The last week of the quarter is special. Not because we’re gathering data and admiring our growth (though we do that too). We take a week out of every quarter to do an internal hackathon.
What Does an Internal Hackathon Look Like?
First off, since it’s internal, we are literally all on the same team. Our hackathons aren’t competitions. They are an opportunity to take a break from our regular work while still producing something of value.
We start by setting up a Confluence page where team members can nominate projects. You can set whatever parameters you want on what types of projects are eligible, but they might include:
Contributing to an external Open Source project
Building a pet feature
Dealing with a bit of technical debt that’s been nagging you
Creating a Proof of Concept for a new app
Learning a new skill
Once the list has been finalized, team members say which projects they’re interested in working on. We may select one project to work on together, or we may break into small groups, or even work on individual projects.
Rituals
The week starts with a kick-off meeting. Everyone confirms that they have finalized (committed) what they were working on before, then we define the scope of the hackathon project(s) and everyone’s role. First tasks are identified so we can get started quickly.
After the initial meeting, we may conduct daily check-ins to ensure everyone stays focused. If were working on multiple projects, each team works on their own schedule, organized to meet their needs.
The week ends with a celebration. Since we’re working remotely that means that everyone is allotted an amount of money to spend on takeout and encouraged to share photos of their food in Slack. We then join together on a Slack call to demonstrate the results our work.
Costs and Benefits
The celebratory treats at the end are the only extra expenses, but it’s fair to ask if taking the team members off of their “real” work for a week is a prudent business decision. We believe it is. These diversions are investments, in our employees (both in terms of teamwork and skill building); in our current products when the time is used toward tackling technical debt; and in our future when we use the time to create new features or products.
Hackathons are refreshing because they shake up the normal dynamic. Breaking out of our typical work patterns allows team members to take on different roles and discover new strengths. Time pressure makes everyone work with new enthusiasm.
The synergy unleashed by the hackathon carries forward when we return to our regular work. It is a tool that helps fight burnout and stimulate creativity. And along with the myriad of ways it benefits teamwork, hackathons can also be the place where great new apps get started.
Our first two hackathons resulted in a new app, which we released to the Marketplace in February. We used the first one to build a proof of concepts and the second one to make it ready for production. We now have an MVP which we can now validate and improve upon. Not bad for two week’s work.
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