Pete and Roxy in Space

[andy-symonds]

Prize category

Best Content

Overview

We want to make understanding, using and developing the Impact Framework as easy as possible and draw in a new audience with some fun storytelling using comics and a technical overview. Pete the Panda is a systems developer and Roxy the Racoon a project manager on the spaceship Gaia. They need to understand and use the Impact Framework so that the spaceship can stay on course to explore the universe.

Questions to be answered

No response

Have you got a project team yet?

Yes and we aren't recruiting

Project team

@larabernhardt @mettenim @andy-symonds

Terms of Participation

• [X] I agree to the hackathon Rules & Terms and Code of Conduct

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Project Submission

Summary

Our project consists of a comic and a connected technical overview of the Impact Framework. In the comic, Pete the Panda and Roxy the Raccoon use the Impact Framework to help the Gaia spaceship continue its mission. The technical overview serves as a deep dive if the reader wants to understand more about certain aspects, such as manifest files, plugins as well as general information.

Problem

If a user, especially a non-technical user, explores the Impact Framework, they will be overwhelmed by technical details. This makes it difficult for non-technical users to get started with the framework and understand its purpose. Our comic and the associated technical overview are intended to provide a remedy and make it easier to get started.

Application

The comic offers the reader a high-level introduction to the capabilities and basic concepts of the Impact Framework and what it can be used for. Connected to the comic via numbers are seven short technical sections that either explain technical concepts mentioned in the comic in more detail or short texts that are intended to contribute to general understanding (questions that we asked ourselves in the team at the beginning of the hackathon).

Prize category

Best content

Judging Criteria

Overall Impact

• The potential impact of this content on the broader sustainability movement is the make it so simple for everyone to understand how to apply the Impact Framework, not just developers, but also non-technical stakeholders. Wide adoption across the software industry will enable us to get a complete picture of the environmental impact of global software development and make the appropriate changes to lessen this impact.
• Pete and Roxy, the protagonists of our comic, need to go on tour! By this, we mean that educating as many different stakeholders as possible in the Impact Framework and showing them how easy it is to use, will encourage wide adoption.

Clarity

• Our comic was designed specifically for people with no prior technical knowledge, but also offers an easy introduction for developers and others who want to start working with the Impact Framework, so we cover a wide audience. The technical overview gives people with more technical experience a deeper insight on all the core concepts - our solution is the best of both worlds!

Innovation

We believe that our comic, combined with the technical overview of the basic concepts of the Impact Framework, represents a novel approach that we have not seen with previous technologies. Although the comic scratches the surface of the capabilities, the technical overview delves into the details.

Video

https://youtu.be/ZbBb-oBkgY8

Artefacts

PDF artefact attached to this GitHub Issue comment.

thoughtworks_in_space.pdf

Process

First, we got an overview of the technical details of the Impact Framework and started to create the technical overview. At the same time, we came up with a storyline, and Minette was happy to create great character artwork and illustrations for our comic! Then we finalized the text and the conversations between Roxy and Pete. When both were finished, we thought about how we could integrate the technical details into our comic and then came up with the explanations using small numbers on the illustrations.

Inspiration

The documentation website for the Impact Framework is great, however, when first trying to understand the Impact Framework, for whatever reason, we kept landing on video demos of more advanced topics, such as building and using manifest files, without a higher-level overview of what a manifest file was and why they are really useful. This all became much clearer during one of the live training sessions run by the GSF, and inspired us to try a different spin on introducing the idea of the Impact Framework to someone with no knowledge of it, to help a wider audience engage and ultimately contribute to the Impact Framework moving forward.

Challenges

It was a little difficult to determine the level of abstraction in the comic so that the Impact Framework becomes tangible for all readers, with and without technical understanding. We think we've struck a balance and included a few technical details in the comic.

Accomplishments

Who would have thought a panda and a racoon in space could tell you so much about the Impact Framework? This is what we are most proud of!

Learnings

Almost all of our team had heard of the Impact Framework before the hackathon, but did not have a clear picture of what it can be used for and what the capabilities are. Over the last few weeks, we have been able to gain a basic technical understanding of how the framework can be used and what benefits it can bring for customers.

What's next?

We hope that this content will help folks develop a mental model of how components work within the Impact Framework. Having a good model of the framework is the first step in using it to measure the impact of software and therefore increase adoption of the Impact Framework.

[jmcook1186]

Ok! We love inventive approaches to docs and onboarding - look forward to reading it :o)