INNOVATION THROUGH HACKATHONSA Three-Step Guide

*A HACKATHON IS AN EVENT WHERE PEOPLE WORK IN MIXED TEAMS TO RAPIDLY

PROTOTYPE A CONCEPT AROUND A SET CHALLENGE DURING A CONDENSED TIME FRAME.

IS YOUR COMPANY STILL TRYING TO INNOVATE USING

BRAINSWARMING OR EMPLOYEE CROWDSOURCING? EVEN THOUGH

THESE METHODS HAVE WORKED FOR SOME COMPANIES IN THE

PAST, THERE ARE MUCH BETTER WAYS TO GO ABOUT INNOVATION.

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO ACCELERATE CHANGE AND INNOVATE YOU

HAVE TO HACK YOUR BUSINESS. AND WHAT BETTER WAY THAN

TO HOST A HACKATHON* WITH EMPLOYEES AND, POTENTIALLY,

CUSTOMERS OR PARTNERS?

BESIDES BEING A QUICK WAY FOR YOUR COMPANY TO INNOVATE,

HACKATHONS CAN ALSO PROVIDE INVALUABLE EXPERIENTIAL

LEARNING AND HELP BUILD NEW CONNECTIONS WITHIN YOUR

ORGANIZATION AND BEYOND.

WE’VE PARTICIPATED IN AND HELPED CO-CREATE HACKATHONS

FOR A NUMBER OF OUR CLIENTS AND ALSO HOST INTERNAL

HACKATHONS ON A REGULAR BASIS. HERE’S OUR HOW-TO GUIDE

FOR A SUCCESSFUL EVENT, FROM IDEA TO IMPLEMENTATION

TO INNOVATION.

ACCELERATE CHANGE – HACK YOUR BUSINESS!

2IMPLEMENTATION

1IDEA

3INNOVATION

IDENTIFY A BUSINESS CHALLENGE TO BE

SOLVED DURING THE HACKATHON

IDEA

The challenge could, for example, be around

improving internal processes or designing a new

product offering.

You will also need:

> Between 1,5 and 2 days allocated for your hackathon

> Meal logistics plus snacks and drinks sorted

> A venue with a few separate rooms so that each

team can have their own space.

Time to start inviting your employees! Consider

including a few customers or partners depending on

the challenge you are trying to solve. If the hackathon

will be around enhancing your customer service, who

better to attend than customers themselves?

IDEA

GET WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR

HACKATHON FLOW

IMPLEMENTATION

ORGANIZERS/FACILITATORS

The people that take care of getting everything kicked off with an

ideation session, making sure that everyone finds a team and setting

the expectations and ground rules for the event.

You will need 2 people facilitating for every 20 people attending.

ATTENDEES/TEAMS

The most important part of any hackathon. Aim to get a good mix of

skillsets in every group; someone more design-oriented, a technical

person or developer, a third person with strong business acumen, …

Try to keep each group to between 3-5 people.

SCHEDULE

If possible, try to run your hackathon over 1,5 or 2 days. In the first case,

start in the afternoon on Day 1, work through Day 2 and finish up with

presentations in the evening. Calculate 15% for initial ideation and forming

of teams, 70% for the hacking, and 15% for final presentations.

DELIVERABLE

What’s the final thing that needs to be delivered? Tech advancement of

the project is of course nice, but there’s just not enough time to prepare

something that works really well in such a short time frame.

An idea that’s solid, tested, usable and feasible is usually what steals the

jury’s hearts. Presentations are also a great way for the teams to show off

their public speaking skills, and to find new, innovative ways of presenting

the product or service.

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IMPLEMENTATION

IMPLEMENTATION

CONSTANT TESTING

The ideas need to be market-validated as soon as possible – the earlier

the better. That’s the way to overcome confirmation bias and confront the

ideas with reality.

No need for the whole team to sit at the desk and brainstorm when

there’s a whole world out there to ask how they feel about the thing

being created.

PIVOT

The teams need to be encouraged to change their ideas even in the

most radical ways (pivot), and reminded that there’s no penalty in starting

from scratch.

We’ve seen teams win awards with stroke-of-genius ideas quickly

scribbled during the last hour of a hackathon.

MENTORING SESSIONS

Get a few extra people – ideally someone with experience within the

given challenge area – to walk around and meet with all the teams.

The mentors should be available throughout the event to listen to

concepts, provide feedback on product pitches, and give general

guidance where needed.

JUDGES (AND PRIZES)

Have a few entrepreneurs, venture capitalists or senior stakeholders to

join in as judges for who should win the hackathon. Leave enough time

for them to comment on each solution as a fun way to create some

competition between teams.

If possible, have your company buy prizes to up the ante even more.

Anything from flight tickets to Hawaii to a nice diploma and a handful of

Amazon vouchers goes!

IMPLEMENTATION

ENSURE THAT THE BEST CONCEPTS

ARE EXECUTED AND SUCCESSFUL

INNOVATION

There can be only one winner, but you might end up

with more than one promising concept. Make sure that

they are all executed by giving each team an executive

sponsor with the responsibility of making it happen.

Businesses that are prepared to change the way they

work achieve enormous productivity gains, but how do

you ensure that the initiative(s) from your hackathon is

a success? We’ve previously shared a guaranteed way

for organizations to generate a 10x ROI on enterprise

apps explaining how you can verify needs and use

cases, quantifying and prioritizing each opportunity.

And remember: never forget to involve the end users

throughout the development process. Our blog

post on why employees won’t use your app covers

common pitfalls and works as a handbook for how

you scope, release, test, and iterate when creating a

mobile solution.

INNOVATION

THE FIRST END-TO-END MOBILITY COMPANY IN THE WORLD.www.dminc.com

Hackathons are a fantastic way to engage employees, customers and partners and to hack your business.

Interested in hosting a hackathon? Looking for a partner that can help you innovate? Contact us for more information!