Finish the Damn Thing Jam 2022

A five part, year long Anything jam to help you organize and finish the damn thing.

About #FtDtJam

Finish the Damn Thing Jam is a five-part, year-long series of jams hosted on Itch.io. Bring an existing or brand-new project to get it to its next releasable state over a year's time. Each seasonal jam will last just over 2 months, and will have a theme to help you structure your project management. For folks that want to participate and make smaller, single-season projects there will also be an optional prompt for each season as inspiration.

The point of this jam is to clearly define the minimum viable product (MVP) for your project, and then reach that as your goal for the year. Importantly, it is structured to not overwork yourself, and to still reach your goals.

Project management is a skill, and we hope to help you learn it and practice it. We've set up the jams to provide you with structure and tools to help you develop the skills you need to get the Damn Thing done now and in the future!

Who It For

If you've had trouble finishing projects, find yourselves loving the start of projects but not the ends, or needing help with skillsets that you don't have, we hope that this set of jams will move your projects forward.

We've had a lot of trouble getting our Damn Things finished, and as marginalized folks ourselves (neurodivergent, trans, Indigenous, disabled/chronically ill), we want this to be a space for folks like us to build our project management skills and community!

Marginalized folks (BIPOC, Trans, Gay, etc) comfort and safety will be particularly prioritized.

Resources

Planner Pages

Use these planner pages to plan out your projects and learn project planning. We'll be uploading and hosting tutorials on how these are intended to be used over the course of the jam!

All of the planner pages as a single big PDF.

Planner pages broken down by section:

Seasonal Jams

Part 1 :: Chaos! at the Jam

This seasonal jam is over, but feel free to join to the next one!

Calendar file for this jam: FtDtJam2022-01.ics

Theme

Figure out where the hell you are, and where the hell you'll go .

For this season, we'll get our planning done and milestones set.

For new projects, scope out what the project is, what the point of it is, what your goals are, and what state you want to get it into by the end of the year (for example, an alpha, a tech demo, a first draft, or a completely done project). For existing projects, figure out where its at already and plan the next outcome you'd like for it (as above, an alpha, a first draft, etc).

Prompt

Things to do together that are wild and funny.

Ideas include party games, party things to do together, and low frustration fun, but take this in any direction that inspires you!

Part 2 :: Finding Your Bearings

Join this jam on Itch.io!

Calendar file for this jam: FtDtJam2022-02.ics

Theme

This is the season to really make sure you've got the ball rolling.

Before it was pinball but now it's bowling!

Now is the time to have picked your toolchain, even if it's not perfect. Planning should hopefully be finished, having resulted in a coherent set of milestones, and all that work is paying off as you proceed with the tasks at hand. If you want, code is getting written, copy is being written, and chapters are being chaptered!

Prompt

Surf and Turf!

Ideas like skateboarding, ocean navigation, or whatever!

Part 3 :: Confusion!

Calendar file for this jam: FtDtJam2022-03.ics

Theme

Prompt

To be announced.

Part 4 :: FINISH IT!

Calendar file for this jam: FtDtJam2022-04.ics

Theme

Prompt

To be announced.

Part 5 :: Ship It Good!

Calendar file for this jam: FtDtJam2022-05.ics

Theme

Prompt

To be announced.