Syllabus
MBA 693R · STRAT 490R
FALL 2026 – WINTER 2027
| Instructor | Scott Murff, scott.murff@byu.edu |
| TAs | To be announced |
| Class Time | Fridays, 8:00–11:50 AM |
| Class Location | 1244 TNRB |
| Office Hours | Wednesdays 1:30–3:30 PM, Fridays 3:00–3:30 PM |
| Office Hours Location | 587 TNRB. Wed 3:00–3:30 PM and all of Friday are by phone. |
| LMS | Canvas |
Course Numbers
This course is cross-listed under two course numbers. It is all the same class: everyone meets together Fridays 8:00 to 11:50 AM in 1244 TNRB, works on the same client teams, uses this site, and uses Canvas as the LMS. Register under whichever number fits your program.
| Course | Section | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MBA 693R | 011 | Special Topics in Management | 3.0 |
| STRAT 490R | 001 | Topics in Strategic Management | 3.0 |
Canvas is used for submitting sprint plans and sprint Wrap-ups, and for grades. All other course content is on this website.
Description
The AI Foundry is an AI-native product studio and consultancy inside the BYU Marriott School of Business. Most of the time you will be on a delivery team for a paying client. The client is paying a fee, retains the intellectual property, and expects professional work. Your grade reflects both the quality of your work and the professionalism with which you do it.
The Foundry builds software. Discovery work comes first, and its purpose is to decide what to build. Every engagement ends with software the client is running.
As at any consulting firm, client work arrives on the clients’ schedule. There will be times when you are not staffed to a client project. In those periods you choose your work from the sprint menu: a studio project, work for the Foundry, or learning, such as the Claude courses or the Product Management book.
Participation is a two-semester sequence, fall and winter.
Purpose
This course develops students who can take a problem from discovery to production software that an organization uses, and who can manage the client relationship while they do it.
Learning Outcomes
| # | Learning Outcome | BYU Aims Supported |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Take a problem from discovery through a shipped, production system running in an organization’s environment | Intellectually Enlarging |
| 2 | Build with Claude across the API, Claude Code, and Model Context Protocol to the standard validated by the Claude Certified Developer credential | Intellectually Enlarging; Lifelong Learning and Service |
| 3 | Own a workstream for a paying client: scope it, report its status without being asked, and defend the decisions behind it | Character Building; Lifelong Learning and Service |
| 4 | Judge whether a piece of work is worth building at all, weighing cost, risk, and the effect on the people it touches | Spiritually Strengthening; Character Building |
| 5 | Give and receive direct feedback, and change observable behavior in response to it | Character Building; Spiritually Strengthening |
Prerequisites
Build, IS 693R / MSB 341, is the prerequisite. It is offered every fall and every winter.
Exceptions are granted for the 2026-2027 school year, since the Foundry is running for the first time and nobody has had the chance to take it yet. See The Builder and the Consultant for the three pathways through this year.
Required Materials
- Laptop. Mac or Windows, capable of running VS Code or Cursor and a local development environment. 8GB RAM minimum, more is better.
- Claude access. You will have a Claude plan for Foundry work, either provided on the Foundry’s Claude Enterprise account or reimbursed if you hold your own. The specific plan and the mechanism are set each term and communicated before it begins.
- LMS. Canvas, for sprint submissions and grades.
- Other AI tools. Anything else you want to use is yours to arrange.
All readings and reference material are on this website at no cost.
What You Will Work On
Foundry work takes three forms. You will be on one of the first two at any given time, and on the third throughout.
Funded engagements. A client pays a fee, retains the intellectual property, and expects professional delivery. These carry the tightest obligations.
Unfunded engagements. Real outside organizations with real stakes and no fee: nonprofits, university units, early-stage ventures, and mission-driven work the Foundry takes because it is worth doing. The standard of work is identical, and the confidentiality and intellectual property obligations still apply on the terms set for that engagement.
Studio projects. The Foundry cannot seat every builder on an outside engagement at once. When you are not staffed, you build your own product to the same standard, with real users, and ship it. See Studio Projects.
Alongside all three, the Claude courses. Anthropic’s free Claude courses are on the sprint menu as Learn items, and what they teach you to build goes into whatever project you are on. See The Certification Track.
Which form you are on is a matter of staffing and timing rather than merit, and it can change between terms. How you are assigned is set out in How Teams Are Staffed.
Time Commitment
| Class commitment | 10 hours per week, including the Friday studio block |
| Client commitment | Typically an additional 10 hours per week when client demand calls for it |
The base 10 hours is the course, and it is what 3.0 credit hours per semester represents. The surge hours are the extra time client delivery takes when a paying client has a deadline. Surge is not every week, and it is not open-ended, but it is not optional either when your team is in it.
Students enroll each semester for a total of 6.0 credit hours across the year.
If a week comes when you cannot deliver your hours, tell your team and the faculty advisor in advance. Told in advance, your team can plan around the missed hours. Found out late, the missed hours delay work for the client.
Studio Time
The Friday 8:00 to 11:50 AM block in 1244 TNRB is your team’s standing work session: co-working, cross-team critique, and client calls. Office hours are Wednesdays 1:30 to 3:30 PM in 587 TNRB and Fridays 3:00 to 3:30 PM by phone. The last 30 minutes on Wednesday are also by phone.
Required sessions:
| Session | When |
|---|---|
| Kick-off, team formation, client introductions | First studio of fall semester |
| Phase review: discovery | Set per engagement |
| Phase review: build | Set per engagement |
| Phase review: transfer and handoff | Set per engagement |
| End-of-year showcase | Final studio of winter semester |
All other Fridays are optional but strongly encouraged. Teams that skip studio time consistently underperform.
Schedule
Engagements start on a rolling basis, and each client sets its own length and dates with the team at kick-off. The course itself runs on a common calendar of two-week sprints, the same for every student.
Grading
Fall and winter are graded separately. This is the fall grade. It replaced the original 500-point plan on October 23, when the course moved to two-week sprints. Winter’s grade is published before winter starts, and adds the client evaluation and the video reflection.
Developmentship is how the Foundry develops its members, and every part of this grade counts toward it. Your sprints show what you can build, on the six Builder axes. Feedback from colleagues and clients shows how you work, on the four Consultant axes. See The Builder and the Consultant.
Fall grade (500 points)
| Component | Points | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Sprints, 3 × 120 | 360 pts | 72% |
| Colleague and client feedback | 140 pts | 28% |
| Total | 500 pts | 100% |
| Extra credit: BYU student ratings | 10 pts | |
| Extra credit: weekly updates sent before sprints began | 2 pts each |
Every component is individual. Teammates often share a goal, and each of you is graded on your own part of it.
Sprints (360 points)
Three two-week sprints, 120 points each: Plan 10, Output 60, Review 25, Demo 25. Every student runs every sprint, staffed on a client engagement or not. Each sprint you choose your work from the sprint menu: Build, for a client, the Foundry, or your own product, and Learn, from a Claude course or the Product Management book. The calendar, the menu, the deliverables, and the rubric are on the Sprints page.
Colleague and client feedback (140 points)
Your colleagues and your clients rate you on the four Consultant axes: Judgment, Ownership, Communication, and Collaboration, against the written anchors in The Developmentship Model. The fall round runs from November 20 to December 14. The fall version of that page, with its conversion table set to 140 points, is published before November 20.
Your self-assessment is collected first and is never part of your score. You see it as an outline over what everyone else saw, so you can compare the two.
The certification track
The Claude courses are on the sprint menu as Learn items, graded as part of the sprint. Sitting the Claude Certified Developer exam is optional, and nothing in your grade depends on it. Whether Foundry builders can register for it through the Foundry is up to Anthropic and is not yet arranged. See The Certification Track.
Extra credit
- Student ratings (10 points). Complete the BYU end-of-semester student ratings survey.
- Weekly updates (2 points each). Weekly update emails ended with the week of October 12, and none of them cost points. Each update you sent for the weeks of September 14 through October 12 earns 2 extra credit points.
Late Work Policy
Sprint plans and Wrap-ups are accepted up to 9 days late with a 10% penalty per day. Canvas applies the penalty.
| Days Late | Penalty |
|---|---|
| 1-3 | -10% to -30% |
| 4-6 | -40% to -60% |
| 7-9 | -70% to -90% |
| 10+ | No credit |
Client deadlines are a separate matter. A client deliverable that is going to slip must be raised with Professor Murff and the client before the due date. A slip flagged early and rescheduled with the client is a scheduling decision. A slip discovered on the due date is a broken commitment, and colleague and client feedback will reflect it.
Grading Scale
| Grade | % | Points (of 500) |
|---|---|---|
| A | 93–100% | 465–500 |
| A- | 90–92% | 450–464 |
| B+ | 87–89% | 435–449 |
| B | 83–86% | 415–434 |
| B- | 80–82% | 400–414 |
| C+ | 77–79% | 385–399 |
| C | 73–76% | 365–384 |
| C- | 70–72% | 350–364 |
| D+ | 67–69% | 335–349 |
| D | 63–66% | 315–334 |
| D- | 60–62% | 300–314 |
| E | Below 60% | Below 300 |
Classroom Culture
Laptops are the tool. This is a build studio, so laptops are open and expected. The obligation that comes with that is attention: if you are in a client call or a critique, you are in it.
Cold calling. I call on people, because when only the most confident students speak, the class learns less. If you are not ready, say so plainly and I will come back to you.
Attendance. The Friday block is where cross-team critique happens and where most client calls are scheduled. When you miss it, your teammates cover for you, so treat it as a professional commitment rather than a class.
Getting Help
In roughly this order:
- Ask Claude and search this site
- Ask your pod. Someone has probably solved the same problem already
- Bring it to studio time. Do not wait a week with a blocker
- Email or Teams the TAs
- Email or Teams Professor Murff, or come to office hours
Raise blockers within 48 hours. Not at the weekly call, and not at the end of the sprint.
Confidentiality and Client Data
Foundry clients share confidential business information: financials, pipelines, customer data, and strategy. This is a condition of the work, and it carries obligations.
- You will sign the client’s NDA, or the Foundry’s standard mutual NDA, before receiving data.
- Client data stays in the approved project repository and approved tools. It does not go into personal accounts, personal cloud storage, or unapproved AI services.
- Nothing about the project goes on LinkedIn, in a portfolio, or in a job interview without written client permission. Ask the faculty advisor first, every time.
- Deliverables and intellectual property belong to the client, not to you and not to BYU.
- When the project ends, you delete local copies of client data.
A confidentiality breach is an Honor Code matter and will also end the engagement. Treat this as the professional obligation it is.
AI Use Policy
You are expected to use AI tools extensively. That is the point of the Foundry. The obligations that come with it:
- You own the output. “The model produced it” is not a defense for a wrong number, a fabricated citation, or an analysis you cannot explain.
- Every deliverable must be explainable. If you cannot walk the client through why the model recommends what it recommends, it is not done.
- Client data goes only into approved tools. See the confidentiality section above.
- Disclose your method. Project documentation and your sprint reviews should say what tools and models you used and how you validated the output.
Instructor Bio
Scott Murff is an Associate Teaching Professor of Strategy at the BYU Marriott School of Business, where he also serves as faculty advisor and teaches courses on business strategy, decision-making, and artificial intelligence. He brings over 15 years of experience in business and technology, having worked as a consultant, product manager, and data scientist.
Prior to joining BYU, Scott spent nearly seven years at McKinsey & Company in roles ranging from analytics specialist consultant to principal product manager, where he led product development and performance management initiatives for Fortune 500 clients. His earlier career includes building forecasting models as a VP at Zions Bancorporation and conducting regulatory research at the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Scott holds a Master’s degree in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University and a B.A. in Economics with a minor in Math, from BYU. He is passionate about helping students apply AI, analytics, and strategy to meaningful real-world problems with both rigor and purpose.
Mission and Aims
The mission of Brigham Young University, founded, supported, and guided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is to assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life. That assistance should provide a period of intensive learning in a stimulating setting where a commitment to excellence is expected and the full realization of human potential is pursued.
BYU seeks to develop students of faith, intellect, and character who have the skills and the desire to continue learning and to serve others throughout their lives.
A BYU education should be (1) spiritually strengthening, (2) intellectually enlarging, and (3) character building, leading to (4) lifelong learning and service.
Building on the foundational Mission and Aims, the Marriott School of Business aspires to transform the world through Christlike leadership by developing leaders of faith, intellect, and character guided by the following 4 values:
Faith in Christ - We value deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ. Our faith gives us the capacity to envision a better future, the confidence to make that future happen, and the courage to act in the face of challenges.
Integrity in Action - We value integrity and hold ourselves to the highest moral and ethical standards. Acting with integrity builds trust, strengthens character, and focuses our ambitions on things of eternal consequence.
Respect for All - We value respect for all individuals as children of God and recognize the inherent worth, divine potential, and agency of each person. A climate of respect and belonging enhances our learning, facilitates collaboration, and encourages personal growth.
Excellence - We value excellence in learning, teaching, research, management, and leadership. An expectation of excellence magnifies our influence and motivates us to continually improve.
We evaluate our decisions and actions by the impact they will have on the academic experience, professional preparation, character development, emotional well-being, and spiritual growth of our students.
Honor Code
In keeping with the principles of the BYU Honor Code, students are expected to be honest in all of their academic work. Academic honesty means, most fundamentally, that any work you present as your own must in fact be your own work and not that of another. Violations of this principle may result in a failing grade in the course and additional disciplinary action by the university. Students are also expected to adhere to the Dress and Grooming Standards. Adherence demonstrates respect for yourself and others and ensures an effective learning and working environment. It is the university’s expectation, and every instructor’s expectation in class, that each student will abide by all Honor Code standards. Please call the Honor Code Office at 422-2847 if you have questions about those standards.
Preventing & Responding to Sexual Misconduct
The health and well-being of students is of paramount importance at Brigham Young University. If you or someone you know has experienced sexual harassment (including sexual violence), there are many resources available for assistance.
In accordance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, BYU prohibits unlawful sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, against any participant in its education programs or activities. The university also prohibits sexual harassment by its personnel and students. Sexual harassment occurs when
a person is subjected to unwelcome sexual speech or conduct so severe, pervasive, and offensive that it effectively denies their ability to access any BYU education program or activity; any aid, benefit, or service of BYU is conditioned on a person’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct; or a person suffers sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking on the basis of sex. University policy requires all faculty members to promptly report incidents of sexual harassment that come to their attention in any way, including through face-to-face conversations, a written class assignment or paper, class discussion, email, text, or social media post. Incidents of sexual harassment should be reported to the Title IX Coordinator at t9coordinator@byu.edu or (801) 422-8692 or 1085 WSC. Reports may also be submitted online at https://titleix.byu.edu/report or 1-888-238-1062 (24-hours a day).
BYU offers confidential resources for those affected by sexual harassment, including the university’s Sexual Assault Survivor Advocate, as well as a number of non-confidential resources and services that may be helpful. Additional information about Title IX, the university’s Sexual Harassment Policy, reporting requirements, and resources can be found at http://titleix.byu.edu or by contacting the university’s Title IX Coordinator.
Student Disability
Brigham Young University is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere that reasonably accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. A disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Whether an impairment is substantially limiting depends on its nature and severity, its duration or expected duration, and its permanent or expected permanent or long-term impact. Examples include vision or hearing impairments, physical disabilities, chronic illnesses, emotional disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety), learning disorders, and attention disorders (e.g., ADHD). If you have a disability which impairs your ability to complete this course successfully, please contact the University Accessibility Center (UAC), 2170 WSC or 801-422-2767 to request a reasonable accommodation. The UAC can also assess students for learning, attention, and emotional concerns. If you feel you have been unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of disability, please contact the Equal Opportunity Office at 801-422-5895, eo_manager@byu.edu, or visit https://hrs.byu.edu/equal-opportunity for help.