OA Project Intake

[thebestmensch]

What problem are you trying to solve?

Not many people are starting projects through open-austin.org's project page or project process page.

Who will benefit (directly and indirectly) from your project?

Anyone submitting a project to Open Austin.

How can we contact you outside of Github(list social media or places you're present)?

Slack @jmensch or Twitter @thebestmensch.

View formal brief https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ME3sTcw19Ok-WmdWLZgBK6ta5PO0Tw6bFhRfvfamE7I/edit?usp=sharing

Also dropping Oli's idea from Slack here so we don't lose it:

I'm wondering whether the project ideas is where most folks tend to land when they come to Open Austin. As in, do they come to Open Austin with an idea? If so, perhaps there's a way to create a one page application form outside of a new platform (away from Github) that is both open-ended and educational.

Maybe show an example or two of best-of's, and maybe one minimum amount of information required for an idea to get kicked off.

[thebestmensch]

We still have some discovery to do, I think a good next step is to solicit feedback from members via a form or slack channel (or both). Thoughts?

[olitreadwell]

Perhaps a somewhat structured process?

• Invite folks to comment on this issue.
• Create a beta version of a form to solicit feedback about the project creation process
• Schedule a Zoom meeting or a breakaway session in an upcoming Open Ausitin meeting where interested folks can contribute feedback in a more open-ended manner

[olitreadwell]

My hopes for a project intake would be as much educational as it was inviting.

Teach about design thinking and to some varying degree validation, and minimal viable product, while also enabling folks to think deeply about an idea.

[olitreadwell]

I for one believe that project intake occurring on Github or any unfamiliar site where you have to create a new account and learn the UI will prevent new projects from landing, whether thought out or not.

[thebestmensch]

Perhaps a somewhat structured process?

Definitely! I like what you have. We need to take an initial stance on the groundwork before inviting feedback on a solution, though. At minimum:

• What constitutes a project?
  • What is the minimum required for something to be considered a project?
  • What kind of project categories (github tags) do we want? Which of these are required entry?
  • Do we differentiate between ideas and projects?

My hopes for a project intake would be as much educational as it was inviting.
Teach about design thinking and to some varying degree validation, and minimal viable product, while also enabling folks to think deeply about an idea.

<3<3<3 this. totally agree.

I for one believe that project intake occurring on Github or any unfamiliar site where you have to create a new account and learn the UI will prevent new projects from landing, whether thought out or not.

Also agree. I figure we can build/use some sort of tech that feeds into github (e.g. your form idea)

@mscarey any thoughts before I move this conversation to the slack project channel?

[mscarey]

For me, the most important feature of a form is the ability to see all the questions before I start writing. So that's one feature I'd like to preserve if the form gets redesigned.

If the intake process gets any more difficult than it already is, and especially if it requires a design thinking phase, then I think it's really important for people to be able to save and share their project ideas even when the intake process is incomplete.

And I wouldn't want to require people to tag their project ideas with the technologies their project will use too early in the process, because project champions often don't know what the right technology choices are. But people probably will want the option to add technology tags. A common complaint among project leaders is that they waste time with prospective volunteers who want to use a language or framework that's not going to work with the project's existing code.

[mscarey]

I closed a bunch of project ideas that, for one reason or another, weren't currently suitable to have people start working on them. Maybe that'll make the project onboarding process easier for new people.

[thebestmensch]

Re:

project ideas that, for one reason or another, weren't currently suitable to have people start working on them

@mscarey do you think it's possible to standardize the requirements necessary for a project to be ready for members to start working on? Ideally we can then integrate that into our project stages. For example, projects in the Alpha phase can be automatically labeled as ready for help.

cc @olitreadwell

[olitreadwell]

For me, the most important feature of a form is the ability to see all the questions before I start writing. So that's one feature I'd like to preserve if the form gets redesigned.

I understand this desire, though might argue that the current form asks a bunch of questions that are then denoted as being unnecessary on initial submission. My thought is that there is a staged submission process that saves the information while educating folks hoping to submit ideas without overwhelming them.

If the intake process gets any more difficult than it already is, and especially if it requires a design thinking phase, then I think it's really important for people to be able to save and share their project ideas even when the intake process is incomplete.

And I wouldn't want to require people to tag their project ideas with the technologies their project will use too early in the process, because project champions often don't know what the right technology choices are.

I'm in full agreement with both of these points @mscarey

---

One recommendation I really appreciated from @mscarey and @mateoclarke was that before creating a new project intake process it'd be valuable to do some user research.

Our suggestion was that during an upcoming session, find someone without a github user account and give them a prompt of "you have an idea for a civic tech project that you are determined to get started on, you've heard about 'open austin' vaguely show us how you would go ahead and work to get the opportunity to pitch your idea. "