Don't Shave The Yak

Finish your assignments before they finish you!

Comment

Inspiration

After reflecting on our college experiences, a few friends and I realized that a lot of stress could've been avoided if we had the appropriate project management tools and vocabulary to properly plan/categorize/prioritize our tasks. Study sessions, assignments, game nights, parties, it's possible to have it all with with a bit of planning. We had a great time but there's always something to learn from the past right?

What it does

It aims to reduce the effects of student syndrome (procrastinating til last minute, you know what I'm talking bout 🤨). One thing that can cause this is "shaving the yak". This is a term coined in the world of I.T that speaks of the endless stream of tasks we sometimes do in order to be free to accomplish a larger goal.

This web app aims to use project management strategies to help students better prioritize and organize their many tasks. It breaks down the tasks using various strategies and offers a manageable method of accomplishing them!

How we built it

I built it using Taipy library. It provided all the tools needed to create the UI and interact with Open AI chat-gpt-3.5 api. I went with a simple design to make it super easy to get the detail you need up front. With the library, I provided an input for a student to enter the tasks that they currently find overwhelming. The next step is to prompt Chat GPT with the appropriate amount of context to effectively use the project management strategy.

This was finally deployed on an Ubuntu server using Nginx + Docker.

Challenges we ran into

This was the first time using the Taipy library so understanding the semantics and all the quirks took some time. Writing websites with markdown was an interesting approach but it had it's own unique challenges. There were instances where I wished that the documentation had more examples but overtime I was able to figure out how to accomplish various tasks.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I'm super proud of getting this built with a library that I just got introduced to! This is one thing I really love about hackathons. There's always something new to learn!

What we learned

I learned how to create a python web app using Taipy library. I developed an appreciation of what's involved in building a website using Markdown and the different strategies that can be used to handle state in python apps. Finally, I learned more about serving the web app using gunicorn 🦄

What's next for Don't Shave The Yak

I'd definitely want to:

  • Refine the UI, it feels a bit clunky but as I get more comfortable with the library, that is sure to change.
  • Add more project management strategies + explainers.
  • Help students decide which strategy might be best!

Built With

Share this project:

Updates