Discuss how to process pitch submissions

[harishlingam]

Dependency

August 14th this issue was closed #1975 (adding a subject line: "Submitting my pitch to Hack for LA"). No one has used this link since the change launched. We will observe this again by having Bonnie search her inbox in 30 days on 2022-02-18

On Hold because

we need to determine if this is necessary. A test to be performed on issue #1975 to determine volume of need. If a lot of people are using it, then we can decide if we need a dedicated form.

Overview

originally this was an issue to Create Submit Your Pitch form but it needs to be a discussion about how we process pitches and what we plan to do, given that we have not started any new projects in the last 12 months.

Action Items

• Brainstorm and draft questions for Submit Your Pitch form
• Create Submit Your Pitch Google Form
• Link Submit Your Pitch form to Home Page

Resources/Instructions

[harishlingam]

Hi @wesrowe, I am working on a Submit Your Pitch Google Form. Do you have any input to offer on specific questions/fields we might want to include in such a survey? The idea is to link to this survey from a button found at the bottom of the projects listing on the home page.

[wesrowe]

@harishlingam Are you trying to maximize submissions or not? I can see from hotjar that it's very rare for people to make it to the bottom of the projects listings. If someone actually finds that button, i would make the actual pitch submission form as simple (and encouraging) as possible. If, on the other hand, you were going to place it somewhere more people will see it (an approach I would recommend just to see what happens), you could use the structure of the form to suggest they think about the Lean Business Canvas model (eg the one below/attached is one that I adapted to civic tech.) That would introduce a level of rigor and challenge people to step up (although I would make most of the fields optional).

[harishlingam]

@wesrowe As far as placement, there is an argument that putting the link at the bottom of the page will select for the individuals we most want to hear from. Namely, folks who've reviewed the list of current active projects and determined they have a new idea to be worked.

I like the Lean Business Canvas model, but wonder if it may be a tall ask for an initial submission (even if linked at the top of the page). That said, maybe this could be a follow-on step to a submitted idea? It forces the person to think through their idea in full. I also think it's important to preserve the prescribed layout as a one-page document, which we cannot replicate in Google Forms.

[wesrowe]

@harishlingam Generally, I have been trained by the developers I've worked with to avoid something called premature optimization. This basically means you shouldn't put energy into solving a problem you aren't sure you'll have. Of course there are some problems you can anticipate and must solve ahead of time. But a lot of "rich people problems" fall in this bucket. Having way too much engagement with your website is a rich people problem.
Putting the button at the bottom of the page, or making the form more complicated/harder, are basically solutions to a hypothetical problem: "What if we have so many low-quality submissions that it is a tax on our organization?" In that unlikely event, you would just do the solution at that time. There's no reason to optimize for it yet. And if it ever becomes a problem, it's more likely to be bots submitting bad ideas than humans (and the solution would be captcha).
So I would recommend building it easy and seeing if/how you need to optimize based on data.

[ExperimentsInHonesty]

https://diytoolkit.org/tools/ with modifications

[harishlingam]

@wesrowe Thanks for your input, I only now saw your reply. As you said, the Lean Business Canvas forces would-be project leads to think critically a project idea. We're going to add a slightly modified version of this form to the site, albeit in the form of a Google Form survey, but a link to the actual form will be included on the site. I also take your larger point about premature optimization, and this is something we should keep in mind as we go forward. Agreed, unlikely we will be flooded with new project proposals, so perhaps this is a mute point. There is also a UI judgement here. It appears the consensus is to place it at the bottom of the project cards section for now.