hackathons: driving innovation through organic creation
DESCRIPTION
Is your company a little light on the innovation side of the house? Heard about a hackathon but don’t know what it is or how it could drive innovation? Or maybe you’ve heard about them, and want to host one at your own company. At Cardinal Solutions, we’ve developed a system to enable us to run bi-annual hackathons that have resulted in some innovations for clients. In this session, we’ll talk about what a hackathon is exactly (to us), and why it is beneficial for companies with technologists to hold these types of events. We'll give some specific examples of how hackathon projects have resulted in real world innovations. Additionally, we’ll discuss different techniques of pitching your hackathon idea to your boss as well as garnering support from a diverse set of participants. We’ll also touch on tough issues like intellectual property and logistics. We’ve already done half the work for you, and we look forward to sharing our tactics! Hack the planet!TRANSCRIPT
HACKATHONS: DRIVING INNOVATION THROUGH ORGANIC CREATIONRACHEL PARSONS@PINKEERACH
HACKA-WAT?!
What it isn’t
Hacking into secured systems
Just for college kids
Writing high quality software
WHAT IT ISBUILD. COLLABORATE. BRAG.
What it is
Build something cool
Collaborate with other people
Friendly competition
HACKA-WHY?
ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE DOING ITSXSW, FACEBOOK, YAHOO, ATLASSIAN, DUOLINGO, CARDINAL SOLUTIONS, PACKARD PLACE
BENEFITS
Benefits: New Stuff
Products
Features
Bug fixes
“It was a chance to create some of the ideas for products that we always wanted, but
never had time to execute in our day-to-day jobs.”
– Duolingo’s blog on their inaugural hackathon
Benefits: Communication
Improved collaboration
New relationships
Knowledge sharing
Benefits: Morale
Engagement
Mastery
Autonomy
“Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement”
–Daniel Pink, “Drive”
HACKA-HOW?
Cardinal’s Approach
Idea Meeting
Team Prep Meeting
Hack Day
Idea Meeting
Pitch your idea in 2 minutes
Answer questions for 3 minutes
Pick projects & teams
Team Prep Meeting
Define requirements
Plan of attack
Set goals
Hack Day
Coding: 12 hours on a Saturday
Judging: 1.5 hours same day
Relax on Sunday
LOGITISTICS
Things to Consider
Know your participants
Location, food, & supplies
Consider intellectual property
HOW TO START
It’s Easy
Determine your format
Find a location
Schedule it
