Virtual Hacking

Much of the networking and community building aspects of regular in-person hackweeks occurs during open project time. Group work also provides opportunities for peer learning as individuals with different skill levels and backgrounds come together around a common goal. It is likely that these components of a hackweek will not be fully realized in a virtual setting, however these are some best practices that we feel might help:

• Do more in advance: Although during a regular hackweek we encourage participants to begin forming project teams in advance of the event, this does not always happen, and most people find their teams during a facilitated project formulation event on the first day of the week. This approach has to be abandoned in a virtual hackweek: people will need to formulate teams, begin getting to know each other and get clear on their project objectives at least several weeks in advance of the hackweek.

• Create virtual norms of behavior: Review the existing hackweek norms of behavior with your administrative team and decide how these can apply, or need to be modified, in a virtual setting. For example, the process of listening and experiencing discomfort will be different when certain dimensions of human communication, such as body language, are largely missing.

• have frequent check-ins: Probably the greatest challenging with virtual hacking is that it is much harder to notice and mitigate imposter phenomenon. First, we note that in order to participate at all in a virutal event, one must have a minimum level of aptitude with a suite of technologies, some of which may be new to beginner participants, and this can immediately lead to a feeling of being left out. Additionally, it is much easier to quietly disengage when the going gets rough because others are not able to notice. For these reasons it is essential that organizers check in regularly with participants. Ideas include virtual daily stand-ups and regular meetings with project team leads.

• Have well defined roles: Some of our regular hackweek assign project and data science leads for every project. Having these roles in place, and giving everyone clear ideas about the responsibilities of each person, will likely contribute to a successful virtual hack.

• Establish clear practices with technology: People will need to lean heavily on technology for the virtual hacking to be successful. Decide early in the proecess what technologies will be used, and what each tool will be used for. This will minimize chances to feel overwhelmed, especially for those people who have not used certain tools before. For example, your team might agree to use Slack for general discussions and brainstorming, and to elevate ideas to GitHub issues if they take on a well-defined technical challenge. Another example is to decide who in the team has control over things like Zoom screen sharing during the hacking session.

• offer participants and volunteers easy on-and-off ramps: Many of us are working from home and managing care for others during shelter-in-place rules. It helps to establish protocols for people to come in and out of hacking time without feeling they are disrupting the flow of work.