The document provides a detailed overview of organizing and participating in hackathons, emphasizing team roles and dynamics, such as hustlers, hipsters, and hackers. It outlines the process of solving real problems, specifically focusing on a case study involving a student struggling with parking, and discusses decision-making frameworks like GRPI and DACI. The document also stresses the importance of prototyping and iterating solutions quickly within a set timeframe during the event.

1. Hacking with Edge
+ WICS, Women in Information and Computer Science

2. First, let’s meet each other
Your Name and add
up to 2 words to the
story

3. Hmmm…what just happened?

4. HACKATHONS - FUD
* Question snippets from Quora.com

5. What’s in a hackathon?
if (Hackathon.equals("SCARY")){
readReality();
}
private void readReality(){
System.out.println("Fun and relaxed events");
System.out.println("Meet a lot of like minded people");
System.out.println("Passion to learn and create solutions");
System.out.println("Don’t have to be a genius / coding pro");
System.out.println("SWAG!");
System.out.println("Career Opportunities");
}

6. Expressing your idea (or
solution) through code

7. It’s all interactive this afternoon!
How do you organize? Setting up your Dream Team
How do you work together? Managing the dynamics and making decisions
How do you express your idea or solution quickly? Prototyping

8. hackathon - DREAM TEAM
Form a team of 4 with the following roles. (If the group is small, stick with 3
members)
In your team, call out your skillsets and identify team members with similar roles
Ensure your group consists of
# Hustler…Hustler and Visionary (2)
# Hipster…the Designer
# Hacker

9. (1) HUSTLER
(2) Visionary

10. Hustler and Visionary - You don’t need to be a
marketing guru or a COO
Visionary
# Are the business savvy ones
# Find product - market fit & sell the product
Hustler
# Ensure timely goals are met during the course of the
hackathon
#Can put together a plan and move the team along
#Find cheap or free resources to help your team

11. HACKER

12. The Hacker - brings their utility belt of
technological solutions
# Learn a javascript framework - React, Backbone,
Angular
# Stub data - Build a facade and not an engine
Stub data in fixtures (JSON files), simple google
fusion tables, or a very simple backend using
something like Firebase, CouchDB
#Hacker - You Don’t have to be a coding pro
Many teams have more than 1 hacker…if you have “mad” front end skills, you can bootstrap the
backend for a hackathon. If you have awesome backend skills, work with your hipster/designer to
figure out how you can integrate what you coded with a front end experience

13. Commonly used APIs
Communications & Social APIs - Twillo, SendGrid, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, Google+
Geo APIs - Google Maps, Google places, Yelp, MapBox, Uber API
Payment related APIs - Venmo, Paypal, Stripe
Music APIs - Spotify, EchoNest, Google Play, SoundCloud
* More examples on http://studenthackers.devpost.com/#rankings

14. HIPSTER
(Designer)

15. #Hipster - you don’t have to be an artist
# Think through the flows of a customer
interaction
# Prototype quickly and iterate to refine
your team’s solution
# Use Dribbble, Behance, pttrns.com for
inspiration

16. Got your team? Each person has a role?
Now, let’s solve a potential hackathon
problem

18. The Customer Problem
Jane is late for the 4th time this quarter
and it’s only 6 weeks in. Her professors
are threatening to drop her from the
course if she doesn’t start arriving on
time. Jane struggles finding parking
and can’t leave earlier because she
works part-time at a local Bagel Shop
called Lox and Bagel. Her manager
won’t let her leave early because it’s
the busy time in the morning and there
are a lot new employees that are still
training
Create a solution that can help
Jane find parking quickly
within her tight schedule?
Consideration: What data
points would we collect to help
her timing and parking
problem?
The Challenge: 24 hours
In your teams, break up the work
and come with a plan to solve the
problem within 24 hour period
!

19. Share Out: What was easy to do?
What was hard to do?

20. Fast Path I
20
Intuit - Confidential
……………………………………………………………...
GRPI
Goals: Desired Outcomes/Great Experience/Needs of Sponsor
Roles: Facilitator, Scribe, Timekeeper, Etc.
Process: Agenda and Timeline
Interpersonal: Ground Rules, Guidelines…
• How we want to behave individually and as a team
• How we want to communicate
• What will be a great experience interpersonally
Start here

21. The Customer Problem
Jane is late for the 4th time this quarter
and it’s only 6 weeks in. Her professors
are threatening to drop her from the
course if she doesn’t start arriving on
time. Jane struggles finding parking
and can’t leave earlier because she
works part-time at a local Bagel Shop
called Lox and Bagel. Her manager
won’t let her leave early because it’s
the busy time in the morning and there
are a lot new employees that are still
training
Create a solution that can help
Jane find parking quickly
within her tight schedule?
Consideration: What data
points would we collect to help
her timing and parking
problem?
The Challenge: 24 hours
In your teams, break up the work
and come with a plan to solve the
problem within 24 hour period
!
Revisit the task using GRPI Framework…

22. Share Out: What other situations
would this be helpful to use?

23. Making Decisions
It’s the last 5 hours of the hackathon and your team came up
with two different solutions.
Scenario:
The "team" came up with two solutions and they need to
decide which one to move forward with...your team only has 5
hours left in the hackathon
• Solution 1 – Solution that solves having the ”closest”
parking spot to the classroom
• Solution 2 – Solution that solves for “fastest” (least
amount of time) way to get a parking spot
In Task: Decide on which
solution to move forward with?
How did you make the
decision?
!

24. Share Out: What was easy to do?
What was hard to do?

25. Fast Path I
25
Intuit - Confidential
………………………………………………………………
Decision Making… Shared Vision
Decision + Commitment + Execution = Outcome
Shared Vision
 Solid, Clear Logic
 Right Scope & Altitude
 Explicit Vs. Implicit… Put it in writing
Your Data & Assumptions Their Data & Assumptions
Where You Agree
 Simple Easy Words
 Separate The What Vs. the How
 Balance Inquiry and Advocacy

26. 26
Best-in-Class Tool: All Roles Critical
DACI
Driver:
Drives decision process with key
stakeholders
Develops set of options and recommends “best
option” based on decision criteria
Approver:
Ultimate decision authority and
accountable for outcome
Ensures right people involved;
Defines decision criteria;
Defines date for decision;
Makes the decision & “owns it”
Contributor:
Contributes pre-decision input & perspective
Offers candid & relevant input;
Courage to challenge & disagree;
Will commit to final decision
Inform:
Informed post decision for clarity &
execution
Should understand decision…
“What criteria, who was involved, and
what is needed from them”
Critical Roles

27. Revisiting using DACI…
As a team, consider the same situation but now your team
has two potential solutions and the team does not have much
time to make decision.
Scenario:
The "team" came up with two solutions and they need to
decide which one to move forward with...your team only has 5
hours left in the hackathon
• Solution 1 – Solution that solves having the ”closest”
parking spot to the classroom
• Solution 2 – Solution that solves for “fastest” (least
amount of time) way to get a parking spot
In Task: Use this new model,
what is your decision?
Why?
!

28. Share Out: What other situations
would this be helpful to use?

29. Prototype

30. A prototype is a way to
visually express, test, and
iterate on your idea

32. Double Diamond

33. Research insights
into the problem
Synthesize areas
you want to focus
on
Ideate on potential
solutions
Implement solutions
that work

35. Software

36. Prototyping Fidelities
Low Medium High

37. What Fidelity Should I Use?
The fidelity of your prototype should match the fidelity of your questions.
The What
Am I building the
right thing?
The How
Am I building this thing
right?
VS.

38. Prototyping Examples

39. Hardware

40. Tom Chi:
Google Glass

41. Rule # 1: Find the quickest path to experience
Rule # 2: Doing is the best kind of thinking
Rule #3: Use materials that move at the speed of thought to
maximize your rate of learning
3 Prototyping Rules from Tom Chi:

42. How does software and
hardware complement
each other?

43. Lab
Rapid Prototyping

44. Rapid Prototyping
1. Generates ideas to problems you’re stuck on
2. Minimizes design flaws
3. Gain immediate user insights/ learnings
4. Saves time, costs and resources
If you can draw a line you can prototype

45. Rapid Prototyping
Customer Problem
Jane is late for the 4th time this
quarter and it’s only 6 weeks in.
Her professors are threatening to
drop her from the course if she
doesn’t start arriving on time.
Jane struggles finding parking
and can’t leave earlier because
she works part-time at a local
Bagel Shop called Lox and
Bagel. Her manager won’t let her
leave early because it’s the busy
time in the morning and there are
a lot new employees that are still
training.
Create a solution that can
help Jane find parking
quickly within her tight
schedule?
Consideration: What data
points would we collect to
help her timing and parking
problem?
Your Challenge

46. Rapid Prototyping
Roles
Greeter
Puppeteer
Scribe
Data Scientist

47. Thank You!
Any Questions?