DESIGN REVIEWS 18-545: ADVANCED DIGITAL DESIGN PROJECT FALL 2016 BRANDON LUCIA
Announcements Design Review is next Monday (17 Oct) Design Review Demo is following Wednesday (19 Oct) All teams should have completed all 3 labs at this point 2 18-545: FALL 2016
Design Review: Presentation Logistics In class 15 minute presentation No more than 20 slides Given by only 1 group member 3 18-545: FALL 2016
Design Review: Presentation Content What does your design look like? Promise vs. Delivery so far Unexpected challenges Revised schedule (Gantt chart), highlight changes Questions, solicitations for feedback or help Hardware needs? 4 18-545: FALL 2016
Design Review: Lab Demo Logistics In lab on the following lesson Demo what you have working / limping so far All group members should attend Content One major sub-system working, others in progress 5 18-545: FALL 2016
Design Review: Write-up Logistics Submit PDF to Blackboard by Wednesday 10/19, 9:30am No length requirement (less than 5 pages, probably means trouble) Content Full design specification Software / hardware partition Interfaces definitions Detailed system block diagram Schedule / Management decisions Make it good -- your classmates will read it All major design decision should have been made 6 18-545: FALL 2016
Today Design reviews Presentation tips Planning Preparation Slides 7 18-545: FALL 2016
Design Reviews Present your design for critique & improvement What? Basics of the design (architecture, clocking, circuits) Preliminary results, best guess performance Anything special or weird about the design Weak points Remaining unanswered questions When? Late enough: after decisions are made Early enough: time to change the design Multiple design reviews are often good 8 18-545: FALL 2016
Goal GOAL = TO IMPROVE THE DESIGN WELCOME CRITICISM WITH GRACE 9 18-545: FALL 2016
Preparation Send review materials to reviewers early Preparing for a review is often productive Everyone should understand design goals Everyone should understand review goals 10 18-545: FALL 2016
Mechanics Know your audience Take meticulous notes All issues and questions logged Stay on topic Address tangents off-line Have only one conversation Follow through Action items assigned Issue is not closed until originator signs-off 11 18-545: FALL 2016
Attitude: Designers No ego trips Flaws in the design, not the designer Defensive attitude is unproductive Accept valid criticism Remember: reviews improve design ( It’s not punishment ) 12 18-545: FALL 2016
Attitude: Reviewers No ego trips No one cares if you would’ve done it better Be constructive, d on’t complain Pay attention Empathy: your work will soon be reviewed 13 18-545: FALL 2016
Design Review Summary We do design reviews all the time Should adhere to a methodology MIL-STD 1521b, for instance Create productive design review culture 14 18-545: FALL 2016
Today Design reviews Presentation tips Planning Preparation Slides 15 18-545: FALL 2016
Presentation Tips: Planning What is the point of your talk? Know your audience level (Experts? Clueless?) Construct a narrative Requires structure: no “core dump” Short talks are harder than long ones 16 18-545: FALL 2016
Presentation Tips: Planning (2) Tell the audience what you’ll tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you just told them Plan for time Time per slide is highly variable Speed is not a good thing Go too fast lose the audience Running out of time, dynamically schedule 17 18-545: FALL 2016
Presentation Tips: Preparation Give practice talks Practice audiences Don’t recite verbatim Memorizing the first slide is OK Know your talk 18 18-545: FALL 2016
Preparation: Logistics Equipment BYODongle (YOFGYDO) Back-up versions of talk: Dropbox, email Room Location & scheduling Lighting, shades, etc. Arrangement of tables, chairs, etc. Food (plus a drink for speaker) 19 18-545: FALL 2016
Slide Style Too little substance is bad 20 18-545: FALL 2016
Slide Style Nothing irrelevant on the slide Don’t read your slides Have a useful informative slide title Use slide numbers Visual balance is good 21 18-545: FALL 2016
Slide Style: Text Use a big enough font for all text (24 pt. is the minimum) Vast majority of bullets should be one line only Can play abbreviation tricks (e.g., &, w/, b/c, btw, etc.) Resizing the text box can get you that little needed extra space Use consistent formatting Capitalization, font, bold/italic, etc. No period at the end of a bullet. Auto-fit is your friend ➙ don’t abuse your friends 22 18-545: FALL 2016
Slide Style: Color Using color can help audience focus on key points Over-use will bewilder audience Yellow doesn’t show -up well Be consistent in color use Choose a palette (and a theme) before building your first slide Online palette generators are quite good 23 18-545: FALL 2016
Slide Style: Plots and Charts Computation Time 4000.0000 Excel plots are UGLY 3000.0000 Time (ms) Always label your axes 2000.0000 CUDA CPU (Matlab) 1000.0000 Almost always have units 0.0000 0 550 1100 1650 2200 Image Side Use color to differentiate lines Use the right axes range / type At some point in your life, read Tufte 24 18-545: FALL 2016
Slide Style: Diagrams Snap-to-grid is your friend Use a thick line width and a big font Ellipses are good . . . Uber-diagram is bad Break confusing diagrams up or do blow-ups Can split slide vertically or horizontally In source drawings, use a transparent background 25 18-545: FALL 2016
Slide Style: Animations A good animation can bring your point to life Too much can be distracting Also difficult to control if you have to backtrack Client NS2 ? Answer Answer ? Answer Answer Local NS0 NS1 NS ? ? 26 18-545: FALL 2016
Reminders Design Review next week Remember your Monday Status Reports! Read Debugging 27 18-545: FALL 2016
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