I have made significant effort to learn from the first three sprint experience about what is working and what is not, and what is helping my students to come up with sprint 4 design that will serve your learning best. Please watch the video. ~ Prof. Sathya

Industry expectations are shifting:

Every conversation I am having (and many you noticed at the virtual networking event) and seems to have not settled yet.

One thing is for sure: the relative value of technical skills are going down rapidly because of advancements in AI capabilities.

When this happens, the best approach is to develop

Self-Directed Learning:

Can you learn new domains on your own at a sufficient level of depth?

Integrative Solving:

Can you integrate multiple domains to solve a complex problem?

Adaptive Building:

Can you iterate to build and deploy the solution under uncertainty, learn from that experience to go back?

In order to develop this, the engine you need working is built on:

Three Habits and 4 Practices

Habits: Slow Down, Know Yourself and Take the Lead. Practices/Techniques: Writing, Reading, Listening and Talking (they all are a form of conversation).

This is my best estimation. Hope you find this helpful and make them your own 🙏

Sprint 4: Depth

Going deeper on a hard problem, and learning the language of what you built

Weeks 13–16 MDRO Continuation + Framework

Sprint 4 Grading: Goals 20% · Reflections 20% · Demo 40% · Engagement 20%

End of Semester Grading: Defense 10% · well-used notebook submission 10%

Extra Credit: Up to 50% of points you have lost

The Sprint 4 Goal

Go deeper on your MDRO work. Name what you built.

Pick a new incremental goal on top of Sprint 3 — solo or pair-merge with a classmate
Learn to name your meta-habits, symbiotic thinking, and superagency
Build vocabulary you'll actually use in interviews and on teams

Why this matters →

You've been doing this work all semester. Naming it gives you the language to talk about your capabilities in the real world — in job interviews, team retrospectives, and whenever someone asks "what can you do?"

The Defense

3 min + 2 min Q&A — your Human Value Proposition, stated out loud.

Defend the four-sprint arc, not just Sprint 4
Name your superagency and your Human Value Proposition
Sprint 4 MDRO work is the freshest evidence in the story

Why this matters →

You walk out with a 5-minute pitch about the builder you're becoming. Reusable for interviews, team intros, or whenever someone asks "what do you actually do?" This is the artifact — the defense is just the moment.

Optional Look-backs

Honest reflection on Sprint 1–3 work — 10 pts each. For anyone.

Revisit one piece of earlier work and answer what you actually got from it (or didn't)
Any student can do them — stretch your grade, or stretch your thinking
Due through May 23, 2026

Why this matters →

If you're behind on points, these recover up to 50% of lost points. If you're ahead, doing them strengthens your defense — the insights you surface here are the freshest evidence of what you've grown into.

Industry expectations are shifting:

Self-Directed Learning:

Integrative Solving:

Adaptive Building:

Three Habits and 4 Practices

Sprint 4: Depth

By Sprint End, You Will Have: