diff --git a/cookiecutter.json b/cookiecutter.json
index 22302ac..cf3ad39 100644
--- a/cookiecutter.json
+++ b/cookiecutter.json
@@ -5,5 +5,6 @@
     "description": "A short description of the project.",
     "year": "2016",
     "open_source_license": ["MIT", "BSD", "Not open source"],
-    "s3_bucket": "[OPTIONAL] your-bucket-for-syncing-data (do not include 's3://')"
+    "s3_bucket": "[OPTIONAL] your-bucket-for-syncing-data (do not include 's3://')",
+    "python_interpreter": ["python", "python3"]
 }
diff --git a/{{ cookiecutter.repo_name }}/Makefile b/{{ cookiecutter.repo_name }}/Makefile
index df94b11..bef8958 100644
--- a/{{ cookiecutter.repo_name }}/Makefile	
+++ b/{{ cookiecutter.repo_name }}/Makefile	
@@ -5,29 +5,113 @@
 #################################################################################
 
 BUCKET = {{ cookiecutter.s3_bucket }}
+PROJECT_NAME = {{ cookiecutter.repo_name }}
+PYTHON_INTERPRETER = {{ cookiecutter.python_interpreter }}
 
 #################################################################################
 # COMMANDS                                                                      #
 #################################################################################
 
-requirements:
-	pip install -q -r requirements.txt
+## Install Python Dependencies
+requirements: test_environment
+	pip install -r requirements.txt
 
+## Make Dataset
 data: requirements
-	python src/data/make_dataset.py
+	$(PYTHON_INTERPRETER) src/data/make_dataset.py
 
+## Delete all compiled Python files
 clean:
 	find . -name "*.pyc" -exec rm {} \;
 
+## Lint using flake8
 lint:
 	flake8 --exclude=lib/,bin/,docs/conf.py .
 
+## Upload Data to S3
 sync_data_to_s3:
 	aws s3 sync data/ s3://$(BUCKET)/data/
 
+## Download Data from S3
 sync_data_from_s3:
 	aws s3 sync s3://$(BUCKET)/data/ data/
 
+## Set up python interpreter environment
+create_environment:
+	@pip install -q virtualenvwrapper
+	@echo ">>> Installing virtualenvwrapper if not already intalled.\nMake sure the following lines are in shell startup file\n\
+	export WORKON_HOME=$HOME/.virtualenvs\nexport PROJECT_HOME=$HOME/Devel\nsource /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh\n"
+
+	source /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh; mkvirtualenv $(PROJECT_NAME) --python=$(PYTHON_INTERPRETER)
+	@echo ">>> New virtualenv created. Activate with:\nworkon $(PROJECT_NAME)"
+
+## Test python environment is setup correctly
+test_environment:
+	$(PYTHON_INTERPRETER) test_environment.py
+
 #################################################################################
 # PROJECT RULES                                                                 #
 #################################################################################
+
+
+
+#################################################################################
+# Self Documenting Commands                                                                #
+#################################################################################
+
+.DEFAULT_GOAL := show-help
+
+# Inspired by <http://marmelab.com/blog/2016/02/29/auto-documented-makefile.html>
+# sed script explained:
+# /^##/:
+# 	* save line in hold space
+# 	* purge line
+# 	* Loop:
+# 		* append newline + line to hold space
+# 		* go to next line
+# 		* if line starts with doc comment, strip comment character off and loop
+# 	* remove target prerequisites
+# 	* append hold space (+ newline) to line
+# 	* replace newline plus comments by `---`
+# 	* print line
+# Separate expressions are necessary because labels cannot be delimited by
+# semicolon; see <http://stackoverflow.com/a/11799865/1968>
+.PHONY: show-help
+show-help:
+	@echo "$$(tput bold)Available rules:$$(tput sgr0)"
+	@echo
+	@sed -n -e "/^## / { \
+		h; \
+		s/.*//; \
+		:doc" \
+		-e "H; \
+		n; \
+		s/^## //; \
+		t doc" \
+		-e "s/:.*//; \
+		G; \
+		s/\\n## /---/; \
+		s/\\n/ /g; \
+		p; \
+	}" ${MAKEFILE_LIST} \
+	| LC_ALL='C' sort --ignore-case \
+	| awk -F '---' \
+		-v ncol=$$(tput cols) \
+		-v indent=19 \
+		-v col_on="$$(tput setaf 6)" \
+		-v col_off="$$(tput sgr0)" \
+	'{ \
+		printf "%s%*s%s ", col_on, -indent, $$1, col_off; \
+		n = split($$2, words, " "); \
+		line_length = ncol - indent; \
+		for (i = 1; i <= n; i++) { \
+			line_length -= length(words[i]) + 1; \
+			if (line_length <= 0) { \
+				line_length = ncol - indent - length(words[i]) - 1; \
+				printf "\n%*s ", -indent, " "; \
+			} \
+			printf "%s ", words[i]; \
+		} \
+		printf "\n"; \
+	}' \
+	| more $(shell test $(shell uname) == Darwin && echo '--no-init --raw-control-chars')
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/{{ cookiecutter.repo_name }}/test_environment.py b/{{ cookiecutter.repo_name }}/test_environment.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..752c2dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/{{ cookiecutter.repo_name }}/test_environment.py	
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import sys
+
+REQUIRED_PYTHON = "{{ cookiecutter.python_interpreter }}"
+
+
+def main():
+    system_major = sys.version_info.major
+    if REQUIRED_PYTHON == "python":
+        required_major = 2
+    elif REQUIRED_PYTHON == "python3":
+        required_major = 3
+    else:
+        raise ValueError("Unrecognized python interpreter: {}".format(
+            REQUIRED_PYTHON))
+
+    if system_major != required_major:
+        raise TypeError(
+            "This project requires Python {}. Found: Python {}".format(
+                required_major, sys.version))
+    else:
+        print(">>> Development environment passes all tests!")
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
\ No newline at end of file