Portfolio Surgery and the Final Portfolio
Where This Fits
This page connects the Week 11 Portfolio Surgery session to M4 peer review and the Final Portfolio. Portfolio Surgery is an in-class working session, not a separately graded assignment: the artifacts you produce here feed your M4 peer review and your Final Portfolio. It does not add new deliverables.
What To Produce in the Session
Work through these in your project repository. They are working artifacts for M4 and the portfolio, not a separate graded submission.
Fresh-environment reproducibility test
Document the fresh-environment test using port02. Record the latest commit hash, environment, commands, and result.
If every reproducibility check passes, that is a good outcome: document the checks you ran and their results, and note that no failures were found. You are not penalised for having nothing to repair — do not invent a failure or make an unnecessary change just to have something to log.
Failure log
List any failures before repairs: warnings, broken paths, missing packages, unclear README steps, citation issues, and stale outputs. Give each failure evidence and a result after repair or triage.
Repairs
Name any files you changed and why, or state that no repairs were required. This can be short.
| File changed | Reason | Verification |
|---|---|---|
README.md |
Added render command | Followed command in fresh Codespace |
Peer review (feeds M4)
Record the feedback you received or gave, keeping it specific and actionable. Your M4 peer review is the graded milestone; see port04 for how the session feeds it.
Final risk list
Name remaining risks or state that no known risks remain. Honest risk lists are better than hidden problems. This carries directly into the Final Portfolio.
AI-use note
State what AI helped with and how any repairs or wording were checked.
Final Portfolio Bridge
The revision target is all of it — the analysis project, the report, the dashboard-style KT product, and the repository with its README — not just one piece.
The final portfolio is not a separate new analysis. It gathers the strongest version of:
- final report source and rendered output;
- dashboard-style KT product or static preview;
- data provenance and stewardship documentation;
- reproducibility instructions;
- narrated presentation slide deck;
- final AI-use audit;
- clear README and repository access route.
Your dashboard-style KT product may be submitted as a static preview; a live dashboard is not required.
Use the Final Portfolio Checklist before submission.
Two rules make this easier:
- You may revise earlier work — and you are encouraged to. If feedback on an earlier assignment showed you a better way, fix it before it goes into the portfolio. The portfolio is graded on the strongest version of your work, not the first version you submitted.
- Required files are prescribed; the rest of the structure is yours. The checklist names the files every portfolio must contain. Beyond those files, your group is free to organize and present the portfolio however serves your project best.
Not sure what “strong” looks like? A weak portfolio is a pile of files the reader must decode. A strong portfolio leads with a README that answers what the project is, who it is for, what was found, and how to rerun it. See the side-by-side weak vs strong README example.
Public or Private Repository
Use Repository Sharing Guidance. Private repositories are appropriate when public sharing would create data, privacy, licensing, or stewardship risk.
Public is not better by default. Reviewable, safe, and reproducible is the target.
Before You Finish the Session
Check:
- fresh environment test attempted;
- any failures logged before repair, or passing checks documented;
- report and KT product rerun or failure clearly explained;
- README matches the tested workflow;
- M4 feedback is recorded;
- final risk list is honest.
Before Final Portfolio
After Portfolio Surgery, focus on:
- repairing any remaining blockers;
- aligning presentation slides with final report claims;
- checking repository access;
- confirming public/private sharing choice;
- syncing the final commit before Canvas submission.