• 

  This is a payoff matrix for a cooperation game.

Overview - Coordination Problem

As someone from an economics background, a term that one frequently comes across is "coordination problem". A coordination problem describes a situation that could be improved for everyone if two or more people or entities were better at cooperating. Many of us have experienced coordination problems in our daily lives without knowing it as such: where to go to dinner on a date with a love interest, how household chores are to be divided as well as where to park a car. Coordination problems also occur in the internet too. For example, on YouTube, which really needs no introduction but for the sake of clarity is the largest video-sharing website in the world, unbeknowst to viewers, content creators sometimes coordinate the publication of their videos to ensure that they don't intrude on each other's audiences: for example, if content creator A and content creator B each publish a live-streamed video at 9pm EST, they both face the risk of stealing each other's audiences because viewers can only watch one in realtime at a specific point in time. It would be better for both content creators to coordinate when they publish their videos so as to ensure they are not in competition with each other. This also benefits viewers in the form of being able to watch two content creators as opposed to one.

Coordination Problem in the context of DevPost

DevPost faces a similar coordination problem, perhaps unbeknowst to staff members. It is frequently the case that hackathons clash, meaning hackers have to choose one hackathon over another. A perfect example of this is the date January 31st 2023: on this day, the deadline for Snap Inc (Snap AR hackathon) and Microsoft (Entra Permissions hackathon) were only a few hours apart. Given the nature of hackathons, hackers frequently have to work until the very last minute of their project, and time limits are usually strict. This means hackers are usually forced to choose between one hackathon or another. This is a textbook case example of a coordination problem, and everyone loses out: hackers lose out because they receive a lower amount in the probability of winning a prize (or even in the absence of a prize, a benefit such as learning more about an API) and the organisers of the hackathon lose out in the form of receiving fewer projects than they otherwise would had they been better able to coordinate the publication of their hackathon.

Solution to DevPost's Coordination Problem

I have never organised a hackathon on DevPost before - although I certainly would given my experience on the platform - so I can't speak with intimate knowledge on what the submission portal of DevPost looks like, but the frequency of these "clashing" hackathons leads me to believe that organisations aren't informed about which hackathons are due to take place and when. This creates the coordination problem like that described above. The way this idea seeks to solve this coordination problem is that prior to submission of a hackathon by an organisation, DevPost informs the organisation that there is a similar organisation (similarity probably being determined by a range of factors such as company size and sector) that has already posted/is in the process of posting a hackathon and features a message portal that enables the two organisations to communicate with each other to see if they can space their hackathon out. For example, let's suppose there is Company A and Company B. Company A has already posted their hackathon on DevPost with a deadline of December 31st 2023 and Company B is in the process of posting their hackathon on DevPost, also with a deadline of December 31st 2023. Prior to submission, Company B is alerted that Company A has already posted a hackathon on December 31st 2023 and is shown a message portal that enables Company B to speak to Company A if they can arrange to ensure that they can space out their hackathons, so Company A maybe adjusting their deadline to January 5th 2024 and Company B adjusting their deadline to January 14th 2024. This arrangement enables both companies to benefit as hackers can take part in both hackathons as opposed to having choose one over the other. This arrangement also benefits hackers because they have more to benefit from (and benefit here shouldn't just be seen as the increased probability of winning monetary prizes, but also in the form of learning as well).

Target Audience

This would particularly feature the more prominent users of DevPost such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google and companies that fit in that particular reputable brand image.

Built With

• n/a