Let's Get Ready to Create - Want Some Tips?

[allan_leinwand]

The second annual CreateNow hackathon is almost here! We are looking forward to seeing hundreds of ServiceNow Creators on Tuesday and are very excited to see your creations!

For those of you new to the CreateNow hackathon, here is how it works. You show up with your team of creators at 3:40pm on this Tuesday afternoon at Knowledge14. You hack. You eat. You hack some more. You create an amazing custom application by yourself or in a team (up to five members per team). Around midnight, myself and my team of ServiceNow development leaders will judge your creations and award a select number of teams a "Golden Ticket." Maybe I read Charlie and The Chocolate Factory too many times growing up....

Those teams with a Golden Ticket will be presenting their custom applications to all of the Knowledge14 attendees in the exhibit hall the next morning (Wednesday). The goal is to present your application to attendees and earn their vote. Attendees vote for their favorite application using text message, American Idol style. We tally the votes and I announce the CreateNow hackathon winner on Thursday morning at the end of the keynote session. The official CreateNow rules are here.

Now, for a few tips…

First of all, you and your team members will be hacking on a brand new ServiceNow instance. If you get your hands on a freshly zbooted instance to remind yourself of the environment that will be helpful.

Second, most of the teams from last year that received Golden Tickets made heavy use of third-party data sources and integrations - you should freshen up on how to do this with ServiceNow.

Third, get to know ServiceNow Share. This is an exciting new service that we are officially launching at Knowledge14 where creators can share custom applications, app extensions, dashboards, workflows, scripts and more. Your hackathon entry will need to be uploaded to ServiceNow Share to be judged and to earn a Golden Ticket. Do not worry, this is a temporary account and you can limit who can see your creation on Share. It may make sense to upload your content to Share periodically during the course of the hackathon to ensure that it loads successfully.

Next, think outside of the IT box. The ServiceNow Service Automation Platform has been used for a wealth of different applications and last year we saw hackathon teams build applications for crowd-sourcing, restaurant reservations, games (Blackjack and Pictionary) and personal health monitoring.

My last tip is to come prepared with an idea but to set realistic goals and have an organized team. You might even consider running your team using agile development methods and holding a standup every few hours. The last thing you want to do is to have a winning idea but not get it completed by midnight. Remember, if you get a Golden Ticket you can continue to work on your application until the exhibit hall opens up the next morning. Plan accordingly.

We really look forward to seeing everyone at Knowledge14 and at the CreateNow hackathon on Tuesday - come have some fun creating a custom application!