Hackathon Survival Guide

Ching-Wei Chen (@cweichen) Director of Developer Program, Gracenote

What's a Hack?

A solution to a problem

Made with available tools

That works!

What's a Hackathon?

Gracenote Hackathon '12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md0KlGwwtRU

A Day In The Life

A Typical Hackathon Schedule

Day 1 9:00am - Registration/Breakfast

10:00am - Welcome/API Presentations

11:00am - Start Hacking!

12:00pm - Lunch

6:00pm - Dinner

7:00pm - Keep Hacking!

Day 2 8:00am - Breakfast

12:00pm - Lunch

1:30pm - Stop Hacking!

2:00pm - Presentations

5:00pm - Judging and Awards

6:00pm - The End!

11:00am - Start Hacking!

1:30pm - Stop Hacking!

~24 hours to make something happen!

The 5 Stages of Hacking

Stage 1: The Big Idea

Stage 1: The Big Idea

•  "This is going to change the world!"

•  You want to solve the big problems, use every API, and do something no one has ever done before

•  Sometimes the best idea is one that scratches your own itch

Stage 2:Action Plan

Stage 2: Action Plan

•  Figure out which APIs and data can help o  Mashape, Programmable Web, Google, Yahoo

•  Design the hack •  (If working in a team) Divide and conquer o  Identify strengths of each team member,

and divide up the work o  Define clear interfaces, inputs and

outputs, between each component

Stage 3: Digging In

Stage 3: Digging In

•  Time to get down to serious hacking o  Google, Google, Google o  API Docs, Tutorials, Stack Overflow o  The more you dig, the deeper you go

•  Baby steps o  "Hello world!" first o  Make sure you have something to show every

step of the way - printfs, beeps, blinks, anything! This way you can climb out of holes without losing everything.

•  Dig far enough, and you'll eventually reach...

Stage 4: Stage 4:

Stage 4: "Recalculating!"

•  Some things don't work as you originally thought, some assumptions are completely wrong, you'll think there's no way out

•  But there is usually something else that does something pretty close

•  Stay open minded, and revisit the original idea and design

Stage 5: Panic

Stage 5: Panic

•  Time's almost up, and it's not totally working yet!

•  Even things that were working usually stop working around an hour before hacking ends

•  What do I do??!!

Start with your pitch, and work

backwards

The 4 “Be’s”

Be Concise

Be Concise

•  Create a short, memorable name and tagline that crystallizes your entire hack

•  Craft a focused storyline: o  What is the one problem you are trying

to solve? o  Why does it matter and why do you care? o  How does your hack solve the problem? o  Don’t complicate the story with endless

lists of possible enhancements

Be Focused

Be Focused

•  Your only goal is to pitch

•  A completed hack that does just one thing well is better than a hack that does lots of things poorly

•  Don't be afraid to make assumptions or mock-up data

Be Prepared

•  Run through lots of examples to find one or two that work well

•  Make a video or screencast as soon as everything is working

•  What will you do if Wifi is down?

•  Do an A/V test

Be Prepared

Be Interesting

Be Interesting •  This isn’t a design review, it's a hack! •  SHOW, don't tell. Dive right into your

live demo ASAP. Explanations can come later.

•  Avoid slides if you can. If you must, make them fun and engaging - use videos, music, pictures and humor liberally.

•  Get the audience to participate.

If you follow this guide...

https://developer.gracenote.com @gracenotedev

Ching-Wei Chen (@cweichen) Director of Developer Program