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What Changes Would You Like to See Made to Project14?

tariq.ahmad

Its been a long time since we've made any kind of changes to the format of Project14 but its due for an upgrade.   Its natural for programs to evolve overtime and things can't stay the same forever. We've experimented with different things with the program and some have been received more enthusiastically than others.   I'm starting this thread to see what kind of changes you would like to see us to make with this program.  What shouldn't be touched,  what would make things more exciting, and how do we grow the program without turning it into something different?  Should it be something different?   Where does Project14 fit in with the larger community?  Before getting this conversation underway, I would like to stress that the goal is to improve not diminish the program.  My managers have been very supportive from the beginning of this program and I want to reward their confidence.   Some of these changes are workload related.  Others are business related.  I'm open to all ideas and suggestions.

 

Topics on the Table:

 

- Launch Themes Every Other Month or Keep them Monthly?

- Shorter Contests or Longer Contests?

- If we have fewer contests Is there Stuff We Can Do In-Between?

- How Can We Make It Easier For More People to Participate?

- Should We have Bigger Prizes?

- Should we have a giveaway before we launch every contest?

- Most Importantly How Do We Make These More Fun?

Parents

  •   Awesome that you're looking at this.  I won't pile on much.  I agree on the format, timeline, etc.  For me, it's my fault that I didn't complete (or start) the projects that I wanted to participate in.

     

    I'd like to propose that a couple of times a year, we know the theme an additional month in advance.  Don't extend the timeline.  Just provide the vision and open up the comments.  One of my biggest challenges is inspiration.  What kind of project could I do around the theme?     Part of the magic of Project14 is seeing the creativity of the community.  It's incredible.

     

    I am 100% in support of 's "I Built It!" idea.  Inspiration?  A Crystal Clock with 1 Transistor - the Pierce Oscillator .  Not that Jan needs any points... image  But there is still bragging rights.

     

    At the risk of sounding petty with a rookie question... Can winners hold off on redeeming their awarded shopping cart and save up for cooler stuff?  If someone really wanted a 3D printer and winning a few Project14's got them closer to that goal, maybe that would increase their participation.  The bad news is that someone has to manage that.  Sorry.

     

    Of course, we could all use 's (Modified) Work Clock  and we'd have all the time we need to complete our projects.

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  •   Awesome that you're looking at this.  I won't pile on much.  I agree on the format, timeline, etc.  For me, it's my fault that I didn't complete (or start) the projects that I wanted to participate in.

     

    I'd like to propose that a couple of times a year, we know the theme an additional month in advance.  Don't extend the timeline.  Just provide the vision and open up the comments.  One of my biggest challenges is inspiration.  What kind of project could I do around the theme?     Part of the magic of Project14 is seeing the creativity of the community.  It's incredible.

     

    I am 100% in support of 's "I Built It!" idea.  Inspiration?  A Crystal Clock with 1 Transistor - the Pierce Oscillator .  Not that Jan needs any points... image  But there is still bragging rights.

     

    At the risk of sounding petty with a rookie question... Can winners hold off on redeeming their awarded shopping cart and save up for cooler stuff?  If someone really wanted a 3D printer and winning a few Project14's got them closer to that goal, maybe that would increase their participation.  The bad news is that someone has to manage that.  Sorry.

     

    Of course, we could all use 's (Modified) Work Clock  and we'd have all the time we need to complete our projects.

Children
  • in reply to kmikemoo

    Hi ,

     

    This all good feedback.  This helps me understand what is working and what could use improvement.

     

    >>I'd like to propose that a couple of times a year, we know the theme an additional month in advance.

     

    The theme is actually decided at the end of the month and launched a couple months later.   We know that the theme scheduled to launch in February is Digital Fever.   What I'm wondering is if there should be some in-between activity to generate ideas before the competition launches. I think the only tradeoff is timeliness.  For example,  a lot of the theme suggestions relate to a specific time of the year such as you might want to do a gardening project in the spring and if its closer to winter then it wouldn't be terribly interesting.   

     

    >> At the risk of sounding petty with a rookie question... Can winners hold off on redeeming their awarded shopping cart and save up for cooler stuff?  If someone really wanted a 3D printer and winning a few Project14's got them closer to that goal, maybe that would increase their participation.  The bad news is that someone has to manage that.

     

    That is not a rookie question at all.   I still get asked that question a lot.  Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances, such as a problem on our end, but in order to maintain our budget the prizes are separate and can not be combined.