How Hackdays help Business.

Technological advancement and innovation have been the drivers of business growth over the past few years. Hackdays are a proud tradition in Silicon Valley, where innovation is nothing short of a company's lifeblood. They foster the idea of people coming together from different teams, departments and business units who brainstorming to boost business.

Hackdays foster innovation

Run An Empire, began life at a hack event. A team of five friends and colleagues took part in a Geovation challenge weekend (a hub created for businesses to innovate within their geospatial area), which asked participants to use Ordnance Survey map data to encourage people to get outdoors. A strategy running game that takes place in the real world around you gamifies conquering lands in the name of your empire by running (or jogging or walking) around them.

"Experimenting is what makes hackdays fun, as opposed to trying too hard to make something perfect. Participants should use the experience to do things outside their comfort zone that they enjoy and want to return to" advises Mr Barker. (Co-Founder, Run An Empire)

Low cost high speed implementation helps individuals to think beyond business profits and co-create impactful solutions. The next million dollar idea may just be snubbed off for it's feasibility and non alignment to business objectives, it's thus important to not lose focus on innovation and new idea generation.

Hackdays help in breaking down organizational silos

Hubble, an online property marketplace used an internal hackday as a team-building exercise and also to identify and fulfill new opportunities. The goals were to solve an existing problem within the business, or identify an area for new revenue. The teams built their ideas and pitched them to new customers. The winners even made two new sales on the day, and some of the ideas were later developed to become permanent additions to Hubble’s website.

Hackdays can be used as levers to promote collaboration at work and drive the value of team work from top to bottom. An environment which promotes experimentation with low accountability help individuals contribute towards ideas and increases shared responsibility. Working as individuals and not as a structured team promotes a flat structure. Everyone contributes and the success of the plan depends on shared responsibility and team work.

When you work on a small team focused on a common interest for 24 intense hours, you can't help but create strong relationships that last. The experience boosts team-building as people gain new empathy and appreciation for what their peers do in different parts of the organization.

Being a part of a Hackday

Recently I participated in a hackday at LinkedIn. We as a team dedicated an entire day brainstorming on how to improvise an internal tool we make use of. We built wire-frames and presented our ideas Working with experts from various fields helped me understand their view of the business scenario and how they solve problems. Contributions to the idea came from individuals based out of different locations and working in different departments. The process had us invested and we believed the idea could solve the problem. It's interesting to witness the power of collaboration.