Partnership Policy

CS145: Stanford University, Fall 2025

Collaborate Effectively

Work solo or in teams of 2 - your choice!

Working Solo

  • Set your own pace and timeline
  • Make all technical decisions
  • Avoid coordination overhead

Tip: Use Ed and office hours for help!

Working with a Partner

  • Divide tasks by section/expertise
  • Learn from each other's approaches
  • Build real-world collaboration skills

Keys to success: Clear expectations, regular check-ins, shared tools

Sharing Access with Your Partner

Data Science Track

Share BigQuery access: GCP Console → IAM & Admin → Add partner email → "BigQuery User" role

Most share Colab notebook: Use "Share" button, take turns editing. Colab is not good for simultaneous edits, unlike Google Docs.

Alternative (if you feel comfortable with Git): Jupyter + Git locally, then import finally in Colab

Systems Track

Most share Colab notebook: Use "Share" button, take turns editing (avoid simultaneous edits). Colab is not good for simultaneous edits, unlike Google Docs.

Alternative (if you feel comfortable with Git): Jupyter + Git locally, then benchmark in Colab

Final runs must use Colab's 12GB constraints

📝 Gradescope Submission for Teams

One partner uploads: Upload .ipynb → Click "Add Group Member" → Search partner's name/email

Important: Both names must appear on submission and at top of notebook

⏰ Late Day Policy for Partnerships

Formula: Available late days = min(partner1_days, partner2_days)

Example: Partner A has 2 days, Partner B has 1 days → Team can use 1 day

Why? Can't handle submissions with one submitting project on one day, and the other submitting updates after another day. We're releasing Project2 with 35 days to plan and build. Plan accordingly!

When Partnerships Don't Work Out

Prevention: Set expectations early, divide tasks clearly, communicate regularly

If problems arise: Try to resolve it. But if you can't, post private Ed message immediately! A CA will try to help. But often, we've seen it's best if you can resolve it with your partner, or switch to working solo, from that point on.

Extending Your Project 1

Solo: Copy Project 1 cells to new notebook, extend with new requirements

Partnership: Pick one partner's Project 1 with the most interesting dataset for ML/joining

Starting fresh: Also fine - just meet the Project2 requirements on table sizes

Related Resources