Almost a year after my first mentoring experience, I did the second round and this time experience was very different. The difference is so obvious that I had to review and change the tune of the last year post.
Here are this year’s findings:
Do Lean
This year, my main concern was to stay lean. The first couple of hours the team tried to come up with a good problem statement, and value proposition. Along the way, the lean canvas helped them in staying in line to hit the target.
User testing
One member of the team should keep doing the user testing after each milestone. It works and can prepare them for QA session in front of judges.
Team
This year, the team I was mentoring was very comfortable with Node, Git, and inVision. That helped them work efficiently as a team and develop the app for their solution.
Tools
The productivity of the team obviously affected positively by using Slack, Google Drive, etc. Use them wisely.
Presentation
… is important. Spend lots of time for prepration and mock presentations. Refine it as much as you can.
Conclusion
As it is obvious, it is going to be more about process rather than technology.