Presenting the ideas and getting feedback
Soon after doing the payload feasibility and requirement analysis, one often could be feeling one of the following things:
- “Though I have done all the analysis very carefully, I am not sure whether I have covered all aspects that need to be covered before taking this payload ahead”
- “I am pretty confident about my research. I am completely sure we can take this payload for the satellite”
- “I am not sure about some aspects I have studied and I need more professional opinions on them”
- “Though I am pretty much excited about this payload, would the other team members share the same feeling?”
There might be plenty of more concerns that may have not been listed here. Moving ahead, not “paying load” to listing down all the thoughts that come to mind, one suggestion to remove majority of the concerns is presenting the payload idea in front of people.
On reading closely the last point, plenty of questions might come in one’s mind. Let us try tackling those questions one-by-one:
Before whom do we present the payload?
A. One could present the payload idea in front of anyone. A good example would be presenting it in following groups:
- The complete team
- Faculty advisors of the student satellite team (if any)
- The professors expert in the field related to which the payload idea is
It is not necessary to present this idea to all of them together.
What exactly to present?
A. Present everything that would be relevant to the team if the payload were to be chosen for the satellite. To be more precise, it is preferred that a complete requirement analysis is presented in front of the team along with all the factors behind choosing that payload for the satellite. This might help in getting much better insights from the team. Who knows, all your queries might be answered or the payload idea might have to be scrapped completely because of some infeasible requirements or some other unforeseen reasons. This makes the presentation even more crucial as it will decide the future of the payload like your examination decides your future with that subject!
What would the team gain from this?
A. With regular presentations, the overall progress of the team is easy to track for the complete team, including the Project Manager. Presentations given to the professors or experts in the field corresponding to the payload will help you gain insights that would have been completely missed otherwise and if one has worked upon the payload with dedication before presentation, one can expect a good interaction with the expert throughout the lifetime of the project and constant help from his/her side.
When is it most appropriate to present?
A. The time when one feels he/she needs more input from people for further progress is the time where it would be the best to present. This is important as this might help in keeping the work going on even if there are some barriers in the progress.
After a number of iterations of such presentations, many payload ideas get eliminated and once the team is down to the top 3 or top 5, a meeting of the entire team with the Faculty Advisers can be held, wherein the best payload is selected.
If you are done reading this page, you can go back to Satellite 101
