Hack, Play, Learn

Hi I’m Stef

I often get asked how I go about my work, particularly “how and why do you make all these hacks?” because I’ve been doing a hack per month for about seven years. I suggested a few months ago I might organise something around the subject and had sixty people express an interest. So I’m taking the hint and making the following happen…

Sometimes my hacks turn into businesses and tools that people use (like Attending that you’re looking at right now), but mostly they’re just to learn and explore. So I thought I’d put together a day that distills what I’ve learnt over recent years and I hope you can come!

Learn how to turn an idea into something that people use and love, quickly using a hacky, playful approach.

Friday

A day of conversation, discussion and hands-on activities about the process of hacking. I’ve learnt a lot by hacking, but also a great deal from researching hacking and hacker culture, turning tiny ideas into investable businesses and applying what I’ve learnt at Makeshift. We’ll cover the process and ideas that some of you will be familiar with in my writing:

• Why hack?
• Building to think
• How to pick an idea to hack on
• What to focus on
• Doing things quickly
• What’s in the toolbox?
• Tiny wireframes
• Non-viable products
• Strike-ups before start-ups
• Being naughty
• Second canvases
• Finding a signal
• What happens after the hack?

There’ll be some collaborative tasks involving wireframing and sketching but the first day will mainly be code-free.

The purpose of the day is to inspire you to apply some of these ideas and to have “make a quick hack” as an available option for evaluating ideas.

Saturday

A fun, optional day for those of us who want to hack on something. It’s amazing what you can make in just a day, so the aim is that you come away from the two days with something you’ve made, and thought about the process you went through too.

We’ll take over the Makeshift studio for the day and apply some of the things we’ve talked about the previous day.

Many hackdays give the impression that you have to have tech skills to get a prototype together, and I’m keen that this is open to non-devs, so whatever you count as a “hack” can apply here.

Lunch and dinner

Lunch included on Friday. We’ll also gather anyone who wants to have dinner for a nice meal on the Friday night. Saturday we’ll be at Makeshift with loads of options to grab some food nearby.

** Tech skills **

I’d like this to be for people who can’t code as much as those who can but some experience of working with digital media is advisable.

Price

£275  Sign up and we (I’m organising this with Emily, my wife) will send you a link to take payment.

** Can’t make this date? ** Put your name down to hear about other things I may organise in future.

Looking forward to hacking with you!

Stef