Finding an Audience/Testers/User group/Participant Group

July 30, 2009 at 11:41 pm · Filed under THESIS STUDIO MUSTS

Hello Everyone–

I see that you all have preconceived notions about the what thesis is and how you should prepare your summer homework. Many of you think that thesis is a “lone gun” kind of experience. This is completely untrue. Thesis in the MFA is a combination of theory and practice that is expressed FIRST in a tangible form that is tested with many short, dirty iterations that become more and more refined as  and supported with a writing process that helps analyze and evaluate the process along the way. If any of you are familiar with Scrum or Agile Development Methodology will know what I’m talking about. The process that I’m outlining here is actually very similar to the production process every film that I’ve ever worked on whether it was for a company or myself.  The Scrum process is based on DAILY accountability.  I know that most of you will be facing the work world (unless you are lucky enough to be independently wealthy) and you will need to learn to become very rigorous about the work that you do and how well you are doing it. The Scrum process is definitely a process is based on collaboration and team work. However, I think that there are aspects of it that may be useful even to the single thesis student. (By the way, I encourage all of you to consider working in teams on thesis). If you want to see a very short software company’s version of how Scrum works here is Axosoft’s 10 minute explanation:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5k7a9YEoUI&fmt=22&_kk=agile%20methodology&_kt=ea6d7c8b-06e6-4c03-bfda-d71ff64b5ef9&gclid=CIyIvtbi-5sCFdFL5QodxAKh9Q

Simple Scrum style steps to take for your own thesis:

CREATE A LIST OF WORK TO BE DONE

Begin to sort and organize your list into the most important tasks (greatest risk) and down to the less important parts.

The most important part of thesis during the summer is to get a user/participant group that you can rely on. This should be a group that is invested in the aims of your thesis. Many of you will say that you have no idea who would be interested in your thesis. My answer to you will be that you have to make your thesis matter to someone other than yourself. Otherwise, you are doing a thesis just to do a thesis. We would like you to do a thesis that will actually advance your career into a direction that will be your future employment or endeavor. NOW is the time for you to begin thinking about this.

After you’ve listed everything you will need to do to complete your thesis project, begin committing your thesis to a calendar and time estimates for each step.

Let’s begin here and let me know how you’re all doing.

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