Common feedback on proposals

[Federico Capoano]

Hi everyone,

I noticed some common mistakes in all the proposals, so I want to take advantage to share the advice we are giving each one of you publicly here so it may be useful to all.

Images are worth a thousand words

Focus on the how

The main thing to focus on is the "Project Implementation" section.

The goal of your proposal is to show that you studied the problem, you studied the code of the software and you got a pretty good idea of how you are going to implement the solution to the problem.

Images are worth a thousand words

In most proposals there's not enough UI mock-ups for critical user interactions.

I have seen very few diagrams (maybe only one) and they didn't make much sense, it felt to me that the diagram was just being added as a filler.

The point of the images is to show with an image what you are trying to communicate with words.

Videos are even better, especially if you have a running prototype.

Too much filler content

Don't bloat your proposals with irrelevant information or images, don't try to explain how OpenWISP works to us, you're just wasting everyone's time and are losing points.

If you haven't well studied the problem at hand, nor the code, your proposal is not going to sound convincing and there's no amount of filler words that are going to get you accepted.

Critical info should be in the proposal, not on github

Make sure critical information is in the proposal.

Use github for code samples, prototypes, instructions for running the prototype.

Generative AI is easy to spot

Trying to sell us AI generated work as yours makes you look bad.

It's ok to use AI to improve your work, it's not ok to not do any work and delegate everything to AI, this shows lack of effort and it's a big turn off.

What we want to see

• Genuine effort
• Show comprehension
• Passion in explaining your idea with words, images, videos
• Authentic writing style

Best regards

Federico Capoano

OpenWISP OÜ

Kotkapoja tn 2a-10, 10615, Harju maakond, Tallinn, Estonia

VAT: EE101989729

+372 59361689

openwisp.io

[Federico Capoano]

Please everyone, make sure your proposal matches the title of the project ideas.

We are getting a lot of spam and low quality AI generated proposals with titles and text that have nothing to do with the project ideas.

Filtering the good proposals among the garbage is becoming challenging.

Therefore, make sure the title of your proposal matches the title used in the project idea.

Federico