Strange Symphonies

A month ago I wrote down my thoughts on what a hackathon is about.

Let’s review how Hackweekend compares to it.

What Hackathons are about:

• Moving fast, and breaking things.
• Done is better than perfect.
• Building things.
• Social events.

How did Hackweekend measure?

Moving fast, and breaking things

Well I didn’t see anything break, but people moved fast. After the idea pitches, the people quickly got together in to groups are started working. Granted that some had already preformed groups and ideas, there were still quite a few which were unsure who to join. Nonetheless they managed to sort themselves out. Everyone was focused, no one looked lost.

Mini demos were scheduled at 8p and, teams came out to describe what they were going to work on, and some even showcased mock ups and designs. Teams were also told to discuss what problems they were running into.

Throughout the night you can see the apps being developed and worked on in ready for the next day demo.

Done is better than perfect

Late into the night, teams recognized that they couldn’t build everything they had planned and needed to scale back on their projects. Whilst not perfect, they were determined to get a working demo by morning.

Building things

There were a lot of ideas pitched, but ideas are a dime a dozen. At the mini demo session, there 14 applications being worked on. By morning there were working demos for 13 applications. While I think the quality of the applications were above average, it was exciting to see so many things built in a short period of time.

Its a reminder of what can be accomplished when your mind is focus on something.

By making Hackweekend invitation only, I believe we were able to increase the quality of the applicants, and hence the results produced.

Social event

Hackweekend was an extremely social event. At the event everyone seemed to get along well with each other, even people who did not know each other. It was great that there was a lot of time for people to mingle with each other. One benefit of having a lot of meals is that people can take breaks and socialize.

This is one of the benefits of making Hackweekend by invitation only. We can limit it the event to like minded fun people.

Online interaction took place on Twitter with the #hwkl hashtag. People who didn’t receive an invite became highly envious of participants because of how awesome the event was turning out to be.

Conclusion

Hackweekend was an awesome hackathon, and a lot of other people think so too.

This will definitely be hard to top, but definitely something we would want to do.

Everyone give a shout out to all the participants at Hackweekend for making it awesome!

Till the next Hackweekend.

Other Coverage:

• Hackweekend Facebook Page
• More Hackweekend Photos
• HackWeekend Kuala Lumpur Memperlihatkan 12 Projek Dilancarkan
• Life is a game at Hackweekend