Team Planning Features for Hackers

All teams have their own private dashboard where team members can invite others to join and all work created by the team can be completed and posted.

Building an idea takes time, people, resources, and a process. We have incorporated all four into the private team dashboards available to anyone who creates a team.

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What it Means to Be a Hacker

A hacker is simply anyone working on a particular project. The project could be research, an app, a program, a book, a marketing strategy, a creative work, a business idea, or a process. As long is it an idea that has measurable outcomes and can be communicated to others, it counts. Hackers are vital to the hackathon process. Supprting hackers in their creative and problem solving process is the goal.

Biggest Hurdles for Hacking

  • Keeping the Momentum: Once a hackathon is over, team members usually have to go into different directions. In order to work with these constraints, we have project management tools available on the dashboard to centralize all work being done on the project.
  • Following Up with Critics and Patrons: Judges and attendees usually have much to add in terms of feedback, but attendees have trouble reaching out to teams and vie versa. We allow attendees to provide feedback virtually and give the teams access to the contact information provided by those who give feedback.
  • Finding Help: Hackathons usually doa great job providing mentors and subject matter experts, but teams are not always able to quickly get the help they need during a hackathon. Help may come late or not be sufficient.
  • Keeping Track of Event Changes: Teams may not always be aware of major event changes such as room and agenda changes. Perhaps lunch was moved back by an hour or two, or presentations are due 15 minutes later than originally planned.
  • Recruiting Members: Finding team members is also an area where teams struggle- who is not on a team and who is interetsed in your topics? Teams usually have to rely on their people skills to be able to effectivly communicate an idea to someone- but this does not mean that you're speaking to the ideal person. Online hackathons are that much more complex when all communication is online.

    • "Hackathons are fun, and my team was pretty awesome,
    but we were missing a key skill the entire hackathon. Also, I wish we had more time to do some testing. "



    Functionality for Hackers

    Given the complexities of problem solving invovled in the hackathon environment (relationship building, specific skill learning, brainstorming process, and product/outcomes), our tool is meant to supplement each area and also tackle some of the aforementioned hurdles faced by hackers. See more specifics around functionality

    Keeping the Momentum

    Our project management tools include ideation tools, and a calendar for post-hackathon task management. You're able to quickly get in touch with people to help with the click of a button. There's also he ability to create a team page that can be explored by other visitors/attendees/non-attendees. This page can be used as a mild form of customer discovery. See more about creating a team page.

    Keeping on Task and in Touch

    The calendar sends notifiications about tasks and is help to keep communication flowing during and after a hackathon. As a team, you are also able to receive feedback and contact those that provide it. Finally, as changes occur in deadlines, the countdown clock on your dashboard reveals the latest deadlines. There's also a drag and drop document uploader so that you can maintain a central repository for all created documents.

    Recruiting the Right Person

    We have a live dash which lets you quickly review the attendees and see which skills and interests they have. You can choose to contact them via email or find them at the event based on their picture. If it's a match, then you can invite them to your team or create one together. (Ideal team size is between 4 and 6.)

    Our Recommendation for Teams: Taking Your Hackathon to the Next Level


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