Suffolk University • Sawyer Business School

Final Project Workshop

From notebook to product, from prototype to pitch — teams form, scope locks, and building begins

Session 12 of 13
150 Minutes
40 Students
Hands-On Learning
01 // LEARNING OBJECTIVES

What You'll Learn Today

By the end of this session, you'll have both conceptual understanding and hands-on experience with the foundations of AI.

01

Form Teams & Lock Scope

Teams of 2-3 (or solo) form around a shared problem. Scope is locked by end of class — no more pivoting after today.

02

Design Agent Architecture

Sketch the full system: agent roles, tools, data sources, guardrails, and human review gates. Get feedback from instructor and peers.

03

Build a Skeleton Notebook

Leave class with a working skeleton: agent loop running, at least one tool connected, basic test framework in place.

04

Plan Your Demo

Outline the 5-minute demo: what you'll show, what questions you'll answer, and how you'll prove it works with live data.

02 // SESSION AGENDA

Today's Journey

A carefully crafted progression from concepts to hands-on building.

5:00 PM - 5:15 PM

Part 1: Final Project Overview

15 minutes

What's expected, how you'll be graded, and what makes a great final project.

  • Deliverables: Working agent (50%) + Test suite (20%) + Business case pitch (30%)
  • Working agent: Must run live in Colab during demo. Real tools, real data, visible reasoning.
  • Test suite: 20+ test cases, automated runner, LLM-as-judge scores, documented results
  • Business case: Who needs this? What's the ROI? What are the risks? Would you deploy it?
  • Timeline: Today = scope lock + skeleton. Next session = 5-min live demo + Q&A.
5:15 PM - 5:40 PM

Part 2: Team Formation & Problem Statements

25 minutes

Form teams, choose problems, and write a crisp problem statement.

  • Team formation: 2-3 people or solo. Find teammates with complementary skills or shared interests.
  • Problem statement exercise: In 2 sentences — what problem does your agent solve? For whom?
  • Feasibility check: Can you build it in one session? Can you demo it live? Is the problem real?
  • Quick pitches: Each team shares their problem statement (30 seconds). Peer feedback on scope and feasibility.
5:40 PM - 6:25 PM

Part 3: Architecture Sketch + Skeleton Build

45 minutes

Design your system on paper, then start building the skeleton in Colab.

  • Architecture sketch (15 min): Draw your system — agent(s), tools, data sources, guardrails, human gates. Get instructor feedback.
  • Skeleton build (30 min): Open Colab. Get the agent loop running with at least 1 tool. Connect sample data. Start your test file.
  • Professor/TA circulate for scope and feasibility feedback — this is your chance to get expert guidance.
6:25 PM - 6:35 PM

Break

10 minutes

You have a scope, a team, and a skeleton. The rest is execution.

6:35 PM - 7:15 PM

Part 5: Build Sprint

40 minutes

Dedicated build time with instructor support. Focus on getting the core agent working.

  • Priority: Get the core agent loop working with real tools. Don't worry about polish.
  • Second priority: Start your test suite — at least 10 test cases written (can automate later).
  • Ask for help: Professor and TA are here specifically to unblock you. Don't struggle alone.
  • Checkpoint: By 7:15, every team should have a running agent and a test plan.
7:15 PM - 7:30 PM

Part 6: Demo Prep + Wrap-Up

15 minutes

Plan your 5-minute demo and understand what happens next session.

  • Demo format: 5 minutes live demo + 3 minutes Q&A. Must run the agent live (not slides).
  • Demo checklist: Problem statement → Live agent demo → Test results → Business case → Q&A
  • Peer voting categories: Does it work? Is the problem real? Would you trust it? Compelling demo?
  • Between now and next session: Finish building, run full test suite, prepare your pitch.
  • Remember: A simple agent that works perfectly beats a complex agent that crashes during demo.
03 // INTERACTIVE RESOURCES

Tools & Learning Materials

Everything you need to explore, experiment, and build.

Final Project

Final Project Page — Build Your Agent

All Final Project details for this semester: deliverables, problem ideas, starter resources, and FAQ. Submit your notebook + 1-page brief on Canvas by Tue May 5 at 11:59 PM.

Open project page
Review ?

All Session Resources

Review any session's materials — agent patterns (S6), RAG (S7), multi-agent (S8), industry agents (S9), guardrails (S10), evaluation (S11).

Browse sessions
Guide

Building Effective Agents (Anthropic)

The agent design guide you've been reading all semester. Revisit for architecture decisions and pattern selection.

Read guide
04 // HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES

Learning by Doing

Three interactive challenges to build your intuition.

Activity 1

Final Project Workshop

The entire session is a structured workshop. By the end, you have a team, a scope, and a working skeleton:

1

Form Team & Write Problem Statement (15 min)

Find teammates (2-3 or solo). Write a 2-sentence problem statement: What does your agent solve? For whom? Why does it matter?

2

Architecture Sketch (15 min)

Draw your system: agents, tools, data sources, guardrails, human gates. Get instructor feedback on feasibility and scope.

3

Build Skeleton (30 min)

Get the core agent loop running in Colab. Connect at least 1 real tool. Load sample data. Start test cases.

4

Build Sprint (40 min)

Dedicated build time. Get the core working. Start your test suite. Use instructor office hours for help.

5

Plan Your Demo (15 min)

Outline the 5-min demo: problem → live demo → test results → business case → Q&A. A working demo beats perfect slides.

05 // KEY TAKEAWAYS

What to Remember

Scope is king. A simple agent that works perfectly in your demo beats a complex agent that crashes. Lock your scope today and focus on execution.

?

Build the tests first. Writing test cases before finishing your agent forces you to think about what 'working' actually means for your use case.

Use the full stack. Your project should show what you learned: tool use, ReAct reasoning, domain knowledge, guardrails, and evaluation. That's the whole semester in one demo.

Simple + polished > complex + broken. Demo day rewards agents that work reliably. Cut scope before you cut quality.

06 // HOMEWORK

Before Next Session

Complete these tasks before our next class to prepare for prompt engineering.

Build: Finish your agent implementation. All tools working, guardrails in place, test suite complete. The agent must run live in Colab.
Test: Run your full 20-case test suite. Document results: accuracy score, consistency score, failure modes, and fixes applied.
Pitch: Prepare your 5-minute demo: problem statement, live demo script, test results summary, and business case. Practice the timing.
Polish: Clean up your notebook — clear explanations, organized cells, visible reasoning. Someone should be able to read your notebook and understand what you built.
Coming Next

Session 13: Demo Day

Ship it. Live demos, peer voting, and course celebration. Show the world what you built.

Demo DayPresentationsPeer VotingCelebration