Demola: a view from the inside
The text is devoted to the Russian sessions of the project "Demola". This information should be considered solely as an attempt to transfer personal experience to future participants so that they know which rake should not be stepped on. In addition, the official sites do not describe some useful trivia, so after reading you may no longer need to write to the organizer.
There is enough general information on the net, so we will not discuss it here. The format and purpose of the project are clear after viewing local and international sites. As a more detailed and vivid acquaintance it is useful to visit the VKontakte group . So, you looked at it and see: a party is being planned, where you choose an applied task that is interesting for you and suitable for a set of skills, register, come, with a bunch of active and smart co-teams (well, other people could not come to such a project) doing something cool, and you may have to buy development or take on the job.
To begin with, since the article is by no means anti-advertising of the project, I note that if you participate to the end and do something within the framework of the task, then you are guaranteed to receive:
')
But you certainly noticed that the above mentioned is not all that our first impressions or expectations implied. How everything will be rosy depends on many circumstances. Now I’ll tell you what problems may arise on the way to achieving the goal “I came, decided, made a prototype, was satisfied, got a nishtyak”, and how to try to avoid them.
Already at this stage, if you are unlucky, you can draw conclusions about the possible shortcomings of the system. That is, we think that this is only such a mess, but, alas, a mess happens later.
I was interested in the proger problem, and I thought: aha, I have a good friend, a mathematics student, a programmer and an enthusiast, X and another good friend, a student and programmer Y, we have a good concept of each other’s skills and capabilities, we work well together . Let's collect someone else, let's go and drag. 5 days before the deadline for submission of applications, we climbed to register. It became obvious that the teams were not selected by the students themselves, only after studying the registration form. Opposite a similar case, the suspicious inscription “the case is closed: the command is complete” was already burning.
The next day, all three of them received a letter stating that the registration for the case where we filed the application is already closed, and we are asked to choose another case. We consulted and decided that probably the three of us did not screw up and the registration was open. I have already talked with the organizer for some time, and in response to my next question I received the phrase “If there are a lot of applications for one project, selection is possible.” That is, from the point of view of a sensible person, it seems to me that this phrase means “many applications are submitted, and then somehow the procedure for selecting the right candidates is carried out.” So, if the registration for a case before the deadline can somehow be closed, then the appropriate selection has already been carried out, that is, a group of people submitted applications with a set of skills that the company considers ideal. Nothing was written about such a mechanism, the question “how do we know if we got into the case or not?” I was told that everyone will know everything at the Kick-off meeting (the first meeting of all participants). It means that this is some kind of misunderstanding and it is worth writing dummies.
I was told that this seems to be really something strange, and I just need to come and see there. There are no guarantees that we will not be told, “guys, I'm sorry, there were already a lot of us here, you are on the way,” they did not give us, they just said that you can go to a meeting somewhere in another case. But in general, we were interested in precisely the task for the solution of which we submitted an application. Moreover, it was not guaranteed that we could work together, because it was said “to demonstratively organize participation in a case with friends is not encouraged by the rules of Demola”, which none of the participants had seen during the entire project. For some reason, this did not suit us, and as a result X and Y scored on this strange event.
Here it became clear to me why the organizer could not explain anything. But there are simply no clear means of resolving situations where a lot of applications are being submitted to places in one case, or if there is no such thing. In addition to “well, this did not have enough space - well, walk around with other teams, maybe you need someone” and “there are a lot of us here - let's agree on who will leave here.” I suppose that those who closed the registration, seeing that a lot of people came running, simply did not know what to do, and panickedly wrote “the team is complete”. There were cases when, after such an action, the required number of people did not come to the Kick-off, and they had to drag people from other cases or out of thin air into the case, or close them altogether.
In particular, this whole parsley with registration creates much more serious problems, which will be clear further. In the meantime, it is appropriate to say that if you understand well exactly where you want, do not slow down and register as early as possible.
You are introduced to the case, with the technical assignment, then you need to gain information base and very clearly understand what will have to be done and how to do it. After that, finally distribute the work. The search for a solution is a very important stage, and he needs to pay a lot of attention, but, obviously, turn it over as soon as possible. At this stage, you can already unequivocally say whether you have problems in the team, and what problems. If almost no one wants to get the necessary information or cannot, the time is on the alert and take action before it is too late.
Let's understand why this or that person does not participate in the initial stage. Alas, the intuitive “couldn’t come to such a project, except for good people with x, y and z skills,” turns out to be completely wrong.
Yes, it is worthwhile to send in a good way everyone belonging to the categories described above. After the screening took place, if there are not enough developers, you will have to spend time searching for personnel, but you still have it. That is why it is important to conduct a “showdown” immediately.
Of course, the lack of "ballast" or screenings does not guarantee you success completely. I know the team, which had all the great with the composition, but they ended up developing a prototype somehow at the last moment. But I want to clarify why I consider this behavior to increase the chances of survival. The fact is that for me the idleness of the team and the lack of developers were the main problems during the project. Believe me, this does not allow you to work normally. My team was re-equipped, but there were not enough progers. Half did not come at all. We had two people of type 1, the presenter girl was very clever and did everything that depended on her, the other did nothing. Another type 2 comrade pretended to be types 1 and 3 alternately. There was a type 3 man. He was even going to do something, but circumstances and employment did not allow.
And you will not force them to plow, but only spend time trying to start working together, and finish one and a half with working hands on the nose with a deadline. That's why we should try to just protect ourselves from working with such people. Because almost all conflicts and problems within themselves should be regulated only by the team itself. That is the system. There are organizers, each team has a facilitator (the person responsible for communication with the client company) and a non-negative number of consultants (people who help to find the information necessary for research). It is not their responsibility to punish anyone or teach them how to live. There are no pressure levers.
On the issue of registration and the absence of the selection of participants. It is quite obvious that if there was a selection on a competitive basis with verification of basic skills, then most of the problems described would not have arisen, although there would be many drawbacks to this. This procedure is not supposed to change something here is not in our power. What we can do is pick a team before the kick-off by ourselves, as I originally tried. Yes, maybe this is against the concept of the project. Well, then show it to everyone and watch strictly for its observance. I know the case in which she was formally broken. In reality, it had no consequences. Gathering a team of friends or acquaintances, you save yourself from all the above described troubles.
And finally a few words about cases in general. I did not think about it, but the guys noted that the interestingness and complexity of the cases is very different. There is no friend to the taste and color, but the complexity is yes, there are routine such but necessary tasks. So think about what you want from the project. You feel that you don’t have time to make any coffin you are interested in, and you really want a nishtyak - you have to choose: either a coffin or nishtyak.
Good luck!
There is enough general information on the net, so we will not discuss it here. The format and purpose of the project are clear after viewing local and international sites. As a more detailed and vivid acquaintance it is useful to visit the VKontakte group . So, you looked at it and see: a party is being planned, where you choose an applied task that is interesting for you and suitable for a set of skills, register, come, with a bunch of active and smart co-teams (well, other people could not come to such a project) doing something cool, and you may have to buy development or take on the job.
To begin with, since the article is by no means anti-advertising of the project, I note that if you participate to the end and do something within the framework of the task, then you are guaranteed to receive:
')
- A deeper acquaintance with the area in which you worked (you are likely to be taken, even if you are, for example, a programmer programmer, but you need to work with graphics unfamiliar to you).
- You get a valuable teamwork skill.
- You will certainly meet useful people to communicate.
But you certainly noticed that the above mentioned is not all that our first impressions or expectations implied. How everything will be rosy depends on many circumstances. Now I’ll tell you what problems may arise on the way to achieving the goal “I came, decided, made a prototype, was satisfied, got a nishtyak”, and how to try to avoid them.
check in
Already at this stage, if you are unlucky, you can draw conclusions about the possible shortcomings of the system. That is, we think that this is only such a mess, but, alas, a mess happens later.
I was interested in the proger problem, and I thought: aha, I have a good friend, a mathematics student, a programmer and an enthusiast, X and another good friend, a student and programmer Y, we have a good concept of each other’s skills and capabilities, we work well together . Let's collect someone else, let's go and drag. 5 days before the deadline for submission of applications, we climbed to register. It became obvious that the teams were not selected by the students themselves, only after studying the registration form. Opposite a similar case, the suspicious inscription “the case is closed: the command is complete” was already burning.
The next day, all three of them received a letter stating that the registration for the case where we filed the application is already closed, and we are asked to choose another case. We consulted and decided that probably the three of us did not screw up and the registration was open. I have already talked with the organizer for some time, and in response to my next question I received the phrase “If there are a lot of applications for one project, selection is possible.” That is, from the point of view of a sensible person, it seems to me that this phrase means “many applications are submitted, and then somehow the procedure for selecting the right candidates is carried out.” So, if the registration for a case before the deadline can somehow be closed, then the appropriate selection has already been carried out, that is, a group of people submitted applications with a set of skills that the company considers ideal. Nothing was written about such a mechanism, the question “how do we know if we got into the case or not?” I was told that everyone will know everything at the Kick-off meeting (the first meeting of all participants). It means that this is some kind of misunderstanding and it is worth writing dummies.
I was told that this seems to be really something strange, and I just need to come and see there. There are no guarantees that we will not be told, “guys, I'm sorry, there were already a lot of us here, you are on the way,” they did not give us, they just said that you can go to a meeting somewhere in another case. But in general, we were interested in precisely the task for the solution of which we submitted an application. Moreover, it was not guaranteed that we could work together, because it was said “to demonstratively organize participation in a case with friends is not encouraged by the rules of Demola”, which none of the participants had seen during the entire project. For some reason, this did not suit us, and as a result X and Y scored on this strange event.
Kick-off
Here it became clear to me why the organizer could not explain anything. But there are simply no clear means of resolving situations where a lot of applications are being submitted to places in one case, or if there is no such thing. In addition to “well, this did not have enough space - well, walk around with other teams, maybe you need someone” and “there are a lot of us here - let's agree on who will leave here.” I suppose that those who closed the registration, seeing that a lot of people came running, simply did not know what to do, and panickedly wrote “the team is complete”. There were cases when, after such an action, the required number of people did not come to the Kick-off, and they had to drag people from other cases or out of thin air into the case, or close them altogether.
In particular, this whole parsley with registration creates much more serious problems, which will be clear further. In the meantime, it is appropriate to say that if you understand well exactly where you want, do not slow down and register as early as possible.
Meet the team and the first stages of work
You are introduced to the case, with the technical assignment, then you need to gain information base and very clearly understand what will have to be done and how to do it. After that, finally distribute the work. The search for a solution is a very important stage, and he needs to pay a lot of attention, but, obviously, turn it over as soon as possible. At this stage, you can already unequivocally say whether you have problems in the team, and what problems. If almost no one wants to get the necessary information or cannot, the time is on the alert and take action before it is too late.
Let's understand why this or that person does not participate in the initial stage. Alas, the intuitive “couldn’t come to such a project, except for good people with x, y and z skills,” turns out to be completely wrong.
- The man came to the team completely without any necessary skills or with the necessary, but not related to the development. Such people are necessary, but their maximum can be two: a designer (and only if he really needs a team) and a marketer (he is also a presenter).
- The man does not want to do anything.
- A person is doing well, he knows something and knows how, but his priorities are completely different. What to do with such a friend is not at all clear and there is nothing to advise. By bitter experience, prepare for the worst.
Yes, it is worthwhile to send in a good way everyone belonging to the categories described above. After the screening took place, if there are not enough developers, you will have to spend time searching for personnel, but you still have it. That is why it is important to conduct a “showdown” immediately.
Of course, the lack of "ballast" or screenings does not guarantee you success completely. I know the team, which had all the great with the composition, but they ended up developing a prototype somehow at the last moment. But I want to clarify why I consider this behavior to increase the chances of survival. The fact is that for me the idleness of the team and the lack of developers were the main problems during the project. Believe me, this does not allow you to work normally. My team was re-equipped, but there were not enough progers. Half did not come at all. We had two people of type 1, the presenter girl was very clever and did everything that depended on her, the other did nothing. Another type 2 comrade pretended to be types 1 and 3 alternately. There was a type 3 man. He was even going to do something, but circumstances and employment did not allow.
And you will not force them to plow, but only spend time trying to start working together, and finish one and a half with working hands on the nose with a deadline. That's why we should try to just protect ourselves from working with such people. Because almost all conflicts and problems within themselves should be regulated only by the team itself. That is the system. There are organizers, each team has a facilitator (the person responsible for communication with the client company) and a non-negative number of consultants (people who help to find the information necessary for research). It is not their responsibility to punish anyone or teach them how to live. There are no pressure levers.
On the issue of registration and the absence of the selection of participants. It is quite obvious that if there was a selection on a competitive basis with verification of basic skills, then most of the problems described would not have arisen, although there would be many drawbacks to this. This procedure is not supposed to change something here is not in our power. What we can do is pick a team before the kick-off by ourselves, as I originally tried. Yes, maybe this is against the concept of the project. Well, then show it to everyone and watch strictly for its observance. I know the case in which she was formally broken. In reality, it had no consequences. Gathering a team of friends or acquaintances, you save yourself from all the above described troubles.
Useful stuff
- Where does the consultant come from who should help you carry out the educational program? I have not heard about the problems, but I do not know at all. Probably should attend to this as quickly as possible.
- Demola provides space for collaboration. Coworking in St. Petersburg is bright and comfortable. There is, however, one small drawback: above it is a nightclub. Starting hours with eight lovers of heavy music and dislike of distracting noises, it becomes difficult to work there. When it was filmed, they didn’t think that people had a lot of couples, and they could work more often only in the evening. You have to take this into account and plan your work schedule accordingly.
I was also told that in the first month of the first session of work it was impossible to get into the promised room with free access. If this is important to you, you should clarify everything. - When I told one good friend about what was happening in my team, she told me about it . Plus, the possible principle of "not participating in k sprints in a row - I'm sorry, not a fighter." Maybe this will solve the problem of dropping out people automatically.
And finally a few words about cases in general. I did not think about it, but the guys noted that the interestingness and complexity of the cases is very different. There is no friend to the taste and color, but the complexity is yes, there are routine such but necessary tasks. So think about what you want from the project. You feel that you don’t have time to make any coffin you are interested in, and you really want a nishtyak - you have to choose: either a coffin or nishtyak.
Good luck!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/286190/
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