Tips for Planning Your Project

You’ve registered for an online hackathon, now what? Below is a recommended workflow to organize your time during the hackathon’s submission period. If you want to work as a team, check these teamwork tips.

• Review the requirements
• Organize your time
• Brainstorm
• Build, Deploy and Test
• Submit your project

Review the requirements.

Read the hackathon site and rules to get an idea of what the sponsor is looking for in a submission before you jump into building. Are you using the required tools? Are you applying a required theme? Does your idea touch upon the judging criteria? 

Organize your time.

Add the submission deadline to your calendar and work backwards to give yourself enough time to submit a project. Milestones you set for yourself during the hackathon may include:

Brainstorm (Today)
Pick an idea (Tomorrow)
Quick design and how it might work (4-7 weeks before the deadline)
Start building (3-6 weeks before the deadline)
Start your submission (2 weeks before the deadline)
Finish up your project (1 week before the deadline)
Record your demo video (1 week before the deadline)
Finish submission (5 days before the deadline)
Continue making updates if you have extra time (until the deadline)

NOTE: The above schedule is an example of a 2-month long hackathon. Adjust as necessary!

Brainstorm.

Identify possible projects that would work within the hackathon theme and requirements. Here are some key points to start brainstorming: 

• Identify problems and possible solutions.
• Research existing solutions or use cases.
• Compare possible projects based on effort, time, hackathon requirements, and the judging criteria.
• Choose a project and start a draft submission on Devpost (you can edit this as often as you like before the deadline!)

Build, Deploy and Test.

Get started with your project and be sure to ask questions in the Hackathon discussion tab or designated support channels. Here are some suggested steps:

• List out the items you (and your team, if applicable) need to tackle and assign people and due dates. For example:
• Backend app structure
• Frontend/UI
• Submission text description
• Submission demo video
• Get set up with the hackathon’s required developer tools.
• Develop your solution.
• Test and debug your project.
• Refine your project details and update your draft submission on Devpost.

Submit your project.

Aim to submit at least a week early — this will ensure you submitted the complete entry with time to proofread, make edits, and receive feedback from the organizers regarding the eligibility of your submission. Remember you can update your submission any time before the deadline. Don’t risk it.

• Create and upload a demo video - Show how your application works, explain how it solves the problem, sell it!
• Verify your submission meets the requirements of the hackathon and even ask a friend for feedback.
• Submit the project on Devpost BEFORE the deadline.

Celebrate your accomplishment!