Update: I’ve created a list of tasks using Ryan Lowe’s agile project management application: Lighterest. We’ll use this to prioritize and sort through tasks that we’ll work on during the project night, and define what tasks can be done later or put aside. I order to see and collaborate on these tasks you’ll need to sign up to Lighterest, then send me an email at chrisjschmitt[at]gmail[dot]com and I’ll share it with you.  I’ll be adding additional tasks over the next week or so.

Next Thursday at The Code Factory is TeamCamp Project Night.  This is our chance to put everything we’ve leaned at TeamCamp over the last 6 months into practice.  We’re going to work on developing a web application from the ground up.  Please register for this event so we have an idea of the numbers that will be attending.

At the last TeamCamp meeting we decided it would be fun to work on the Twitter-based event management system, Twigather,  that we talked about a few weeks ago.  Twigather was spawned out of the now famous 2009 Ottawa Geek BBQ.   Throughout the planning process for the BBQ it became clear that Twitter was a great way to spread the word.   While EventBright was used to plan the BBQ we think the Ottawa Tech community can come up with something better (and less costly) for these kinds of events.

Who are we looking for and why should you come?

We’re looking for experienced web designers, coders, marketers, project managers, business planners, entrepreneurs - anyone who thinks they can help.  This is a great opportunity to get involved in designing a service from scratch – you know how much fun that can be.  And it’s a great opportunity for folks that want to learn about building a service from scratch.  Everyone is welcome, whether your a watcher or a doer.  The only thing we ask is that you review the TeamCamp Participation Agreement and contribute to The Code Factory cookie jar at the end of the night.  You come, I’ll provide the pizza.

So what are we going to do on project night?

While not “set in stone” here’s my thoughts on how the night will unfold:

6pm-7pm – Define the service: What will it do? What problem does it solve? What makes the service unique?  Decide what teams to breakout into, e.g. Design, Code, Business planning, Marketing

7pm-8:30pm – breakout into teams as above

8:30pm-9:30pm- Pizza, Team presentations – general discussion

9:30pm-10:00pm – To Do list and Action plan

So that we have an idea who’s coming to TeamCamp Project night please register here.  Unfortunately Twigather is not quite operational so I’m using EventBright to manage this event

To get everyone thinking, here’s the presentation I gave a few weeks ago on Twigather.

Where do we go after Project Night:  found a startup, keep meeting informally, move on to something bigger and brighter?  It’s up to you.  You decide.

Will this service make a million bucks? Very doubtful, but why not have fun trying?

Project night is something new for TeamCamp and we plan to have more of them.  If you have ideas, comments, suggestion please feel free to post them here.  Or if you prefer email me at chrisjschmitt[at]gmail[dot]com.

- Chris