Choosing your final project

This lesson is still being tested: it improves with learners' feedback. If something is unclear, it is the lesson that needs fixing, not you.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to

compare several project ideas using five criteria;
choose a realistic project for the time you have;
set its minimum version and its end criteria;
fill in the final project sheet.

Why it matters to you

The final project is the moment when you do, on your own and from start to finish, what the course has taught you. The classic trap: choosing something too big, running out of energy in the third week, and finishing nothing. The right project is one that is useful to you, fits in your time, and is one where you can tell when it is finished. This lesson helps you choose it, in 45 minutes.

Before you start


You need	Your assistant (free account), your project sheet and your module 6 review, and the final project sheet (resource)
Cost	€0 for the lesson; the cost of the project depends on the tools chosen
Duration	45 minutes
Reminder	Your project ideas: nothing from the “never” list

Understand it in 3 minutes

Five criteria, scored out of 5:

Criterion	The question
Useful	Will I use it, or will someone around me?
Realistic	Does it fit in the time I have, with some margin?
Built on what I have learned	Which modules will I use? What would I be missing?
Checkable	Will I be able to say, without hesitating, that it is finished?
Risks under control	Sending things out, data, costs? How do I keep them under control?

Time, in hours. “Four weeks” tells you nothing; “3 hours a week for 4 weeks, so 12 hours” lets you judge.

The final project builds on module 6 (running a project), and on at least one specialization module depending on your path: documents (module 10), tools (module 12), automation (module 8), several AIs (module 9)…

Do it together

1Step 1: Three ideas

Write down three project ideas, very different from each other: a small one, a medium one, an ambitious one. One sentence for each.

2Step 2: Have them scored

I have finished the modules [list] of my course. I have to choose my final project. I have [hours] hours a week for [weeks] weeks. Three ideas:
1. [...]
2. [...]
3. [...]
Help me choose using these criteria: useful to me, realistic in the time available, built on what I have already learned, a result I can check, and risks under control (data, sending things out, costs).
For each idea: a score out of 5 for each criterion, with a one-line justification. Then your recommendation, and its minimum version.

In our test of 24/10/2026, with three ideas for a hiking club and 12 hours in total, the mobile app with accounts and payments got 9/25 according to the AI (“Accounts, payments and a map take months, not 12 hours”), but its five scores actually add up to 10/25: the AI can make a mistake when adding. The welcome booklet got 23/25, and the automatic Monday email got 16/25 (“A mistake goes to all members at once”). The recommendation: the booklet, with a minimum version of 4 pages.

3Step 3: Correct the scores yourself

The AI does not know what you have learned. In our test, it guessed: “probably reuse what you have seen”, “It depends on what module 10 covers”. Go back over the “Built on what I have learned” column with the real list of your modules, and correct the scores that do not seem right to you. Also redo the addition of the totals yourself: in our test, the AI made a mistake in one of them. The decision is yours.

4Step 4: The frame

Open the resource Final project sheet and fill in part 2: the need, your time, the modules used, the minimum version, the end criteria, the data, the risks, and what you are not doing.

Your turn

Score your three ideas against the five criteria.
Choose, and write down why.
Fill in the frame of the final project sheet.
File the sheet in your folder, and note your decision in your journal.

Resources to download

Final project sheet: the choice between three ideas, the project frame, and the week-by-week tracking.

Check your work

It worked if:

three ideas have been scored against the five criteria, and you have corrected what the AI could not know;
your project fits in your available time, counted in hours;
its minimum version fits in one sentence, and its end criteria can be ticked off;
the risks (data, sending things out, costs) are written down, with how you keep them under control.

Common mistakes:

choosing the most ambitious project “to learn”;
counting in weeks, not hours;
a vague end criterion (“successful”, “nice”);
letting the AI decide for you.

Keep it and pick it up later

The final project sheet lives with the project: update it at every decision (lesson 2).
Keep the two ideas you did not choose in your journal: they may make a next project.

Going further

optional

If you hesitate between two ideas, do the minimum version of the smaller one first: it will quickly tell you whether the method holds.

New words

3 words explained

Word	What it means
Final project	A project carried out on your own, from start to finish, with the course method
End criterion	A checkable condition that says the project is finished
Available time	The number of hours you can really give it, per week

The test in step 2 was actually run with Claude Code 2.1.310, in a new, isolated session (test report, T59). To be checked: it has not been rerun in the app or in ChatGPT.