hackathon-idea-scoring

Goal

Evaluate and rank candidate project ideas against a weighted scoring rubric aligned with hackathon judging criteria and team capabilities.

Trigger Conditions

Use this skill when:

• A list of candidate ideas is available from hackathon-idea-generator
• evaluation_axes from hackathon-track-analyzer are confirmed
• The team must converge on a single idea before scoping begins
• Objective comparison is needed to resolve disagreement between team members
• Invoked directly after hackathon-idea-generator; output gates all subsequent phases

Inputs

Outputs

Rules

1. Score every idea on every evaluation axis using a 1–5 scale.
2. Apply axis weights when computing total score; default weight is 1.0 if not specified.
3. Apply a feasibility_penalty (-0.5 per axis point) if the team lacks skills required.
4. Apply a time_penalty (-1.0) if the idea cannot realistically ship in hackathon_duration_hours.
5. Surface at least one risk flag per top-3 idea.
6. Select top_recommendation based on highest adjusted total score.
7. Break ties in favor of the idea with the highest feasibility score.

Output Format

scored_ideas:
  - id: "<idea-N>"
    title: "<title>"
    scores:
      - axis: "<axis name>"
        score: <1-5>
        notes: "<rationale>"
    penalties:
      - type: "<feasibility|time>"
        value: <number>
    total_score: <number>

ranking:
  - rank: <number>
    id: "<idea-N>"
    total_score: <number>

top_recommendation:
  id: "<idea-N>"
  title: "<title>"
  rationale: "<string>"

risk_flags:
  - id: "<idea-N>"
    risks:
      - "<risk>"

recommended_skills:
  - "<skill-name>"

Example

Input:

ideas:
  - id: "idea-1"
    title: "AnchorAI"
    risk_level: "medium"
  - id: "idea-3"
    title: "CalmDraft"
    risk_level: "low"
evaluation_axes:
  - axis: "Innovation"
    weight: 1.5
  - axis: "Impact"
    weight: 1.5
  - axis: "Technical Execution"
    weight: 1.0
team_skills: ["Python", "React", "OpenAI API"]
hackathon_duration_hours: 24
team_size: 3

Output:

scored_ideas:
  - id: "idea-1"
    title: "AnchorAI"
    scores:
      - axis: "Innovation"
        score: 4
        notes: "Memory layer is novel; similar products exist but not for this audience"
      - axis: "Impact"
        score: 5
        notes: "Addresses acute unmet need at scale"
      - axis: "Technical Execution"
        score: 3
        notes: "Memory persistence adds integration complexity"
    penalties: []
    total_score: 17.5

  - id: "idea-3"
    title: "CalmDraft"
    scores:
      - axis: "Innovation"
        score: 3
        notes: "CBT journaling apps exist; GPT reframing is incremental"
      - axis: "Impact"
        score: 4
        notes: "Reaches self-directed users effectively"
      - axis: "Technical Execution"
        score: 5
        notes: "Well within team skills; highly shippable in 24h"
    penalties: []
    total_score: 16.5

ranking:
  - rank: 1
    id: "idea-1"
    total_score: 17.5
  - rank: 2
    id: "idea-3"
    total_score: 16.5

top_recommendation:
  id: "idea-1"
  title: "AnchorAI"
  rationale: "Highest combined score on weighted innovation and impact axes; team has required skills."

risk_flags:
  - id: "idea-1"
    risks:
      - "Memory persistence implementation may exceed time budget if OpenAI context window approach is chosen"

recommended_skills:
  - "hackathon-scope-cutter"

Context Files

Knowledge Base

• knowledge/hackathon-judging-criteria.md
• knowledge/hackathon-winning-patterns.md
• knowledge/hackathon-mvp-strategy.md
• knowledge/hackathon-common-failures.md

Playbooks

• playbooks/hackathon-workflow.md