Hackday and [in]cubator

This is the story of the Hackday and [in]cubator programs at LinkedIn

This is the story of scalable, best-of-breed methods for driving innovation

This is the story of transformation: of your career, company, and the world

Presentation Infrastructure, hackdays, [in]cubator, engineering blog, open source

About me

hack, verb:

1. To write computer programs for enjoyment

2. To jury-rig or improvise something inelegant but effective, often as a rapid prototype or proof of concept

Terminology (just in case)

Outline

1. Internal hackdays

2. Public hackdays

3. [in]cubator history

4. [in]cubator process

5. Transform: career, company, world

6. Final thoughts

Outline

1. Internal hackdays

2. Public hackdays

3. [in]cubator history

4. [in]cubator process

5. Transform: career, company, world

6. Final thoughts

We dedicate one Friday per month to hackday

Open to all LinkedIn employees

Take the day to work on anything you want

Submit it on an internal hackday site(Hackday Master = won 3 or more hackdays)

Present the hack to the whole company

Executive staff act as judges and award prizes

www.linkedinlabs.comInternal hackday winners and experimental projects

InMapsVisualize your LinkedIn network

Year in ReviewSee who changed jobs in the last year. "The best networking email you'll get all year" (CNN).

Resume BuilderTurn your LinkedIn profile into a beautiful resume in one click

Outline

1. Internal hackdays

2. Public hackdays

3. [in]cubator history

4. [in]cubator process

5. Transform: career, company, world

6. Final thoughts

Year round; a variety of locations and themeshttp://hackday.linkedin.com

Open to hackers from all over the world

24 hours straight

eat. hack. sleep.

Tons of food

Drinks

Yoga

T-shirts

Intern Hackday DevelopHer Hackday Toronto Hackday

Industry leaders, investors, and execs as judges

Prizes

The hacker toolkit

Disclaimer: data is from public LinkedIn hackdays, self-reported, free form, ~100 responses per chart. Don't take this too seriously.

Programming languages

Web frameworks

Data storage

Mobile

Libraries

Other?

Outline

1. Internal hackdays

2. Public hackdays

3. [in]cubator history

4. [in]cubator process

5. Transform: career, company, world

6. Final thoughts

I built a great hack.How do I get it to production?

A chance to work exclusively on your idea or hack for 1-3 months

Created by a group of LinkedIn Hackday Masters

[in]cubator history

● Motivation: an official path from hackday to production

● Inspired by startup incubators and accelerators

● Incorporates learnings from a number of other companies that had similar programs (Google 20% time, Yahoo! Brickhouse, VMWare incubator, etc)

[in]cubator was the first [in]cubator project

Outline

1. Internal hackdays

2. Public hackdays

3. [in]cubator history

4. [in]cubator process

5. Transform: career, company, world

6. Final thoughts

Once per quarter

Open to all LinkedIn Employees

Submit proposals on internal [in]cubator site

[in]cubator proposal

● Description

● Team members

● Timeline

● Proof of concept or prototype

● Success metrics

● Risks, competitors

● Tech details

No one will be ever be assigned to an [in]cubator project. It's up to the team to convince anyone they need to join.

The top teams present to the execs

Judging criteria

● Impact: what value does this project bring to LinkedIn?

● Feasibility: how hard is this to build? What are the risks?

● Timeline: can v1 be done in 3 months?

● Team ability: can this team pull it off?

Open to almost any type of project

● New products

● New revenue lines

● Internal tools

● Infrastructure/technology improvements

● HR processes

● New training programs

● Philanthropic programs

Approved teams get up to 3 months of dedicated time, resources, and exec mentorship to bring their idea to life

We've had 2 rounds of [in]cubator so far4 approved projects, 1 completed, 1 [in]cubating, 2 starting soon

1st completed [in]cubator project: go/book, which has changed how we book and view meetings at LinkedIn

Outline

1. Internal hackdays

2. Public hackdays

3. [in]cubator history

4. [in]cubator process

5. Transform: career, company, world

6. Final thoughts

Why this all matters

1. Learning

2. Motivation

3. Innovation

1. Learning

In a 24 hour hackday, you can learn more about building products - and about yourself - than in a

year of university classes

Hackday, [in]cubator = learning

● Rapid prototyping

● New technologies, libraries, techniques

● Team formation, project management

● Trade-offs, scheduling, focus

● Sales pitch, design, marketing

● Stamina

Hacking regularly will make you better at your job

2. Motivation

Money can't buy happiness.

"Autonomy. Mastery. Purpose."

Dan PinkThe surprising science of motivation

Hackday, [in]cubator = motivation

● You can't buy motivation

● For creative roles (programmers, designers), money reduces motivation (mo' money, mo' problems)

● Hackday and [in]cubator = happier, more motivated, and more productive employees

"It’s hard to do a really good job on anything you don’t think about in the shower."

Paul Graham

3. Innovation

"Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Thomas Edison

Time

Maturity

Mature, stable

Proof of concept

Product development (assumption)

Idea

Time

Maturity

Mature, stable

Proof of concept

Product development (reality)

Idea

Time

Maturity

Mature, stable

Proof of concept

Product development (reality)

Idea

This is where innovation happens

Hackday, [in]cubator = innovation

● All product development is trial and error

● Hackday and [in]cubator are trial and error at light speed

● Innovation is something you do, not something you have

"Innovation is a series of small wins along a truly disruptive trajectory."

Deep Nishar

Outline

1. Internal hackdays

2. Public hackdays

3. [in]cubator history

4. [in]cubator process

5. Transform: career, company, world

6. Final thoughts

Innovation is a process

Even if not a single innovative project ever came out of hackday or [in]cubator, it would still be

worth doing.

Give one day per month back to employees. It will pay for itself many times over.

Thank you!