The Ignite team returned to the Monash University Master’s program this year, as part of our longstanding relationship with the renowned tertiary institute.
This year saw Kris and Mitch return, along with Raji, in her first experience as a mentor to the graduates.
“It was a really good experience. I was really surprised with how focused the graduates were on developing use cases and solutions based on context – the why, what, who and how – rather than jumping into available technologies,” said Raji. “And they are so quick! One of the use cases was an educational app for children to learn about recycling. Once they had finalised the groundwork around the need and build, they were incredibly effective in creating and launching the app. It was just like the games my child plays now. Very talented!”

This year, the graduates were tasked with developing solutions to address real world problems in three categories – ‘Bridging Cultures’, ‘Reduce Inequalities’, and ‘Climate Action’. As mentors, the Ignite team’s role was to guide graduates in developing sound business cases, adopting the many hats required in the workforce when pitching a use case to address opportunities or problems.
“During the early sessions, the teams first presentations were centered on presenting problem statement and walking through a build/phase plan,” said Mitch. “What needed to evolve in the pitch was thinking beyond the technical scope. Thinking about the people financing the solution, tailoring the pitch with a benefits analysis for that business function, along with others.”
With that in mind, the teams were then able to develop more cohesiveness in their team, naturally allocating tasks and roles based on the strengths of their colleagues.
“Once they started to get more comfortable with each other and the requirements of the project in terms of selling and developing the idea, roles formed and subject matter experts evolved in their designated areas,” added Mitch. “We came in for a second presentation, acting like we hadn’t seen the first, and their pitches had improved dramatically. Now they were effectively articulating the problem, the benefit, and the plan to address it through the lens of those using it, financing it and building it.”
“The scope was tighter as well, which was good to see. The graduates were very much focused on acquiring knowledge or learning something new out of necessity to the plan, rather than playing with something new,” added Kris.
An interesting observation from the Ignite team was the drive for the project teams to gamify their solutions.
“Indie game development is big in Melbourne, and it really came through with this year’s cohort,” said (a rather enthusiastically) Mitch. “With the final week of the program coinciding with the final week of PAX, there’s a real opportunity for graduates who interested in gamification to get involved and learn from the wider gaming community in Melbourne.”
“It was surprising and pleasing to see. Gamification carries its own challenges and focuses, on top of presenting and discussing ideas to address real world problems in innovative ways.”