Assignment timeline guide

Week 1: Topic chosen, group rules finalised
Weeks 2 and 3: Stage 1 of assignment done
Week 4: Stage 2 of assignment done
Week 5: Stage 3 of assignment done
Week 6: Finalise everything
Weeks 7 and 8: Buffer time

A sample assignment timeline to help you organise and plan your group work.

Day 1

Group selection. Get to know your group, talk about your working styles and strengths related to the assignment.
Organise your first meeting.

Have your first meeting. Decide how you want to organise the assignment—who will do what, how often you want to meet, and how you want to work together.
If it will be a long assignment (four weeks or more), it’s good to set a regular meeting time each week.
Set a timeline for when you want to complete each part. Include a buffer of 25 percent of the total assignment time. For example, include a two-week buffer in an eight-week assignment, or a four-day buffer in a two-week assignment.

Have regular meetings to discuss parts of the assignment and make sure that you’re on track. Track yourself against the timeline you set and keep a record of any buffer time that you use up.

Finish everything at least two days before the assignment is due so that you can meet as a group and finalise everything. This is particularly important for presentations.
It’s good to have at least one test presentation to check the timing, and to make sure you don’t repeat each other or miss parts out.

The topic and guidelines took 1.5 weeks to finalise and stage 2 took 1.5 weeks.

Stage 3 of the assignment also ran late, so the buffer time was used up on stage 3 and formatting the final assignment.