We've been running a lot of events in the last couple of years, and we've been learning what makes a successful team as we go. Recently we came across a Hackathon Survival Guide by Yann Irbah at Paymill. It's filled with some great tips and some that really stand out to us:
- Build your team--a good team, including a designer, developer, project lead and then any specialized skills that the particular jam might call for. And remember, a great idea is only as good as you can sell it, so make sure someone on the team is a good presenter!
- Minimum features set aka MVP--too often people come in with too big an idea for a 2-3 day hackathon and they just can't make it happen in time. Define your smallest feature set to make a great prototype. You can always expand but you need to be able to finalize on at least the minimum set in the time limit, which goes to another of Yann's points
- Perfect is great. Working is better--your goal is to end up with something that actually works!
These events are a lot of fun and can be really invigorate your work in a lot of ways.