Re-thinking internal hackathons: Stop focusing too much on innovation

Hackathons have become popular with companies in various industries and of different sizes. Yet there’s not enough evidence of hackathons leading to market success or better team collaboration. They usually receive criticism for being too far from business reality.

Three years ago our company completely rethought the concept of an internal hackathon and has organized two successful hackathons since then. Contrary to the usual approach, we focused on execution instead of innovation.?

Here are a few things we do differently and why we believe this approach can also benefit your organization.

Go beyond business-as-usual

Your product or service is a centerpiece of everything you do. There are processes in place that can’t be changed at the snap of a finger. That’s why we don’t treat hackathons as brainstorming sessions for our day-to-day operations.

We organize internal hackathons to implement projects that are connected with our long-term strategy but also fall outside of the daily routine. For example, during the last hackathon, we worked on an entirely new product. In 18 hours, we built a standalone application that can be integrated with OnePageCRM, our main app.?

Instead of spending time and effort on brainstorming, we developed a fully functional product with a marketing website and simple customer support processes.

If you’re not a product company, you can still find growth opportunities.?

Imagine you’re running a management consulting business. If your website is heavily focused on written content, you can explore webinars instead.?

In this case, during your internal hackathon, you can have the whole team working on the webinar project: from the technical, content, marketing, and operations sides.

Focus on one project

Every internal hackathon organized by OnePageCRM is carefully planned by the CEO, CTO, and CMO long before it happens.?

For a hackathon, we come up with one project that falls in line with our long-term strategy. It’s always an ambitious initiative that we want to implement in the future.?

Our hackathons are not a competition. There’s no “ta-da” solution or a Eureka moment. Before presenting the project to the team, the management thoroughly researches and identifies business opportunities that we want to explore further.?

The day before the hackathon I unveil the project to the team, explain the reasons behind it, break it down into smaller parts, and delegate tasks to different team members depending on their skills and qualifications.?

Instead of separating the team into small competing groups working on different ideas in isolation, we focus together on one big project that aligns with our strategy.??

Get it done

The Getting Things Done productivity methodology inspired our USP and the whole company culture. It’s deeply rooted in everything we do. And this is how we approach internal hackathons too.?

We aim to have a working MVP by the end of the hackathon. This MVP is different for different departments. While it can be a collection of promo materials from the marketing team, the customer success team will work on customer support processes and guidelines.?

Although these are different types of MVPs, they are all connected to the main project which is the headliner of the hackathon.

Keep it real

When you give your team an open-ended task, for example, “develop a mobile-first feature that will increase the Android app usage”, the team might come up with creative but unrealistic ideas.?

Some of these ideas might have already been discussed and dismissed by management due to various factors that the team is not aware of. And you can’t expect them to know about every single discussion that the Board of Directors or the leadership team had.

That’s why we carefully select projects that make it to our internal hackathons. They are always specific, sustainable, and feasible. We call it a keep-it-real approach. It helps us ensure that we don’t spend time working on something that doesn’t stand a chance against the brutal reality of the business world.?

Have fun

Hackathons require a lot of effort from your team and prolonged concentration. Although they can be a fun experience, everyone has a different work style and pace.

Here are a few things we do to avoid hackathon fatigue:

• Our hackathons take place only on weekdays. We keep weekends work-free.
• Everyone can take as many breaks as they need.
• We have regular stretching sessions, food delivery to the office, and pizza and drinks in the evening.
• Since the hackathon lasts for 18 hours from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m., we start the next working day late to have enough time for rest.

Carry on

There’s only one project that we work on during the hackathon, so it makes it easier for us to ensure that it’s not put in a drawer.?

Once the hackathon is over, the management team creates a plan of action for this project and keeps it running in parallel with our daily operations. During quarterly meetings, we share brief updates on the status of the project and its progress.

Final word: Hackathons can help your company grow

Organizing an internal hackathon is a great way to give your team a break from the usual operations, let them work on a strategic task, explore and question ideas, and approach work from a fresh perspective.

We are a small company and we believe that even small companies can organize successful hackathons and benefit from them.?

By learning from other hackathons and removing the most common inefficiencies, we managed to create an environment where everyone contributes to the company’s strategy and vision.

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By the way, OnePageCRM is hiring. Check out our open positions: https://www.onepagecrm.com/careers/