infrastructure_angel_checklist.md

Please feel free to branch and suggest pull edits so we can continue to improve the communities event checklists[1].

Welcome 'Digital Infrastructure Angel' (cloud, wifi, power & lights) for your Cloud Application Hackathon

The 'Infrastructure Angel' is the ultimate hardware hacker, able to leap networing firewalls and power socket breakers in a single (safe) bound. Above all, it is your responsibility to have a stable consistent cloud for all the hackers to use. Remember, the cloud needs to be ready a month ahead of the hackathon for pre-training (pre-training is also a good chance to test your cloud). The cloud also needs to be around for awhile after the hackathon so participants can continue to use their new skills. No pressure, but without the delivery of cloud, power, wifi and lights the hackathon will be a failure.

Your objective as the "digital infrastructure angle" (if you so choose to accept them...[1]):

• Assure cloud, wifi and power are on tap throughout the events, including the pre-training events and hackathon.
• Inform participants of what resources they should expect to have and what they should bring with them. Be ready for the main event days as the Hackathon doesn't happen without cloud, wifi and power.
• Assure the cloud as a resource is available for future use by the community so the cloud app developer community can conitnue to grow.

Checklists for 'Infrastructure Angel'

The below checklists are intended to provide the minimum viable set of tasks which will need to be completed for the hackathon. Naturally, you will add on additional tasks yourself and we would highly encourage you to create your own checklists and share them back with the community[1].

Good luck and may the force be with you.

Pre Event Checklist

Things to get done prior to the pre-hackthon training events (3 months before the hackathon, 2 months before pre-training begins):

• Liaise with the OpenStack Foundation early on to find either: a.) a public cloud for use at the event (sponsored), b.) a private cloud already in use at a company (who want to stress test their cloud), or c.) a group who can build a cloud reliably and to spec for the event on time.
• Outline what spec you will need from your cloud including: latency, programmtic capabilities, hardware performance, uptime and reliability. Hint: talking about the clouds capability is a great presentation for the start of the event.
• Ask for help on cloud, wifi, power and lighting - these are all MUST have infrastructure componets for your event, there is no event without these four things.
• Have early discussions with your vendor provider on the power situation, you don't want to trip breakers during the event. Don't be afraid to pay for venue suppor to assure wifi and power access (it's worth it to have someone on premisis who knows).
• Go to your venue for training and hackathons and test the network and cloud at the venue - this real world testing always proves to uncover problems before they happen at the event. No testing wifi/cloud = high failure risk.
• Test your cloud in a variety of situions. Liaise with the 'training sensei' to assure the training works on the cloud prior to the training taking place.
• Confirm your cloud provider (no cloud = no event!)
• Recruit some helpers who can be there on the days of the events to firefight small problems, i.e. "how do I connect to the wifi", "where can I get a power extension to our team area", "what are my access credential (SSH key) for logging into the cloud", etc.

Things to do prior to the hackathon event beginning (1 month before the hackathon)

• Have your network provider show you the data on the latest test of how their network was stressed. See the evidence, don't just get verbal confirmation. No wifi = no hackathon.
• If not sure about wifi, arrange for a wired network and setup time to enable routers/cables.
• Plan for a minimum of 3x power sockets per person, i.e. laptop, phone, tablet, etc.
• Make sure your cloud has enough accounts/cores for all the participants.
• Make sure the SDKs and APIs which the Application Developers will use are working and responding via the command line.
• Think about lighting, having some lamps which can go on and off and create different ambiance-moods around the hackathon venue can really help!

Event Checklist

Tasks to achieve during the event (do-->confirm):

• Hackathon are one of the best ways to stress-test your cloud. Make sure our log data is being saved so you can analyse it later to see what when right and what went wrong.
• Walk around the venue and make sure no one has overloaded a power socket circuit breaker, nothing worse than all the power going off!
• Have a pre-infrastructure-angel helper meeting to discuss what 'frequently asked questions" you will get from participants about network, cloud and power.
• Create shifts for your helpers so they are not working the entire time, make sure they have fun too so they will want to volonteer or participate in the event next year.
• 5th
• 6th
• 7th
• 8th

Post Event Checklist

Taks to achieve after the event:

• Make sure participants have access to the cloud for a period of time after the event so they can continue to practice their new skills.
• Provide emails well in advance to participants for when their cloud account is going to close and how to get long term access to the cloud.
• 3rd
• 4th
• 5th

Additional Resources, Examples and Precedents

• Example from Taipei
• Example from Guadalajara
• Interesting resource worth reading.
• Some precedents of how other open communities do this.
• A helpful person worth contacting and having a chat.
• Why use checklists? Humans are not great at remembering stuff, this is how mistakes happen, people forget things when they are in stressful situations (like events), checklists are great for focusing the mind and result in significant productivity gains. Read more about this in a book caled, 'The Checklist Manifesto'.

Footnotes: [1]= these checklists are intentionally created in github so you can take advantage of the GitHub versioning model which allows you to suggest edits and submit them back to the community for reuse. For instructions on how to branch and submit a pull request please see: https://guides.github.com/activities/hello-world/