A few days ago, a great conversation got started on twitter by @jimcheng, @visualrinse, and @bobjim (All of whom, you should be following if you’re not) about side projects and a way to complete them with help, particularly at 360|Flex. Tom and I think it’s an awesome idea! We love it when 360|Flex can help projects grow and become complete.

Chad sent some basic guidelines, so I’ve listed them below for discussion. The overall strategy thinking is this.

Something like a mini ignite at the beginning of the conference to vote on projects (This might turn into using uservoice ahead of time to make things more streamlined, not sure)

During the conference there’s room for working on this project.

At the end, of the conference, much like the Charity Code Jam does, we’d see how the side project(s) had progressed.

So tell us what you think of these guidelines, the idea in general, etc. Let’s get some conversations going around this

1. The project should not be for an organization. At least not directly. Ideally it is a concept the developer/designer wants to create for him or herself but hasn’t gotten to finish it due to time constraints. This isn’t meant to supplant a charity code jam.
2. The project should have a tech spec or user story already written for it. Ideally, wireframes or a prototype UI have been created as well.
3. The project should be a true deliverable RIA or experience, not an API or other type of code library. Creating an API or code library to complete the project is acceptable.
4. The project will first be blogged about on the 360|Flex site. No other public announcement of the development commencing or launch can precede it.
5. The team producing the work will be listed as co-contributors, with the idea originator getting lead credit.
6. Flex 4 and Flash Catalyst should be used for the tooling.

Remember, the first 100 tickets are on sale now for $499, and if you’re gonna be at MAX, take advantage of our “We love MAX” price of $250. You have to be attending MAX to get the price, but since we’ll be in the community Pavilion, the expo only pass will do just fine if you can’t swing the full price!

Don’t miss out, this 360|Flex is gonna be great!