And this is something to take note of. If we are lax in our scheduling and sticking to a proper routine, we might end up getting too distracted and hence not completing the tasks that are required of us. This certainly applies not only to IEOR - but also to our projects, homework and even life (maintaining relationships also require consistent effort).
So right now, I am in a triplet team, and all from Singapore - due to a certain distribution of people in the class. While this might probably allow us to skip the "ice-breaker" parts and get right down to work, we lack the cultural and skill diversity that comes with including members from other countries. Nonetheless, I am fortunate to have 2 other capable and self-motivated individuals - we should be able to get this project down, and I hope this would strengthen our friendship even better. (Truth be told, I did not really work with them that often back in Singapore, so this can also be a chance for me to know them on a deeper level)
I remember that finding the idea was difficult. While ideas were plenty, getting an idea that was remotely feasible was harder. While we had lofty aims, we understood the realistic constraints that we are bound by - there's a fine line between being ambitious and plain stupidity. It is through the brainstorming sessions that strengthened the notion of "picking your battles" - one recurring theme in the various entrepreneurship talks and sessions that I have attended.
A friend once said:
You can do anything, but you can't do everything.Simply put, we had to balance between:
1. Wanting to do something cool and impressive
While it may be simpler and easier to produce a standard staple like "mobile games", we wanted to stretch our limits and provide some additional "social" or "skill-based' benefits with our work
2. Our current skill sets
We are well aware of the our lack of coding capabilities. However, we are willing to learn and we are a bunch of people who can pick things up pretty well.
3. How much time do we have to pick up new skills and develop the idea
We do not have an entire year nor do we have a full 6 months. The product has to be something that we can pick up quickly - meaning we should be able to find tutorials easily and spend less time "figuring out" how to code, and go straight to the more value added parts of the project.
4. What other commitments do we have
We have other commitments beyond IEOR - such as studies and other extra-curricular activities.
So end of the day, we decided on a developing a tracing app which potentially extends what current tracing apps do. By exploiting the augmented reality capabilities of Seebright, we aim to provide a seamless tracing environment for budding artists - as close as it can get to tracing via tracing paper.
Video Link: http://youtu.be/rvLeALaa9bk
