My Hack Day learnings..
Hack Day or Hackathon. We engineers know exactly what we mean when this word is stated. A time of away from your normal day job, away from the Product backlog, away from the agile cycle to experiement with something new and different while actually learning something. Hack days represent a chance to practice the craft in its purest sense.
Here at Travelex, we ran our 3rd Hack Day. However, it was the first one we ran with huge amounts of buy-in from internal stakeholders and one which was supported infectiously by stellar Travelex team.
The uptake of the hack day was exceptional. Engineers from three global locations, 17 hacks submitted of very high quality. Guess what — we really did experiment and we learnt a lot.
Here’s my top take aways from our biggest Hack Day so far;
Outcome, outcome, outcome
Those who were able to focus on the final outcome really did well to put their name into the awards hat in front of the Hornet Nest judges. Simply put, if you were able to reach the stated goal — you had a great shot at making it a winning hack.
Infact, the top 4 hacks has an almost instant application in the Travelex eco system. One of them, is actually being used for live operations to support the Production platform by the end the hack day!
Solve known business problems
This goes without saying. Second to having a measurable outcome, is to ensure you solve a real problem. A problem that exists and one that people can identify with. The hacks which experimented with code or physical devices uncovered some real talent and passions in the teams. However, it was the hacks which solved known issues in the team which gained attention from the judging panel and more importantly the audience (who also voted for the People’s Choice Award).
The wider business
Travelex has stellar team. Involving the wider business at the start of the ideation stage of the Hack made the difference between a hack running for Engineers and one which recognises the talents we had broadly.
The hack day went from an Engineering only event, to one showcasing the passion and energy for the innovation and improvement in the business.
Looking back. No other forum could have achieved this in a single day. Colloraboration was isntant amongst people and teams who ordinarily did not have an opportunity to work together, energy was at an all time high.
In a final salute. Thanks to the hack day teams and all those individuals who made this a Travelex Success. Onto HackDay18.
Take a look a the blog post below and video..
https://currency-solutions.travelex.com/hack-day.html
