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With only 54 hours to build an app that's the basis for a business, a bunch of people who haven't worked together before will be doing a lot of things at once. Communications challenges minimizing internal misunderstandings, include getting feedback from potential users, avoiding unnecessary chaos, planning for success by recording as much useful information as possible in case the business goes forward.

What tools (chat, wikis, discussion forums, Google Docs, LiquidPlanner, ManyMoon, Basecamp, StackExchange, etc.) -- work well in this situation?

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Curious, why 54 hours only? – alphadogg Jun 29 '11 at 15:51
That's the rules :) – Chris Kluis Jun 29 '11 at 16:11

closed as not constructive by Zuly Gonzalez♦ Dec 13 '12 at 5:25

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8 Answers

up vote 5 down vote

Most of the tools you mention are really too much for a startup weekend; you have to consider that you'll be all in the same room, and for a short amount of time. What works

  • Dropbox to share documents, code, images
  • Google Docs for writing documents collaboratively
  • source control (github, for instance) for source code

To collect user feedback and conduct surveys we used Wufoo and I recommend it.

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up vote 3 down vote

What you mentioned is good. Also, Dropbox is a great idea as it allows you to have a "cloud folder" that synchronizes automatically to every computer of authorized participant. Good for storing a "common" folder structure containing documents, tools, etc. It's also free for a 2GB capacity which is more than enough for a small startup.

In addition, you might consider GitHub for common source control. It's free for open source projects, and has a nominal fee for proprietary software.

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up vote 3 down vote

You might consider a free trial of FogBugz and Kiln. You can add as many users as you need for the trial and you get a full-featured task management system combined with excellent source control. I'd recommend spending a little time getting comfortable with the tools before diving into the weekend.

Disclaimer: I work for Fog Creek Software and live within FogBugz every day.

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Great suggestion, although I'm worried about the learning curve ... – Jon Pincus Jun 7 '11 at 16:42
I use FogBugz (I don't work for them). It's great and contains all of the key items you need: wiki, ticket system and a DVCS. The only thing is, when you get going, you'll have to pay, which is not too expensive but something to keep in mind. – alphadogg Jun 29 '11 at 15:53
up vote 2 down vote

We have Google Apps account and you'll find many good apps in Marketplace. You can use Google docs as your central storage. Both of the following tools also work great with Google account.

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Thanks very much for the suggeestion. Teambox looks very slick and seems like it could be a good match for this situation ... I'll give it a try! – Jon Pincus Jun 7 '11 at 16:48
up vote 0 down vote

You could always use Atlassian tools if your team is less than 10 people. They practically give them to you.

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up vote 0 down vote

In addition to the mentioned tools, a little: http://www.kanbery.com or http://agilezen.com/

might help you to organize the tasks during the weekend and keep track of your state

Atlassian can also be bought as hosted service.

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up vote 0 down vote

AgileZen has been used by many teams during startup weekend since it helps with organizing all the work and focusing on what's important.

I don't mean to spam (I'm one of the co-founders), but I'd be happy to give you a free startup plan (5 collaborators, 5 projects). We love to support startups, and we know that most people aren't going to want to buy the tool just for a proof of concept.

Anyway, if you're interested contact us at givingATagilezen.com and mention you're participating in startup weekend.

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up vote 0 down vote

I’ve had a great experience using Microsoft Project 2010 for project management. It’s really simple and has features to keep you updated on current project details, allows you to start new ones, and is great with collaboration. If you want to check it out, they have a free 60-day trial running right now.

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Not in 54 hours. – Karlson Dec 10 '12 at 14:46

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