Hack your path
Hackathons are the latest means of tackling a problem that needs solution and can be used as the right platform for an engineering graduate to apply his/her knowledge to create impactful means of eradicating the setbacks.
The first and most important phase of the Hackathon is the ‘Ideation phase’.
As the name suggests, this phase can be summarized as the part of the cycle, where the team selects the problem they want to work on and then start the process. The main aim of this phase is to arrive at a practically feasible and effective solution to the selected issue which will be adapted.
There are few very basic steps that need to be followed to attain the said goal.
1. Selection of problem statement.
2. Identification and researching of the current solutions in use.
3. Improvising/updates required to the current solution.
4. Finalizing the best solution based on the practical application and effectiveness.
The detailed explanation of the steps is mentioned below.
1. Selection of problem statement:
The selection of the right problem you will be interested to work on, is really an important task. You need to be passionate and interested to work on the domain that the problem addresses. This involves checking the compatibility of the technical skills that you have, with the application that the solution might need. For instance, a computer science graduate would be more inclined towards taking up the problem statement that can use more of the coding and software skills rather than the hardware part.
However, it is very important to understand the fact that any solution will not always be dependent on only one branch of specialization and teams usually have people from different technical skills coming together so that the selected solution can have a combination of multiple idea types. Be mindful of the fact that combining with people from different branches can enhance the solution by combining the various technical solutions that the team can put together.
2. Identification and researching of the current solutions in use:
This is the next phase, where the team spends time to check and analyse the solutions that are being used currently to tackle the issue. Do remember that the statements that you select will not always be the unsolved mysteries, but can also contain issues that do have solutions, but the methods currently being used might not be the most cost effective or efficient solutions. In this part of the solution research, you need to identify the pros and cons of the systems being used and try to make the solutions better by removing the disadvantages and enhancing the current advantages.
In case if you encounter a statement that doesn’t have a active solution and people are using some make-shift way to get around the same, you will need to devise the solution that can replace the make-shift solution with a more technically adept method that will make the life better and easier.
So try and understand if the problem that you are trying to solve needs a solution from the scratch or if it needs a improvisation to the current method that is being employed.
3. Improvising/updates required to the current solution:
Once you know the kind of solution that you are planning from the previous step, you will need to find out the aspect or the problem with the current solution that you want to minimize or remove. This will need you to plan the solution that you want to implement and check if the system will be better than the current one after that. You have to consider all the impacts that your solution might bring and ensure that it doesn’t have any issues like very high cost of implementation. Also, the solution must not create any issues with some other part of the current method. For instance, replacing diesel locomotives with electric ones for better fuel efficiency must not force you to change the entire infrastructure because your locomotive works on some technology that needs to be installed from the scratch. This will only increase the implementation costs even higher than the current because you need to install new hardware which is very costly.
The bottom line of this phase is to ensure that the solution can only make things better and doesn’t make you shell out huge amount just to make system efficient by some very small value.
Also, keep in mind that you can come up with multiple solutions that you can use and it will ensure better chances of applicability.
4. Finalizing the best solution based on the practical application and effectiveness.
This is the final part of the ideation phase, where you fix on the solution you want to carry further and implement in the next phase. This step involves the team to agree to the final solution from the set of solution(s) that you have achieved in the previous step. The team needs to plan the solution and check the roles and responsibilities that the team members will address/complete in the prototyping phase. The team needs to plan the course of action for the next phase. Ensure that you submit the best solutions and have confidence of the solution that you want to carry forward. Always investigate properly, to see that the solution planned is feasible and you must be able to answer any questions that are put up about the various features that your solution carries.
This is all about the Ideation phase and we will send the next blog post soon about the prototyping phase as well. Keep looking out for updates and let us know if you have any queries about the steps still.