Hackathons — why diversity is important
They are referenced as anything from collaborative tech events to 24 hour long invention marathons. However you describe a hackathon, we can all agree that their real value is the speed and agility with which they come up with truly excellent prototypes that disrupt conventional thinking, allow participants to share and extend learning, and add real value to teams, organisations, whole sectors and beyond.
Often hackathons bring together the same group of people on a subject they all know well, and champion regularly. Of course, this expertise is invaluable, and spending a weekend with people you already know and like is no bad thing — in fact it’s awesome. But if we think about the USP of a hackathon, it’s really grounded in pushing boundaries; no holds barred, quick and dirty innovation to create a different solution. This stream of new ideas becomes harder without also seeking input from a stream of new people.
We’ve been playing around for a while with the idea that getting different people in the room leads to different, possibly better, outcomes. That’s how we’ve sold large private and public sector organisations on the idea of hackathons — bring in the technologists to positively disrupt your thinking. To think the same would go for disrupting the technologists at a hackathon is just common sense.
It wasn’t until last year, however, when we ran Accountability Hack 2015 alongside Parliament’s Tracy Green and the National Audit Office’s Nick Halliday, that we saw first hand the huge benefit of diversifying a specifically public sector hackathon audience. We welcomed user experience architects, students, researchers, and copywriters among others to Accountability Hack. We hadn’t intended for it, or worked hard to get it, but this diversity offered a refreshingly different perspective. And let me tell you, now, we wouldn’t plan an event without it.
In a first for many of us, Accountability Hack saw a participant standup at the Show & Tell, present the beginnings of a project, and then proceed to explain how he eventually stopped building after discovering there was no user need. Instead of carrying on with an unnecessary build, he then went on to help others with their projects, and continue some great conversations with his fellow hackers. We loved the honesty. But more than that, we loved the value it showed in having user researchers as part of the hackathon.
With all of this in mind, we created UKGovHack with the express aim of connecting as varied and expansive an audience as possible. Hacking inside government and the public sector was a major coup, but seven-ish years on we need to ask how do we stay ahead of the curve? We want to recreate that perfect storm of different disciplines, ideas and priorities to not only think about the next step, but actually take it.
We have also extended the hackathon to include two conference streams. For those with less experience of a hackathon, or less interest in the prototyping, the conference is just as inventive and aspirational a place to convene to share hopes and frustrations, while learning from each other to collaborate on solutions to make a difference.
In three weeks time at UKGovHack 2016, we’re lucky enough to have the established community alongside those aged under 18, non-techy subject enthusiasts, civil servants and more, all bringing their unique insight to affect real change in the public sector. Tickets have sold out, but we will be covering the whole weekend extensively on social media, including live streaming certain portions of the event. Whether you are joining us in person or online, make sure we hear your voice.
