how and why we run internal hackdays
TRANSCRIPT
HowMelinda Seckington
@mseckington
Why&
WeR nternaliackdays
unH i
2008
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Developer
Blogger
Speaker
Event Organiser
ackdaysHi
Hacking at hackdays
Organising hackdays
Running
ackdaysHnternali
To pioneer the best
social learning experiences
for everyone, everywhere
How Create
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learn on your own
learn from each other
learn from the community
learn by teaching
learn on your own
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learn from the community
learn by teaching
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where
who
why
when
how
why
why are you running the hackday?
why
is there a specific theme?
where
who
why
when
how
who is the hackday for?
who
limited to devs/designers?
who
entire company?
external guests?
if everyone:
who
how do you involve everybody?
does everyone need to code?
where
who
why
when
how
where
where are you running the hackday?
where
external vs
internal
where
who
why
when
how
when are you running the hackday?
when
how many days?
when
weekday vs weekend
specific days tricky for certain teams?
timing with other events?
where
who
why
when
how
how
how are you running the hackday?
how
demos?
prizes?
schedule?
judges?
food?
where
who
why
when
how
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may 2014
futurelearn hackday
where
who
why
when
how
Highlight talent & creativity among the team
Get people working across teams
why
Highlight talent & creativity among the team
Get people working across teams
who
why
Let people be creative and experiment!
why
How do we make clear that people can work on
what they want?
What can I work on?
Whatever you want. Well, as long as it is related to FutureLearn in some way or another.
Has there always been one thing you wish FutureLearn did? Got some crazy idea that you’d love to experiment with? Go ahead and build it!
Our hacks should showcase what FutureLearn could be, so your ideas can range from features that we could add tomorrow to something completely blue sky.
why
How do we make clear that people can work on
what they want?
where
who
why
when
how
Everyone in the company
Everyone in the company
whowhy
How to get everyone involved?
who
Do I need to know how to code?
Nope, you don’t! Hacking is all about playing with technology and using it in new and creative ways. For our hackday it means coming up with new ideas for FutureLearn and creating something to showcase that idea, be it in code, in semi-decipherable whiteboard scribbles, or in interpretive song and dance.
whowhy
where
who
why
when
how
Our office
where
How to make sure people don’t get distracted by
the day-to-day?
where
Create a hackspace
where
where
who
why
when
how
Full day 10:00 - 17:00
when
where
who
why
when
how
Allow people to form their own teams and choose
hack ideas
how
Hack Whiteboard
how
howWhat next?
1. Checkout the whiteboard, get inspired and add your idea
2. Add +1 to any idea you like, add your name to ones you’re interested in working on
3. Talk to people! Think you need a developer or a designer to pair with during the day? Talk to them beforehand to see if they want to help out
4. Think about which tools you might need to install beforehand
5. Check out the Slack #hackday channel for inspiration
3 minute demos 1 prize
Audience vote
how
where
who
why
when
how
stats16 hacks
23 people
?what did we learn?
1Lots of discussion to form teams, less hacking
lessons learnt
2Not everyone was sure they should join a team
lessons learnt
3Lots of great ideas, but only one got rewarded
lessons learnt
4What happens with the ideas after the hackday?
lessons learnt
may 2014
futurelearn hackday
july 2014
growth hackday
where
who
why
when
how
whyThis hackday we want to generate as many hacks as possible around how we can grow our number of
registered users.
We want you to come up with any ideas that can help grow our user base - from small changes on the platform to creative concepts for other corners of
the web.
why
How to encourage people to come up with different
and lots of ideas?
why
Prize categories: Most likely to grow awareness of FutureLearn offline Most likely to grow awareness of FutureLearn online Most likely to increase new registrations Most likely to improve number of shares Most likely to reduce bounce rate Most likely to improve conversion from sign up to active learner Best use of social media Simplest change we can make Best hack inspired by data Best international hack
where
who
why
when
how
when
Half day 13:00 - 17:00
where
who
why
when
how
1Lots of discussion to form teams, less hacking
lessons learnt
how
2Not everyone was sure they should join a team
lessons learnt
how
how
Hack Whiteboard
where
who
why
when
how
stats19 hacks
33 people
?what did we learn?
1Too many hacks!
lessons learnt
1Don’t promise one thing and then do something else
lessons learnt
2Half day is too short
lessons learnt
3Judging took too much time
lessons learnt
4Not everyone felt comfortable just joining a team
lessons learnt
july 2014
growth hackday
december 2014
christmas hackday
where
who
why
when
how
why
This time around we want you all to create something that is
full of delight, play or fun for our users.
where
who
why
when
how
when
The day before the Christmas Party
where
who
why
when
how
4Not everyone felt comfortable just joining a team
lessons learnt
how
how
How can we encourage everyone to participate?
how
How can we get people working across teams?
how
Pre-assigned teams
how
5 minutes to present per team
how
Challenges + leaderboard
howChallenges:
Wear clothes with colours from the FutureLearn gradient (blue to pink to yellow)
Bring a Secret Santa present in the theme of delight & play, for less than £8.53
Find the hidden chocolate coins
Solve the cryptic riddles
Make your own lunch and be creative!
Perform a song/poem with FutureLearn as the topic (they can be based on real songs and poems).
how
where
who
why
when
how
stats14 hacks
48 people
7 teams
?what did we learn?
1Teams worked
lessons learnt
2Challenges were fun for ‘this’ hackday
lessons learnt
december 2014
christmas hackday
june 2015
partner hackday
where
who
why
when
how
why
Explore ideas from and for our partners
why
Show our partners our team and how we work
where
who
why
when
how
who
Invite representatives from each of our partners
where
who
why
when
how
when
The day after our Partner Forum
where
who
why
when
how
how
How can we encourage people to participate?
how
Emails and blog posts explaining what the day
was for
how
Pre-assigned teams + Google Docs +
Slack
where
who
why
when
how
stats21 hacks
43 partners
10 teams
38 fl-ers
?what did we learn?
1Developers & designers felt stretched
lessons learnt
2How to share what effect the hackday had?
lessons learnt
june 2015
partner hackday
december
christmas
june 2015
partner hackday
december 2014
christmas hackday
july 2014
growth hackday
may 2014
futurelearn hackday
?what did we learn?
1communicate
2reflect
3iterate
Melinda Seckington
@mseckingtonFutureLearn