Capstone Reflection Template

Module 10, Lesson 10.5 · five-prompt reflection · produces /capstone/capstone-reflection.md

Save this as: /capstone/capstone-reflection.md. Freeze at end of Lesson 10.5.

Use it again: re-read it a year from now. The reflection is the one artifact in the capstone written for future you.

Five prompts. Roughly one page total. Honesty is the grading criterion.

A thin reflection fails the rubric; a substantive one passes even when imperfect. Write this after the final doc and demo video are locked — the reflection is looking backward, not forward.

Header

Frozen:

Prompt 1 — The hardest moment

A specific day, a specific bug, a specific dead end

Name the single hardest moment in the ten modules. Not the hardest topic — the hardest moment. 3–5 sentences.

What made it hard:

What got you out:

A person, a doc, a reread, a walk, a restart. One sentence each.

Prompt 2 — The surprise

Something you now believe that you did not believe before

Name one thing about directing AI systems that you did not believe (or did not see) before this course, and that you now believe (or see). “Surprise” means you would have been wrong if asked at the start. 3–5 sentences.

Prompt 3 — The module that carried the most weight

Which Module 1–9 contributed most to the capstone’s success

Be specific about what from that module actually showed up in your build — an architecture section, a smoke test, a posture amendment, a component design. Not a general feeling.

Module:

☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☐ 8 ☐ 9

Module name (for the record):

3–5 sentences — name at least one concrete idea from that module that ended up in the build:

Prompt 4 — The module you underused

The module you used least — gap or correct scoping?

Of Modules 1–9, which did you use least? Then answer the harder question: is that a gap in your work, or a signal that your capstone was correctly scoped away from that module’s concerns? Both answers are legitimate; the point is that you noticed.

Module:

☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☐ 8 ☐ 9

Module name (for the record):

3–5 sentences — name the specific piece you left on the table, then name whether a v2 would pull it in:

Prompt 5 — What I’d build next

A new thing — not v2 of this capstone

Given what you can now direct, what is the next system you would build if you had another month? 3–5 sentences — one-sentence name of the system, the problem it solves, the shape of its three components, and the single posture question it raises.

Closing line

One sentence. What you want the reviewer (and future you) to remember from this project.

This template accompanies Lesson 10.5 of AI Architect Academy. The five-prompt spine, the one-page length, and the honesty-as-grading-criterion rule are concept. Specific wording and the modules you cite are recipe.