Creating Plan B
World is harsh, plans fail. So create plans for when your plans fail!
Last updated
World is harsh, plans fail. So create plans for when your plans fail!
Last updated
The situation with coronavirus showed that things might go wrong. So, in this section, we will describe the importance of having a plan B, and how to create backup procedures for different situation:
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1. Readjusting the venue requirements
As was explained in Finding the Venue section, almost inevitably, you will need to adjust your requirements to fit the venue offers. When you already have a confirmed venue, and something happens that results in this venue being unable to host anymore and there is still some time before the hackathon, you should quickly proceed with looking for another site. The overarching procedure for the venue search remains the same; however, we would recommend being even more flexible with your requirements to increase the chances of finding another venue on time.
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2. Handling unexpected circumstances
You should always try to have a plan B, so there is an option you can fall back on in case of an emergency. This can be anything that you have more control over and something that also provides you with an alternative if everything else fails.
For example, when we faced a situation with COVID-19, a lot of problems and constraints arose. Our problems included losing the venue due to the governmental rules of not having more than 50 people in one place. To solve this problem, we considered all available options to us, which would satisfy the constraints of governmental laws of not having more than 50 people in one place. The best option seemed to be Minerva Only Hackathon at the lobby of the residence hall. But with each day more and more constraints were added, such as international travel bans causing students to leave residence hall, unstable internet connection back home for a lot of students, Minerva canceling all in-person events in a residence hall, and finally lockdown of San Francisco. In our situation, the best scenario satisfying all the issues was to write this guide! [1]
Picture bellow summarizes our journey with dealing with unexpected circumstances.
But as COVID-19 was a rare situation to face, you should be ready to just at most change the venue to Minerva HQ and make a Minerva Only hackathon.
HC Footnotes:
[1] #constraints: This HC was often used by our team because of the environment in San Francisco quickly changing. To understand what we can do after the coronavirus outbreak, we needed to be very explicit about our constraints (no gatherings over 50, later no meetings at all) to understand how we can act within them. Being clear on what we can or cannot do allowed us to develop the most suitable plan for every planned outcome.