Get your hackath-on
At Threefold we recently held a hackathon at our new offices. This was a day for the team to break away from more regular work and do something a little different.
Why we did it
We ran the hackathon to:
- Tackle real problems as a team
- Encourage innovation
- Help build relationships
It proved to be a fun day for everyone, where all disciplines got to flex their creative muscles and come up with imaginative ways to solve business problems as a team.
How we did it
Preparation was key. A group of us got together and pitched ideas about how to best run the day. A plan quickly came together.
Picking a day that works
We ran our Hackathon on a Thursday in the run-up to Christmas. This was perfect as many of our team work remotely on Fridays and, with Christmas approaching, many projects were winding down.
Be intentional about the day you pick, choosing one well in advance to give your team plenty of notice.
Promotion
We made some teaser posters for the day and posted them around the office (see the resources below). This generated interest, and we followed up with info about the day through an office Slack channel.
The Slack messages informed everyone about the day and had a call to action — “Submit your ideas”. This worked really well, with lots of ideas being submitted.
What we did
Threefold is an Agora company, and on the day we had three teams working on three ideas:
- A way to improve the recruitment process at Threefold.
- A way to reduce the Threefold’s carbon footprint.
- A way to improve the wellbeing of staff at the Agora.
D-day execution
Having planned the format and materials for the day in advance, we were ready to go. Tim, our hack-master general, ran the day. Having a person dedicated to overseeing things was great. It kept the day organised and gave the team space to concentrate on what they wanted to achieve from the day. Tim also regularly checked-in with teams, bouncing suggestions and ideas off them, making sure they were on track for the end-of-day presentation. He also had a few breakout games over the day. This was great for taking a quick break and keeping the mood up across the teams.
The format was set out in a slide-deck that we used over the course of the day (again, see the resources below). This worked a treat.
Schedule
Roughly, this was how it played out:
9.00 Tim announces teams (3 teams) 🎯
9.05 Tim announces challenges 🧗🏼♂️
9.15 How solutions will be assessed and how they should be presented ✅
9.20 Win your challenge/workspace game — This was a challenge to see who could keep a hacky sack in the air the longest. It was great fun and the winning team got to choose what challenge they’d like to work on, and what space they worked in for the day 🤾🏻♀️
9.30 Start hacking 👷♂️🛠👷🏽♀️
11.15 Break game — Countdown Conundrum ⏰
11.30 Back to the hack 👷♂️🛠👷🏽♀️
12.30 Food for the troops — Pizza arrives 🍕
1.15 Energiser game (Charades) 🙊
4.15 Present your solutions. We had 1 person present and gave 10 minutes per presentation. We made an allowance for assistance with technical demos. 🎤
5.00 Announce the winners! 🥇
5.30 Drinks 🍻🍹
Hack scoring
- Creativity (10 points)
- Innovation (10 points)
- UX (10 points)
- Execution (10 points)
- Team spirit (10 points)
- Presentation (bonus 5 points)
The result
The main outcomes of the day were great teaming, creativity, and ideas Threefold can use in the year ahead.
Too often we turn to those in the same roles as our own, or those we’re working with on the latest project for some insight. Getting people who usually don't work side-by-side together on a team really showed us the importance of not getting caught in work silos. With a variety of perspectives on each team, there was some real innovation. The teams that took all views on board, and thought outside-the-box had the most interesting solutions at the end of the day. Everybody had a blast, and the mood in the office was terrific. A great way to finish the year.
Resources
If you’d like to organise your own hackathon, check out these free resources we used on the day. This includes our promo posters and GIFs, our slide deck, and games we ran through the day. More than enough to get you started!
