2017 · Web viewDallas GiveCamp: Developer Handbook Page 15 2017 GiveCamp Developer Handbook Contents 2017 GiveCamp1 Developer Handbook2 Introduction3! The Most Important thing to

LAST MODIFIED ON: 9/4/2017

Dallas GiveCamp: Developer Handbook

2017 GiveCamp

Developer HandbookPage 1



Contents2017 GiveCamp 1

Developer Handbook 2Introduction 3! The Most Important thing to remember 3General GiveCamp Info 3Suggested Timeline 4Getting Yourself Ready 5

Tips on preparing for GiveCamp 5Working with the Charity 7

Work with your assigned Project manager: 7Working with your Team 8Working the Weekend 8

Outline of developer responsibilities at GiveCamp 9Tech Jedi 9Manage the following during the actual weekend 9Common challenges and how to prepare for them 10Tips and Tricks for working with your team 10

Working with the Technology 11Tips and Tricks for working with technology 11Lesson learned from past GiveCamps 11

Tech Details 12When it’s over 13

Appendix A 14Appendix B: Long Form Application 16Appendix C COMMON FAQ 19

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IntroductionWelcome Developers to GiveCamp 2017! GiveCamp is an extraordinary event and a great opportunity to help Charities that give so much to our community. This event takes a dedicated effort of planning and leadership from everyone. This handbook contains helpful tips and tricks to ensure we have a successful event. Thank you for your support, GiveCamp would not be possible without your help!!

! The Most Important thing to rememberIf you take nothing else away from this document, remember this:

GiveCamp Rule #1: GiveCamp is a REALLY SHORT weekend! The more you can plan and prepare, the better the weekend will go. Be patient and over communicate before implementing to better define what will be accomplished.

General GiveCamp Info1. This is a living document check for updates at

http://dallasGiveCamp.org/developer-handbook 2. Email questions to [email protected]. Assignment to a Charity will be determined prior to GiveCamp weekend. This

will be communicated out by one of the GiveCamp leads.4. Please do not solicit the Charities for additional work outside of

GiveCamp for website planning, consulting, etc.5. Key Dates:

▪ 9/6/2017 Dev and PM Boot camp - 6PM to 7:30PM▪ 10/11/2017 Kickoff – 6PM to 7:30PM▪ 10/20/2017 Check-in 5PM to 6PM. Kickoff 6PM▪ 10/22/2017 End of GiveCamp - 4PM

6. Where: nThrive, 5543 Legacy Drive , Plano TX 75024

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Suggested Timeline⇒ Wednesday (Sept 6th) – Dev and PM Bootcamp: Learning session on the ins

and out of GiveCamp whether you are a returning volunteer or new. It’s a great opportunity to learn about the charities that we will be helping this year as well as an overview of the technology we will be using.

⇒ T-2 weeks Friday (Oct 6th) – Lead developer, UX, BA, and Tech Jedi will review requirements, scope and potential technologies to finalization on technology choice and agreement of attainable scope. Ask questions and guide the PM on how to best support you during the actual weekend.

⇒ Wednesday (Oct 11th) – Kickoff, meet your team, review the overall scope of the project and bring your list of technical skills with level of expertise. All team members and charity are required to meet.

⇒ T-1 week Friday (Oct 13th) – All team members required. Call to review scope, technology, and ask for individual ownership of tasks. PM should set up tracking & communication tools, if applicable. Lead Dev and PM should coordinate set up of production environments with Tech Jedi. Identify your skills needed and start reviewing technology to be used. If you are missing something, ask your PM or Tech Jedi for help. Most importantly, detail what needs to be accomplished in a User Story format to drive to clarity of goal and expectation.

⇒ T-1 days Thursday (Oct 19th) – Team touch base to ensure everybody is ready for Friday night. Communicate any last minute updates from the charity.

⇒ Friday Night (Oct 20th) – Start of GiveCamp⇒ Sunday (Oct 22nd) – 12AM Code Complete – 2PM Email presentation. This is a team effort that the PM will present. – 1PM App Presentation

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Getting Yourself ReadyThe first step to starting a successful GiveCamp weekend is getting yourself prepared. It is a valuable service you are providing, and it falls on you to make sure all the donated time and resources are used in the most efficient way possible, in the limited time you have access to them.It is hard work you can accomplish and can be very rewarding.Start by getting yourself prepared. The charities have already done a lot of work getting their submissions ready. The GiveCamp staff has spent a lot of time and effort refining the tools and resources we have to make you successful. Spend time reviewing any and all artifacts BEFORE reaching out with questions or concerns to save time and effort.

! STOP: Before reading any further, get your Charities Long Form Application out and review it.As you read, pay careful attention to what is to be accomplished, and what is being asked for. This will form the basis for your planning and help ensure you can deliver exactly what the charity needs, so they can do more for the community.

Tips on preparing for GiveCamp● Review your Charity’s information, be familiar with their mission, and what

they are expecting to get at the end of GiveCamp.● Review your Charities long form, and be familiar with their mission, and what

they are specifically expecting to get at the end of GiveCamp. NOTE: Be aware that as the PM and team work with the charity requirements might change from what was originally requested in the long form application

● Help your PM get all tasks laid out, as much as you can get set up do beforehand. If you don’t, you could waste a day on it. Your PM should start planning 4 weeks prior to event. Key is to plan in advance, the pace is fast.

● Identify what features/user stories/behaviors are being requested. Try to ensure that clearly defined user roles and acceptance criteria/requirements are defined. Consider reviewing or creating “cheap” mockups to better communicate the need/want and potential implementation.

● If you are new to the technology you are being asked to use, research online as much as you can beforehand, and try to find someone at GiveCamp that has experience.

● Do a dry run of as much stuff as possible beforehand. If you are using a database, get the database up and running early. If you are using a third-party product, like WordPress, make sure you have all of the required install

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media and any plug-ins or patches, etc. Consider free trials to learning sites like PluralSight to get up to speed.

● Try to honestly identify what you can accomplish from the list of prioritized needs that fit your skill set, so the PM can better estimate and communicate what most likely will be accomplished.

● Identify potential technology needs. Identify dependencies and try to resolve them. Know where source control may be, locations/URLs of artifacts, logins, etc. If possible, test out your tools or processes.

● Try to login to any systems needed before GiveCamp to ensure access.● Pull anything needed local beforehand so that bandwidth is not an issue

during GiveCamp.● Get to know your team and make sure the team knows you. Understanding

everyone’s personality, communication protocols, and experience will help you work together in a small area under high pressure. Consider how your actions or words may affect others beforehand. For example, turning music up and talking on speaker phone may drive your teammates crazy. Try to keep your area clean as well. Leaving trash around can build up and become a drag. Be a leader and support your teammates.

● Understand what roles each team mate is fulfilling for the project. Your team’s PM will be one of the most important.

● Identify and communicate your travel time to your team. Share phone numbers with teammates in case an emergency occurs and GiveCamp is closer to you than another support. Try not to drive on little sleep or car pool if possible. Let your team know if you will be out during GiveCamp and for how long in order for the team to plan.

● If you have concerns about the scope, or design- communicate concerns to your team to get those resolved before the weekend.

● Work as a TEAM!!

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Working with the Charity You want a chance to be a hero in real life. Well this is it.You are about to achieve something your charity can only dream of. They may make amazing things happen in your community, and do things with their life that you would never be able to make the sacrifice to do. You are going to be performing a potentially course altering project that will impact the trajectory of their story from this point forward. That is awesome.To work with them effectively there are two things you will need to focus on.

1. The Relationship. Don’t sell this short. Make sure you get to know them and their mission. They are passionate about it, and you should make sure you develop some real passion about it as well. Someone you know may come to depend upon their services in the near future. Take time with them and make sure you understand what they need and want.

2. The Scope. This is always the biggest challenge. Keeping the scope manageable, and communicating that clearly. They won’t know what is possible, and what they see as valuable often will not have a direct correlation to what is hard or easy. They may get a lot of value out of a simple change, and may only get a small bump from something that is very hard to do. But remember this: Disappointment isn’t possible without first having incorrect expectations. Whatever scope you commit to delivering, make sure your charity has correct expectations all the way along. Don’t over commit, we only have 1 weekend.

Work with your assigned Project manager:● Meet with Project Manager prior to GiveCamp: gather requirements and have

a clear understanding of the plan prior to GiveCamp weekend. Define as much website content as possible.

● Work with the PMs to identify the scope you know you can deliver. Make sure the focus is on the “must have” before the “optional” items are addressed.

● Know when and how long they will be onsite during the weekend.● Utilize the PM assigned to your project to communicate to the charity rep in

case you have an urgent need for information or clarification.● If possible, attend team meetings prior to GiveCamp. The PMs will schedule.

Let them know your availability.

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Working with your TeamYour time donation and being away from friends and family to complete strangers for a good cause is more than awesome. You are greatly appreciated

1. Manage the tasks assigned to you. If you have a dependency on a task being worked on by another team member, communicate your timeline. Make sure you have a clear understanding of what is being delivered and the technology being used. The timeline for GiveCamp is very compressed, and if you are pulling late nights’ energy can wane and emotions flare up.

2. Your PM can clear up questions and clear roadblocks. Invariably there will be questions, debates, and issues with technology. Be sure to rely on your PM for this, so you can remain heads down on your work and having enough time is critical.

Working the WeekendShowtime. The GiveCamp weekend is where all your hard work and preparation will pay off. It will seem crazy at times, and when you explain it to people they may not get it. But it will be a memorable weekend and if done right will move the world towards being a better place. Some important things to keep in mind:The schedule. That is really it. Make sure you are on target, and if you are not, let somebody know right away. You have to make things happen fast if anything starts trending the wrong way.

● Be ready to hit the ground running, build databases, install WordPress, and make sure IIS is working.

● Know when food is going to be served and plan out tasks and breaks accordingly.

● Have regularly planned status updates, this will vary by team, but if you sense a lull, have a team huddle.

● Start deploying code as soon as possible.● Test and deliver as you go, work with your team on how that will work.● Try to have all the code done before the end of Saturday.● Use Sunday for fighting bugs, moving content, tweaking the UI, training the

charity, and getting the summary deck ready.

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! But above all STAY ON SCHEDULE.Outline of developer responsibilities at GiveCamp

● Do what is best for the charity● Maintainability and supportability are key● Due to time constraints a minimal viable product is appropriate with

technology at hand ● Reuse well known, tested libraries and frameworks as much as possible● Technology that is used during GiveCamp weekend needs to be simple

enough for the charities to admin after GiveCamp weekend. ● Keep it simple - No resume building work!● Watch what you use - Be careful not to violate any copyrights● Test all the tools before the weekend● Attend pre-meetings as your schedule allows. If you miss any please reach

out to your team lead for an update.● Commit! - Your team and assigned charity is relying on you● Complete your assigned tasks - Help others!

Tech Jedi● Each team will be assigned a Tech Jedi● This resource has years’ worth of experience in technology and GiveCamp.

They are here to help you with technical issues, for any escalations that you, the developer, may have.

● If your assigned Jedi is not readily available, below is a list of the entire team that you can utilize as or whe

Manage the following during the actual weekend● Participate in your team’s progress checks ● Tasks- White Board, post-its, AgileZen; pre-defined for the most part based

on prep● Work with your PM & Charity rep when you have questions about what a

requirement is asking or if your implementation meets the requirement. ● Risk management- use something you are familiar with and comfortable

with. Track on whiteboards, or post-its● Timeframe- Stick to a defined scope and understood what can’t be

accomplished. Think Minimal viable product, then enhance. Be on the lookout for other solutions that could implement most of the requirement but be easier to build/maintain. For example, your charity might ask for something and a WordPress plugin might already exist that most of what they are asking for. However, to give them the 100% solution you would need

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to write a bunch of code. The existing plugin might be a better route because it is better documented and supported longer term then custom code you would write.

● Testing- Developers and Charity rep should test as work is completed● Communications- deliver clear expectations ● Escalations- Reach out to GiveCamp Organizers & Tech Jedis as needed.

Don’t waste a lot of time spinning your wheels.● Coordination- huddle and use whiteboard● Delivery- Don’t wait to Sunday afternoon to do one big bang push. You don’t

want to find out Sunday afternoon that you are missing something and cannot deploy.

Common challenges and how to prepare for them

● Bandwidth- Wi-Fi gets overloaded and can't handle workload from the teams. First day- everyone syncing and loading. At the end- also everyone is trying to copy web pages. Plan ahead.

● Keep it simple – Remember that the charity is going to need to own this project starting Monday and you have a very limited time and resources to get the project done. Do you best to keep the developers focused on the “minimal viable product” before starting any “cool ideas” or nice to haves.

Tips and Tricks for working with your team● Expect struggles and challenges from yourself, technology and teammates.

It’s easier to deal with issues when you know they are sure to come.● Take breaks when you need in order to stay focused on delivery. Try to plan

your breaks if possible and know when lunch and dinner occurs. ● Time box your work to help achieve each step toward the goal. ● If possible, look at doing a very simple task that involves as many

layers/levels to ensure the process of delivering is established. Do not try to build something large and push through. Small and simple will lay the foundation for large and complex.

● If you have a dependency on a task being worked on by another team member, communicate your timeline.

● If you are asked to track progress, understand the tool and when to update. It would better to over communicate given the short amount of time. The sooner an issue is brought to the table the sooner it can be resolved.

● Use your team’s expertise and experience if you hit a road block. Your PM can clear up questions and clear roadblocks. Invariably there will be questions, debates, and issues with technology. Be sure to rely on your PM

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for this, so you can remain heads down on your work and having enough time is critical.

Working with the TechnologyObviously the success or failure of your weekend will depend largely on you and your team’s ability to get the technology the charity needs, acquired, deployed, configured, and populated with correct content. Many GiveCamp projects involve some level of data migration or content remastering. Rarely do they come to GiveCamp with NO website or email.We will use a few technologies' during the weekend. The project manager will have all needed codes for the tech leads to set up prior to the weekend.

• GiveCamp staff will install production for any team that needs Everleap.

• If you do receive an install code, please keep in mind this is only for charity use only.

• If your team is using Everleap please include- Everleap image on their site and verbiage “hosted by Everleap”. Link back to Everleap from the image and/or verbiage.

• Please be sure to add GiveCamp logo and a line back to GiveCamp.

Tips and Tricks for working with technology● Technology is much easier to deal with when you have a small, clearly

defined objective. Make sure you have a plan then work your tasks. Defining user stories and acceptance criteria beforehand will help you deliver more successfully.

● Take backups if possible of any and all systems your team may change.● Make sure you can access everything you need to. Murphy (aka Murphy’s

Law) will be waiting for you especially when you are low on patience.● Try to build and deploy, if applicable, without changes to ensure your

DevOps/delivery process is in order before adding changes.● Small chunks of work are easier to deal with than large chunks of work. Test

and deploy often to ensure quality and give more time to productivity than fixing.

● Try to stay loosely coupled especially for web links or configurations that may change if the system is deployed somewhere else.

● Don’t feel like it has to be perfect. You may want to have separation of concerns, but given the amount of time to deliver, you may put business

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rules in the UI, etc. Delivering the feature technically “dirty” may be good enough. Of course, always strive to do what is right for the charity. A working solution is valued over an awesome solution that never is finished.

Lesson learned from past GiveCamps● Use Relative URLS for local links to images, documents and pages, as this will

ensure that nothing is lost when the DNS transfer happens ● Make sure Website available and domain temp-name set up. Complete DNS

transfer after the charity has approved the new website. Use Relative URLS for local links to images, documents and pages, as this will ensure that DNS changes do NOT impact other services registered to the charities domain, like email. When in doubt ask for assistance from the Tech Jedis if you have any questions.

● Make sure all access is in, have admin and DB access. DB should be enabled and running.

● Group requirements by the section (page) of the website that they belong on, this will make it easier to divide the work between the team members. Notify event staff if you feel your team is understaffed

● Upfront training is available on the technology being used.

Tech DetailsMost of the charities need help with Content Management Systems (aka website they can manage without being a developer) in order to provide online information to the world about them. Some charities are moving to CRM, and fewer have deeper custom development or other needs. Remember to make sure; if possible, you back up existing work before making changes.

1. Content Management System (CMS) – Most charities requirements are for a basic brochure type website (home, about us, contact us, etc.). Additionally, one of our main goals of GiveCamp is to leave the charity with something they can maintain without the help of a developer. To that end in many cases we want to implement a CMS for them. There are many CMS’s available; however we strongly recommend using WordPress, unless the charity has a specific reason not to. We recommend this because WordPress has thousands of plugins, themes, etc. available that will greatly speed your development time. WordPress also provides an easy to use web interface so that the charity can maintain the site on an ongoing basis.

o WordPress is very easy to use. If you have a plan and clear goal, implementation should be much easier.

o WordPress will demand an admin type user to be able to update themes, add plugins, set configurations, etc. The WordPress website

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has editing tools built into the browser, so other development tools are not necessary. Deployments can be as simple as clicking a button to change the content online without a deployment process.

o There are many plugins for WordPress that most likely cover the same pattern of need by your charity. You may need to review the features needed and make a list of plugins available with tradeoffs to review with the team, PM, and/or charity.

o Depending on your theme choice, and the content you put in it, WordPress can produce a very nice mobile ready website as well as a website that works well on a full browser

o Consider documenting how certain patterns are implemented as a way to empower the charity to take ownership and change their own content after GiveCamp. For Example: how do they modify the content on a page, add a blog post, add a new event.

2.

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3. Custom Dev – This is a wide range and deep subject. There may be a developer environment setup script or all tools may be provided on a virtual machine. Custom development may be in .Net or Java, in or out of the cloud, with or without a database, and may or may not include automated support like unit testing. Most likely source control systems are used as well as a build and deploy process. This area demands experienced individuals with a well-defined process and is typically not something that the charity can maintain after the GiveCamp Weekend is over.

4. Team Communication – A common automated communication tool like Slack will be used. It is a great way to communicate and document issues allowing you to move on to other things.

What is Slack▪ Slack , the team messaging app that used channels. It’s chat

room for your company, organization or group. Your team’s Slack is divided up into smaller ‘channels’ for group discussion, made up of teams, and interests.

Get the App▪ Download Slack apps for iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac

https://slack.com/downloads .

How to Join▪ Click Join team in the email invitation from GiveCamp 2017 to

join GiveCamp 2017 Slack team.▪ Onboarding onto Slack:

https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/217626328-Onboarding-checklist-for-new-users

▪ Slack Guide: https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/categories/202622877-Slack-Guides

▪ Basics and shortcuts: https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/217626358-Cheat-sheet-for-basics-and-shortcuts

When it’s overYour PM will be putting together a presentation of your team’s work. NOTE: Do take before and after photos and screenshots (if applicable) of your work (i.e. site updates, etc.…). Consider asking along the way if something you have or have delivered may be worth adding to the presentation. Your Monday after

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GiveCamp could be a drastic change. Consider trying to schedule downtime Sunday night to easy back into the real world.

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Appendix AMisc. Resources

1. AgileZen (based on availability)o Email [email protected] the name of your charity and we

will create you an account. You will then need to invite the rest of your team.

2. Balsamiq (based on availability)o We recommend using the 30 day trail. We will not have any activation

codes this year.3. Elegant Themes

o Email [email protected] the name of your charity and what theme you would like to use and we will send you a copy. Note: We recommend the Divi Theme.

4. Rocket Theme for Joomla (based on availability)o Pick what your charity needs from the website

http://www.rockettheme.com o Email you selection to [email protected] and he will get you the

theme5. Pluralsight

o They offer a free 10 day trial, this is good if members of your team need to brush up on some new technologies (go to the home page and click on “free trial” - https://www.pluralsight.com

6. StudioPress/CopyBlogger – is offering a StudioPress membership which includes a "premium" theme (http://my.studiopress.com/themes), tutorials, and access to customer support (http://my.studiopress.com) for each charity that would like to take advantage of it.

o You need to email Chris ([email protected]) the name of your charity before Oct 18th and he will setup the account for you.

7. CiviCRM – OpenSource CRM Plugin for many CMS’s, More info ato https://civicrm.org/what/whatiscivicrm o

http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Installation+and+Upgrades

8. Sites With Free Stock Photoso http://www.dallasgivecamp.org/stock-photo-resources/ o DISCLAIMER: All content and images used at the event must be

approved for use by the charity as the charity will ultimately be liable if copy written work is used inappropriately

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Appendix B: Long Form ApplicationONLINE WORK PLANWork through these questions with your charity to help you begin defining the scope of your project. SITE DESIGN1. Overall Tone: What’s your desired overall tone for the site? Authoritative? Fun?

Quirky? Edgy? Youthful? Whatever tone you choose should connect to the audiences you’ve identified in the previous section.

2. Look and Feel: Colors, design themes, graphics?3. Organization Specs (if applicable for brand continuity): Logos, specific

fonts, colors?4. Web Sites You Love: From a visual design perspective, list a few web sites

that work for you. Be specific about what you like – Colors? Shapes? Spaciousness? Images?

5. Overall Design: Web Sites You Hate Again, from a design perspective, what sites really do not work for you, and why.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF AUDIENCEWhen you’re building a web site, the technical capacity of your audience will largely influence your development tools and the final site structure. If you’re audience consists of advanced users with the latest technology, that’s one thing. However, if your audience consists primarily of folks who rarely use the Internet and certainly don’t have fast connections, that’s also important to know up front.1. Connection Speed: Broadband or dial-up? Specify type of mobile devices.2. Plug-Ins: Are your users tech savvy enough to have the Flash or Real Player

plug-ins (for multimedia)?3. Technical Expertise: How savvy is your audience? Are they familiar with

Internet conventions? How much hand holding will be needed?4. Disabilities: Important and usually not addressed. Blind? Color blind? Physical

disabilities? All are important considerations. If you’re building a site that may be used with voice activated software, for example, you will need to accommodate this.

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MAINTENANCEConsider the maintenance requirements for your web site at the BEGINNING of the development process. This will save you much heartache in the long run. Identify your resources and build what you can afford to maintain. You may also consider investing in infrastructure that allows for easy maintenance by non-technical administrators.1. Who?: Who will be maintaining your site? Someone in house? A contractor? If

you know that someone who barely understands HTML will most likely be the designated maintenance person for your site, the site structure and design should allow for easy maintenance.

2. What?: Graphics? Plain text? Streaming media?3. How Much?: Are you uploading 100 pages of new content a day, or 2 pages a

week? You will need to develop the appropriate structures to accommodate your maintenance needs.

4. How Often?: Are you updating content once a week or 3 times a day?Database/BI Project Application:1. Please Provide an Example in a Spreadsheet (Excel, Google Sheets Etc.) of what

a report or report tables may look like.2. Data Input

a. Will you need to input the information directly into the database?b. Will your client input the information through a Website?c. Will you need to store documents in your database (Pictures, Files)

3. Database Schema Designa. Do you have lists of customers / donors / donations / inventory etc.?b. Do you have email address lists?c. Do you need to maintain a history of transactions?d. Can you provide a Workflow document?

i. What are the steps required for the information to be stored, what information is gathered at each step?

4. Database Security / Disqualificationa. Do you need to store Credit Card information?b. Do you need to store any PII type information? (Personal Identity

Information, Social Security / Driver License)c. Do you need to store medical information?

5. Existing Database Questionsa. What Database Technology does your charity use?

i. Examples: Sql Server / MySql / Oracleii. How will the volunteer access the Database?

1. Provide Steps.2. Are your reports exported from an on Screen Grid to Excel

or .CSV (Comma Separated Values?)6. Do you access your Database through a Web-site or web page?7. Application Platform Technology?

a. Joomlab. .Net Nuke

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c. Etc.8. Application Hosting Provider?9. How do you get to your current Database / Screens / Reports / Exports?

a. (Example: Click on my Webpage -> Click Reports -> Choose Dates -> Click get Reports

10.What Tools / Applications do you use to get to your database? a. (Sql Developer, Excel, Access, Google)

11.How many tables are in your database? 12.What kinds of reports are you currently getting out of your database?13.Is your Database hosted Externally?/Internally? 14.Do you know what technology your Database is written in?

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Appendix CCOMMON FAQ

I want to volunteer, but this will be my first time. What kind of support will there be?Throughout the whole experience you will have support from the event staff and your team. A coordinator will be assigned to your team to make introductions to teammates and the charity. We will provide information prior to the weekend: charity details, scope involved, how to set-up, PM and Developer handbooks. The weekend of, you will be supported by not only the event staff but by PM and Tech Jedi’s. Our Tech Jedi’s' are experienced technologists with GiveCamp experience that will be on hand to help project teams during the event. They will be the escalation point for technical questions or issues.

How much time will be involved?Prior to the weekend we do ask the volunteers attend the kickoff and related boot camps (approx. 2 hours commitment per event). We will have a charity introduction meeting and your team will have several meetings prior to the weekend event to plan for the project. Project managers do have about three weeks of planning with a few hours dedicated each of the weeks to coordinate and document tasks.

How large are the teams?This is dependent upon the size of scope and the complexity or the project. Teams have been anywhere from 4-9 people. The team generally consists of a project manager, BA, UX, tech lead, developers.

What if work is incomplete?Charities will have the opportunity to reapply for GiveCamp the following year to continue any remaining development or net new development they may have on their development roadmap.

How are volunteers picked for charities?During the PM/Dev bootcamp, project managers are able to submit which project are their top three. For developers and UX, we assess skill level, prior GiveCamp experience and technology knowledge as related to the scope of the project when assigning teams. Ultimately, we staff to support the charity project and not all volunteer preferences can be met.

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What type of training will be available?Handbooks will be available for PMs and developers to guide them through the GiveCamp experience. As for in-person trainings, there will only be a PM/Dev bootcamp. Staff will be onsite to support any needs that come up that weekend.While we do not provide technical training on WordPress or other technologies, we should be selecting technologies that are well documented and where there are many available training resources, like Pluralsight.

How involved will we be with the charity?Each Charity will have an assigned GiveCamp staff member that will coordinate an initial meeting between the charity and team members. There will be some pre-work prior to the weekend to make sure teams are prepared to deliver. After the initial meeting, the project manager and tech lead will set up a couple sessions to determine the requirements, scope and walk through the agreed delivery with the charity. During the weekend itself, the director or a lead from the charity will be present the entire weekend for questions and confirmation as teams iteratively test their development.After the GiveCamp weekend there is no expectation that you will continue to support the charity. However, we have had many GiveCamp volunteers build great long term relationships and continue to volunteer with the charities after the event.

Three days seems short to complete a project. How do you determine what the work will be?During intake the projects go through two reviews for a feasibility assessment to determine the likelihood of finishing the project over the 3 day weekend. Tech lead volunteers discuss as a team what is achievable and that is brought back to the charities for clarification and agreement. Once project are assigned and the teams can get involved, the project managers will set up one or two requirements discussions with the charities where the teams can get a better understanding for what can be delivered

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Documents

2017 · Web viewDallas GiveCamp: Developer Handbook Page 15 2017 GiveCamp Developer Handbook Contents 2017 GiveCamp1 Developer Handbook2 Introduction3! The Most Important thing to