Tips on how to tackle open-ended project plans

Google Summer of Code
1

Hi!

As I’ve been exploring the different project ideas for GSoC, I noticed that many of them feel quite open-ended in their descriptions. For example, the Volto Themes project simply mentions the goal of creating new ready-to-use themes, but doesn’t go into detail about how many are expected, what kinds of themes would be most useful, or how much design/implementation work should be scoped.

I understand that flexibility is part of the process, but I just wanted to check whether there’s any general guidance on how detailed the proposals should be in terms of goals, features, or deliverables.

Any direction or tips would be really helpful as I continue refining my approach.

Thanks so much!

2

Yes, it's deliberately left up to the proposer. Only you can decide how much you can realistically achieve in the given time, knowing yourself and your circumstances. Ideally you will have already tried at least to start developing whatever it is that you will be proposing to do.

In the case of themes, you should decide what could be useful, or survey what's there and identify what's missing.

Imagine you're on the receiving end of the proposal. You should be satisfied that it is an impressive, sufficiently detailed, and realistic proposal.

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