Hackfests are great mechanisms to kickstart the minimum viable product (mvp) for many bots/agents in a very short time. However, just because you are working to a tight timescale doesn't mean you should sacrifice good engineering practices. So if you're building a bot and want some assistance, checkout the resources below. This isn't an exhaustive list, so if you find a useful that drops into any of the below categories then let me know:
Agile & DevOps
VSTS Agile planning for a bot hackfest/mvp: https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/UKDX/March-Uk-Hack-Fest/Agile-Planning-with-VSTS
Intro to the bot framework from a devops perspective: https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/DevOps-for-the-Bot-Framework
Development & Getting Started
If you like to learn by example, then checkout the open source samples in the following github repos:
BotFramework C# Samples: https://github.com/Microsoft/BotBuilder/tree/master/CSharp
BotFramework Node.js Samples: https://github.com/Microsoft/BotBuilder/tree/master/Node
Bot Framework Scenario based samples: https://github.com/Microsoft/BotBuilder-Samples
Testing
Make sure your bot is fit for purpose:
Using ngrok for locahost testing: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/jamiedalton/2016/07/29/ms-bot-framework-ngrok/
Unit and functional testing for bots: https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/DevOps-for-the-Bot-Framework/Testing-the-Bot-Framework
Unit testing for bots: https://www.microsoft.com/reallifecode/2017/01/20/unit-testing-for-bot-applications/
See how unit testing is done in the BotBuilder SDK: https://github.com/Microsoft/BotBuilder
Telemetry & Dashboards
Track how users are engaging with your bot in production:
Adding custom telemetry to your bot: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/jamiedalton/2016/07/11/ms-bot-framework-formflow-build-and-deploy-a-bot-with-ease/
Visualising telemetry in your bot with Application Insights Analytics and PowerBI: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/jamiedalton/2017/04/03/telemetry-in-your-bot-with-application-insights-analytics-and-powerbi/
Custom Dashboard for bots using App Insights: https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/DevOps-for-the-Bot-Framework/Telemetry-for-the-Bot-Framework
Bot Analytics Dashboard: https://channel9.msdn.com/events/Build/2017/P4160
Bot Analytics Dashboard repo: https://github.com/CatalystCode/ibex-dashboard
Continuous Integration & Continuous Deployment
Time to deploy:
CI/CD bot -> Azure walk through: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/jamiedalton/2017/03/08/devops-with-bots-cicd-pipeline-with-the-botframework-and-azure-end-to-end-walkthrough/
Implementing Continuous Integration Builds for bots:
Infinity & Beyond
Managing security tokens, LUIS retraining etc..
LUIS app secrets: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/jamiedalton/2017/07/13/using-luisdialog-with-configurationmanager-or-environment-variables-for-your-keyssecrets/
Advanced considerations: https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/DevOps-for-the-Bot-Framework/More-Bot-Demos-and-Advanced-Considerations
Want more help? For a wide ranging, list of other bot resources checkout my colleague Simon Michael's page: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/smich/2016/09/30/microsoft-bot-framework-resources/