On the second day of the Picnic conference, Luis is still sweating blood and tears over the Dial #1-800 project. He spent the last 36 hours (with only some minor break when the Gashouder was actually closed and he was forced to go home) in a comfortable black chair, which serves as part of the cute decor of the tormenting project.
The installation is working on the machine of Luis, but there are still some minor problems when the software is migrated to the final machine. The sound import, a PD patch with character, seems to be set on vanquishing all the work effort of Ubi and Luis. And so the battle to finish the installation continues...
Luis admits that the problem might have to do with the ambitious character of the project; the group (a duet) was to small and the project simply to complex. In the beginning they asked if any hackers interested to opt-in ...without success. Moreover, the concept was only finalized on Sunday, looking very different from the initial plan. This had a lot to do with the guidance from Willem, who gave very direct, useful feedback. He pushed the project to be something more then just a work of art and introduced 'fun' as a requirement. This is what eventually will make the project successful.
We move away from Luis, to give him some peace and quiet while he is trying to master his final glitches. This gives Ubi the space to describe his experiences in hacker camp. For him it was the first time he had the opportunity to work with so many people that exactly understand what he thinks. In hacker camp, he is not the only coder, not the one man that has to answer all the questions. In hacker camp, Ubi is actually the hacker with the questions. It is a relief to work in an environment without to much discussion (except discussions with PD patches), an environment that focuses on (trying to) getting things done.
Ubi also makes some promises for the next hacker camp: he will find a team of (at least) 3 people and change management styles. His team will finish their concept first. Then he will make sure the project is finished 2 days before Picnic starts (to get even with this year).