Make it MSP

Client

In the Twin Cities the number of tech jobs created is outpacing the number of workers to fill them. Currently there are 58,000 unfilled positions, this is expected to reach 100,000 by 2020.

Make It. MSP. is a collective effort of Greater MSP, makers groups, companies, cities, organizations, and individuals working to attract tech talent to the Twin Cities.

Challenge

To assess Make it. MSP.'s current strategy and suggest a new strategy to attract tech talent to the Twin Cities.

The where, who, and what MiM targets.

Group Brainstorming

I looked over the research Dan provided, including who their target demographics are, and what messages have had the largest effect so far. We also did a deep dive and did our own research. I focused on other cities to see if this is a problem they are having. It is. I found that some cities have created start-up apartments, workshops, grants. I also looked at census data. MiM requested we target young adults and I found an article by the US Census 2012 called "Young Adult Migration" from it I found that the most likely group to move are the Young and underemployed, followed by the recently separated/divorced.

We decided on two options: A referral program or an online competition. The referral program would award workers money if they brought in new employees. The online competition would occur weekly and techs in Minnesota would create teams from their hometown to be the first to finish weekly coding championships with the goal of a grand prize.

None of us loved any of the ideas, they didn't inspire us, they felt clunky and complicated, and they were outside all of our experience, but they were the best we had. So we brought in an outsider and while explaining the two ideas to them we remembered an earlier discarded idea: A reality show. We all agreed that was exciting, but was it possible?

YouTube Video Series

I was excited to see my discarded idea come up as the solution to our blockage. I imagined the shows would be mostly tech workers talking to the camera about their personal life and topics that they were concerned about before they moved to Minnesota, then at the end they'd do a silly competition like having to code quickly code Hello World while doing an ice-cold polar bear plunge. Additionally I liked that, unlike our other ideas, I had a grasp on the budget having prior experience filming halfway decent YouTube videos. I knew that it could be done quick, cheap, and fast;. So I sold the group on the idea, told them all you'd need is find the right target characters, someone to write the challenges, two people to hold cameras, a director, and one or two open weekends. They were sold. But then came nearly two days of development hell.

Development Hell

Too Many Cooks

Okay, so maybe development hell is a little dramatic for something that only lasted a day and a half. However, our group got stuck when we were trying to envision this show together. Some people wanted it to be a live show, where teams in other cities would login at the same time and help Minnesotans solve coding challenges. Other people wanted it prerecorded and the activities to take place a various landmarks. We spent nearly two days trying to sort this out. Even though I didn't love the idea I created a prototype of what the live competition site would look like (Dev Life Live, Right). Disagreement wasn't the only issue we were facing as a group, we were being slowed down by something more unique.

Googling "group work problems" has taught me that we were suffering from the, "Transparency Illusion: the tendency of group members to believe their thoughts, attitudes and reasons are more obvious to others than is actually the case." What this meant for me was that I'd have the feeling like I had a breakthrough idea, a way to connect the dots between our rapidly expanding project and the goals of MiM. I'd get excited and tell them about my latest revelation and in return I'd get blank faces. I was also often on the other side of the table as well. Group members would try to explain their latest thoughts and it was like they were speaking a foreign language. Or better yet, they were speaking English, but it sounded like a meaningless string of words.

Wireframe of a live, online, game, reality show, with simultaneous team coding challenges and hometown badges.

Keep It Simple, Stupid

Like Twitch for Coders

We presented our live reality show concept to a contemporary and he told us that he loved the idea of making videos that told the stories of tech workers in Minnesota, so that, "Mike in Dallas can watch a video and see Mike in Minneapolis...And see that he's already here." But that the live page and the reality show competition was needless. It's all about storytelling. He wanted to go online and see himself living and thriving in Minnesota. It was such a revelation. It was so obvious, but we'd spent the last day and a half twisted around in each other's heads. Google tells me that's called, "Escalation of commitment: the tendency of groups to become more committed to their plans and strategies – even ineffective ones – over time."

Solution - "You Are Here"

We went back and cut the fat and came up with the concept of "You Are Here", a series of videos where we interview and follow around tech professionals and see how they are thriving in Minnesota. Each video would center around a different person and tackle a different topic that research showed was important to the demographics. We would create a new landing page, and a strategy for how many videos to make and based upon analytics what types of future videos to make and where to advertise them.

Deliverable - Client Presentation

When we presented our design strategy to the client they were excited and said, "You've given us something we can start on tomorrow. and shown us how to prioritize what stories to tell."

In the end I really believe in our plan: telling stories on the topics tech professionals care about from the places they are from. Also, I've learned that as a group you've gotta seek outside input or change up your patterns in someway, then come back to the issues with fresh eyes.