When I used to do more data viz and front end work, I went to a few hackathons that went well where they prebuilt teams for basically storytelling projects. Tri

When I used to do more data viz and front end work, I went to a few hackathons that went well where they prebuilt teams for basically storytelling projects. Tribeca Film Institute did a couple of great ones, including one at CERN where they made teams that each had a scientist looking to share their work in innovative ways working with artists, designers and coders. POV, which is a PBS-affiliated documentary project, did a hackathon series where coders and interaction designers worked with documentary makers who had an idea for an online or app component to their documentary. Nobody got paid much, but the projects were well scoped and I think most people had positive experiences. The output generally actually got published. I think a key was that the products were generally standalone static web apps that didn’t need long term support. In those cases I’m thinking of, I think it helped a lot that the “clients” were scientists or film directors: two professions that are quite used to running projects that rely on other skilled people translating their vision using tools they themselves can’t use as effectively. I agree that bad hackathons are just undercompensated sprints toward arbitrary deadlines with a manager awkwardly sitting next to you at a cafeteria table.