Phase 2: Crystallization (Forming & Aligning)

Duration

Days 2-3

Core Question

What wants to be built here?

The Purpose

You’ve gathered raw insight. Now it’s time to crystallize that wisdom into a buildable hypothesis—a clear north star that will guide your technical work while keeping you rooted in community truth.

Role Alignment: Building Your Capacity Team

Traditional hackathons assign roles like “frontend developer” or “project manager.” At CATS, we work differently. You’re building capacity-generating roles that create value beyond code.

Assign these roles thoughtfully within your team:

1. The Weaver (1-2 people)

Maintains ongoing relationships with community stakeholders.
Orchestrates feedback loops between team and community.
Ensures the project serves, not extracts.
Guards against mission drift.

2. The Scribe (1 person)

Documents the journey in narrative form.
Captures quotes, insights, and turning points.
Prepares the final case study.
Makes the invisible work visible.

3. The Developers (2-4 people)

Technical implementation using Cardano blockchain.
Ensures “Speed to Trust” in all interfaces.
Builds for the least tech-savvy user in the community.
Creates open, auditable, maintainable code.

4. The Bridge (can be the Weaver or a dedicated role)

Takes prototypes back to the community for validation.
Translates between technical and non-technical worlds.
Tests assumptions against Ground Truth.
Brings reality checks before teams go too far down wrong paths.

[!TIP] Guiding Principle: Every role is essential. The Weaver is as important as the lead developer.

The Emergent Learning Matrix

This is your sense-making tool. Create a large four-quadrant grid (poster paper works well) and continuously populate it as you work.

How to use it:

Ground Truth (bottom-left): Start here. Fill this with concrete observations.
- “80% of vendors are women over 50.”
- “Mobile money is used but not trusted.”
- “Elders mentioned a failed project in 2019.”
Insights (top-right): Move to patterns and surprises.
- “Trust is visual—people need to see transactions happen.”
- “The real barrier isn’t technology, it’s literacy.”
- “Young people want to participate but feel excluded from decision-making.”
Hypotheses (bottom-right): Form testable beliefs.
- “If we create a picture-based interface, adoption will increase.”
- “A physical receipt + digital record might bridge the trust gap.”
Opportunities (top-left): Define what you’ll build.
- “A marketplace with visual verification.”
- “A community treasury with elder oversight.”
- “A micro-credential system for local skills.”

Update this matrix daily. Your final case study will draw heavily from this artifact.

[!TIP] Guiding Principle: Good solutions come from good questions, which come from good listening.

Crystallizing Your Build Statement

By the end of Phase 2, you should be able to complete this sentence as a team:

“We are building [WHAT] for [WHOM] because [GROUND TRUTH] revealed that [INSIGHT], and we believe [HYPOTHESIS] will create [OPPORTUNITY].”

This becomes your north star. When you’re stuck, return to this statement.