked, and the landing-page positioning |
| Due | Workshop Activities |
| Read | Planning: Prioritization Methods |
| Recommended | Prioritization |
Week 4
Section titled “Week 4”| Due | Sprint Note 2 |
| Read | Testing Strategy: Beta Testing and Feedback |
| Recommended | The Mom Test, Designing for Accessibility |
Week 5
Section titled “Week 5”| Lecture | Demo day |
| Read | Presentations: Public Demonstrations |
| Recommended | Wire an Accessibility Audit Into CI |
Week 6
Section titled “Week 6”| Lecture | Session: Resume Building, individual, for the career retrospective |
| Due | Sprint Note 3, midterm peer evaluations and partner evaluation close |
| Read | Documentation: User Documentation |
Week 7
Section titled “Week 7”| Due | Landing Page, Defense, yours is in week 7 or 9 |
| Recommended | Run an Acceptance Pass, Learn from Patrick Winston |
Week 8
Section titled “Week 8”| Due | Release and Metrics, Career and Individual Retrospective resume meeting by this week |
| Read | Documentation: Developer Documentation |
| Recommended | Portfolio Development |
Week 9
Section titled “Week 9”| Lecture | Expo rehearsal, if announced |
| Due | Project Retrospective, Career and Individual Retrospective, Defense if yours is in week 9 |
| Read | Presentations: Delivering a Demo |
| Recommended | Planning for Maintenance and Long-Term Support |
Week 10
Section titled “Week 10”| Lecture | Expo |
| Due | Project Handoff, final peer evaluations and partner evaluation close |