Presenting your project and the importance of a 15 second pitch

It is important to successfully complete your project in a timely fashion. However, it is equally important to be able to present your project as well as yourself as a part of the team that worked on the project and managed to make its clients' wishes come true. Once a project is complete, it is advisable to prepare a 15 second pitch. Usually every person from the group presenting the project should have a 15 second pitch prepared for the project presentation. The pitch should not last longer than 30 seconds, 15 of which serve you as your personal advertising saying who you are, what your major is, what skills you have, and etc. Generally speaking, for the first 15 seconds you advertise yourself as a "product" including, but not limited to information about your education, skills, experience, personal traits, and your goals. The second part of your pitch describes the product that you worked on. You advertise your project as a finished product - what was the purpose the project, what was achieved through the completion of the project, whom you worked for, and whether the project is transferable, scalable and sustainable.

http://www.synergyworldwideblog.com/2014/01/craft-perfect-elevator-pitch.html

The 15-second pitch, also known as an elevator pitch, can be applied in a variety of situations and for a variety of people. For example, if you have a product to offer, you would advertise it to a customer for the purpose of selling it. If you are a company representative, it is crucial to always have a pitch prepared because not only your future depends on the quality of your speech, but also your company's future and potential profits that you are partially responsible for. You might also present your business to one of your business partners. Katherine Arline (2015) states that "the key to an elevator pitch is length: the pitch should last as long as a typical elevator ride, or about 30 seconds. A longer pitch risks losing your audience's attention, while a shorter one may leave out important details. Equally important is content. Your pitch should include intriguing details about your business, paving the way for questions and conversation."

Arline, K. (2015, January 26). What Is an Elevator Pitch? Retrieved April 19, 2015, from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3937-elevator-pitch.html

Let Me Teach You Agile

Agile is a software development process which involves adaptive planning, organized step-by-step development, well-communicated implementation process (receiving feedback about deliverables, and making improvements based on the feedback). Technically agile is an abstract methodology which can have different forms depending on a scale of a project it is applied to, size of a group/company doing such a project, and other factors which may affect a development process. What's common in all agile-based development processes is the concept of constant planning and improvement throughout the period of a product's development.

http://www.adfkickstart.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/agile_methodology_overview.png

Emina Elezovic says that "agile development methodology is a conceptual framework for undertaking any software engineering project". This is a slightly different definition from the one that I wrote before, but it has the same idea of interpreting agile as a "conceptual framework" for projects. Elezovic also explains that there are a number of agile software development methods but the most popular are Extreme Programming (XP) and Scrum. In general, agile methods attempt to minimize risk and maximize productivity by developing software in short iterations and by deemphasizing work on interim work artifacts (Elezovic, 2012).

 
Elezovic, E. (2012, December 21). Agile Methodology. Retrieved April 12, 2015, from http://www.adfkickstart.com/agile-methodology

How much of my work and what I create do I really own?

When a person creates his/her own original work, whether it's a piece of art, a written story, software, hardware, etc., it automatically becomes that person's intellectual property, who, by default, owns rights to its reproduction and distribution. There are two types of intellectual property: registered and unregistered.

• Registered intellectual property gives the owner rights over the monopoly of the concept.  Examples include patents, trademarks, design rights, domain rights and plant breeder rights.

• Unregistered intellectual property only prevents others from copying the concept.  Unregistered trademarks, copyright and database rights are all unregistered (Wilson, 2011).

http://www.hawkip.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/intellectual-property.png

In the sphere of software development it is very common for a person who writes a program's code to transfer some or all rights to his/her client. The usual way of handling the ownership of an intellectual property is through a contract or any other written agreement between the developer and the client which is supported by law. When making a contract, because you own your original work, you can assign to the client as few or as many rights as you want. For example, you can assign rights to use the software only in certain geographic regions (U.S. only), or for specific periods of time. You can also control whether the client is allowed to modify your work or license/sell your work to a third-party without your approval (Kimbarovsky, 2009).

Kimbarovsky, R. (2009). Contracts. Retrieved March 22, 2015, from http://rosskimbarovsky.com/contracts-for-software-and-website-developers.pdf

Wilson, K. (2011, June 3). What is the Difference between Registered and Non-Registered Intellectual Property? Retrieved March 22, 2015, from http://www.hawkip.com/advice/what-is-the-difference-between-registered-and-non-registered-intellectual-property