What Went Well
- Phase-by-Phase Approach: Structuring the brainstorm around operational phases (Onboarding, Active Production, Demos) provided clear focus and prevented information overload.
- Collaborative Iteration: Rapid feedback loops with the user (Preston) allowed for quick refinement of concepts like the “Mediator Protocol” and “Hosted Pitch Session.”
- Structured Documentation: Organizing the playbook into an index and separate phase files in the scratchpad makes it highly actionable for the Coordinator.
What Didn’t Go Well
- Redundant Technical Suggestions: I initially suggested a “Technical Smoke Test” during onboarding, which was already covered in other documentation (tech-stack doc). This showed a slight misalignment on where technical validation lives.
Failure Modes & Bottlenecks
- Context Fragmentation: Early in the session, I had to read several context files to get oriented; having a “Project Index” or “Quick Start” specifically for the brainstormer would have saved a few turns.
Key Decisions Made
- Greek Alphabet Naming: Chose a simple, scalable naming convention for teams to simplify orchestration.
- Mediator Protocol: Decided to include a formal “Mediator Agent” dispatch trigger for teams stuck in consensus deadlocks, providing a clear escalation path.
- AI Innovation Weighting: Set “AI Technical Innovation” at 30% of the judging criteria to ensure the hackathon’s core theme remains a primary focus alongside storytelling.
- Hosted Pitch Session: Opted for a hosted, synchronized event for pitches to create a stronger narrative beat for the documentary crew to film.
Suggestions for Improvement
- Pre-defined Lever Catalog: It would be helpful to have a pre-existing list of “Coordinator Levers” (e.g., broadcast, mediator, file-sync) to choose from when designing new playbooks.
- Shared Coordination Log: The idea of a shared log between the Coordinator and the Documentary Producer was a great catch by the user; this should be a standard component in any multi-team orchestration design.