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I definitely wasn't expecting the "Got Skills" button to just link me down to the unorganized project listings. I assumed that would be a place to list myself a

by emhart 13y ago

I definitely wasn't expecting the "Got Skills" button to just link me down to the unorganized project listings. I assumed that would be a place to list myself as an available volunteer with the ability to list my skill set or something like that, then receive suggestions for projects with an option to browse all of the projects. I love the idea, and I don't want to suggest you go toward catchafire's very narrow model of pre-determined skill sets. That leaves me out in the cold, which is frustrating. But the ability to list your expertise and willingness to help so that project creators could proactively reach out to potential volunteers, would be awesome.

Blahah 13y ago
Thanks for the feedback, I agree completely. It's on our to-do list to let people add tags to their profile so they get notified when new projects are posted with their skillset, without restricting them to only helping out with those. Any other ideas for how to achieve this are very welcome. We'd love to get some UX designers involved in the project long-term, and we've already got a talented designer creating a new style for us.
- emhart 13y ago
  I don't have a fully formed thought here, but I think, sometimes, it can be difficult to know what your problems are, and perhaps even more difficult to know whether or not your problems are solvable. I received a mass email years ago from someone I was acquainted with who was heading off to volunteer at a hospital in Somalia. She was spreading the word that they were rebuilding this hospital, lot of details, and then asking for anyone who could devote a month of their life to come to Somalia and train staff or help with construction. I can't train medical staff, and I doubt I'd be much use with construction, but I reached out to ask if they needed any help securing their facility. The person coordinating the volunteer efforts didn't know until she contacted the woman heading the whole project. She told my friend that everything was being stolen. Sheets, office supplies, mattresses, and the drugs, which would be a huge target, hadn't even arrived yet. They were in serious need of a comprehensive physical security solution and didn't have a plan. That is a situation where I can provide potentially invaluable help, but despite knowing there was a problem, they didn't even know that there were people in the world who could help with that on a volunteer basis. So, again, I don't have a solid idea, but if there were any way to help project creators think through and detail their pain points, I think that could be incredibly helpful. My example was extreme, but I'm sure there are many people muddling through archaic, complex problems that don't there are better ways. The Toyota logistics donation to NYC Food Bank springs to mind: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/nyregion/in-lieu-of-money-toyota-donates-efficiency-to-new-york-charity.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/nyregion/in-lieu-of-money-...
  - Blahah 13y ago
    I think you're spot on that many people don't even know what problems they've got. Something we'd like to do in the long term is build a community of solvers that actively seeks out projects. That way people are taking their expertise to the problem and saying, "can you use _these_ skills?". Another idea is to have a team of enablers - if someone has a project but they don't know what to post we invite them to come and talk to the enablers in a chat room. They then help the project owner figure out what kinds of skills could help them, and get the project posted. I loved that story of Toyota's engineers, and it was probably in the back of my mind when I conceived Solvers.
    - emhart 13y ago
      That would be fantastic. I'm sure there will be some pendulum swinging as you nail down the balance of enthusiastic solvers & the maximum capacity for cooks in any given kitchen, but I think its a great goal and I'll be following along enthusiastically.
  - bdevine 13y ago
    In response to blahah: suppose that you could somehow make the enablers previous recipients of expertise? If you could assess an incoming project's needs and bin it with previous projects, people associated with those previous projects could pay back to the overall effort by trying to help the incoming project decide what the pain points are and how they might be solved.
    - Blahah 13y ago
      That's a really neat idea - match up new projects with older projects to learn from their experience. Thanks :)
davedx 13y ago
That's definitely something we're moving towards. It's tricky figuring out when the best time to post to HN is -- do you want early beta feedback, or to drive traffic to a final product? Basically what you're requesting is something we really want to move towards -- we have in the works a way to add skills tags to your own profile, for example. This will help out with how you'd like to use the site.
bdevine 13y ago
I agree with emhart -- this was my exact reaction. Of course I understand that you can't launch beta with all your features, but please consider this another vote for a more robust matching mechanism. Other than that, great work! I think this sort of opportunity to get our hands dirty is exactly what a lot of people are looking for.

by emhart 13y ago

Blahah 13y ago

Thanks for the feedback, I agree completely. It's on our to-do list to let people add tags to their profile so they get notified when new projects are posted with their skillset, without restricting them to only helping out with those. Any other ideas for how to achieve this are very welcome. We'd love to get some UX designers involved in the project long-term, and we've already got a talented designer creating a new style for us.

emhart 13y ago
I don't have a fully formed thought here, but I think, sometimes, it can be difficult to know what your problems are, and perhaps even more difficult to know whether or not your problems are solvable. I received a mass email years ago from someone I was acquainted with who was heading off to volunteer at a hospital in Somalia. She was spreading the word that they were rebuilding this hospital, lot of details, and then asking for anyone who could devote a month of their life to come to Somalia and train staff or help with construction. I can't train medical staff, and I doubt I'd be much use with construction, but I reached out to ask if they needed any help securing their facility. The person coordinating the volunteer efforts didn't know until she contacted the woman heading the whole project. She told my friend that everything was being stolen. Sheets, office supplies, mattresses, and the drugs, which would be a huge target, hadn't even arrived yet. They were in serious need of a comprehensive physical security solution and didn't have a plan. That is a situation where I can provide potentially invaluable help, but despite knowing there was a problem, they didn't even know that there were people in the world who could help with that on a volunteer basis. So, again, I don't have a solid idea, but if there were any way to help project creators think through and detail their pain points, I think that could be incredibly helpful. My example was extreme, but I'm sure there are many people muddling through archaic, complex problems that don't there are better ways. The Toyota logistics donation to NYC Food Bank springs to mind: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/nyregion/in-lieu-of-money-toyota-donates-efficiency-to-new-york-charity.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/nyregion/in-lieu-of-money-...
- Blahah 13y ago
  I think you're spot on that many people don't even know what problems they've got. Something we'd like to do in the long term is build a community of solvers that actively seeks out projects. That way people are taking their expertise to the problem and saying, "can you use _these_ skills?". Another idea is to have a team of enablers - if someone has a project but they don't know what to post we invite them to come and talk to the enablers in a chat room. They then help the project owner figure out what kinds of skills could help them, and get the project posted. I loved that story of Toyota's engineers, and it was probably in the back of my mind when I conceived Solvers.
  - emhart 13y ago
    That would be fantastic. I'm sure there will be some pendulum swinging as you nail down the balance of enthusiastic solvers & the maximum capacity for cooks in any given kitchen, but I think its a great goal and I'll be following along enthusiastically.
- bdevine 13y ago
  In response to blahah: suppose that you could somehow make the enablers previous recipients of expertise? If you could assess an incoming project's needs and bin it with previous projects, people associated with those previous projects could pay back to the overall effort by trying to help the incoming project decide what the pain points are and how they might be solved.
  - Blahah 13y ago
    That's a really neat idea - match up new projects with older projects to learn from their experience. Thanks :)

davedx 13y ago

That's definitely something we're moving towards. It's tricky figuring out when the best time to post to HN is -- do you want early beta feedback, or to drive traffic to a final product? Basically what you're requesting is something we really want to move towards -- we have in the works a way to add skills tags to your own profile, for example. This will help out with how you'd like to use the site.

bdevine 13y ago

I agree with emhart -- this was my exact reaction. Of course I understand that you can't launch beta with all your features, but please consider this another vote for a more robust matching mechanism. Other than that, great work! I think this sort of opportunity to get our hands dirty is exactly what a lot of people are looking for.