How to win your next Company Hackathon

Next week we will have our annual company hackathon at Wix.
I’ve won the last 2 hackathons we had so I have a reputation to hold, I’ve already assembled my team and we are going to win it!

Why I love Company Hackathons
First and foremost — It’s fun! At our day to day job we usually work on long projects, it takes time until you give a big value to your customers. We don’t often get the opportunity to create a real product in a few days.
I think it gets out the creative side in me. I also become very very competitive which is a nice change.
Another great feature is getting to work with new people. I take this opportunity to assemble a team with people I don’t work with on a daily bases, It’s a great way to get to know people better.

Hackathon Rules are there to be broken ;)

The rules
Different companies have different expectations for hackathons.
At Wix the most important rule is that you have to have a working product to demo. No mock-ups are allowed.
You get 3 working days and have to present on the 4th day.
Some of the previous hackathons had a “theme”, for example, we had a WixCode hackathon before it was launched so we could all test it internally. This year there are no limitations on the subject and technology.
Each team is up to 6 people, with a limit of 4 people from the same guild and 3 from the same company (read here to find out about our Guilds and Companies structure).

My team from the last Hackathon in a welcomed paintball break

Ready to start?
I am. here are my top tips for a successful hackathon:

1. Don’t be afraid to think big! I always get shocked looks when I tell people about my ideas. Then people giggle and ask me if I realize I only have 3 days. But I think this is the opportunity to try and get something big done. It doesn’t have to have 100% of the features, it needs to be good enough that the judges see the great potential. If people around you think the idea is crazy in 3 days — so will the judges, it will give you extra credit for succeeding.
2. Look for the pains. I’m not a very creative person, I don’t have any ideas for the next big startup. That’s why I look for what hurts the most internal or external. This year, for the second time, My team will be re-writing a painful internal system. Every company has those, systems people use a lot and grumble about. This is a great opportunity to make life easier for them and earn credit for helping.
3. Choose nice people for the team. The goal is to have fun, some people become nasty when they get very competitive. I don’t want them on my team. I want people that I will be able to laugh with when we stress about a bug at the late hours.
4. Have a defined leader. It’s true for everything at life, but especially when there is a stressful deadline. There needs to be one person that will make the decisions about priorities, task assignments etc. It doesn’t mean she/he are the only ones that make decisions, but it does mean that when there is a disagreement it’s agreed they will have the last word. On such short schedule, decisions need to be made fast.
5. Plan in advance. We’re not allowed to start working before the hackathon, but there is no rule against thinking and brainstorming. I consult with everyone I can think of and try to gather ideas so when we’ll start working we will already have a general idea of the system we’re writing.
6. Recruit limited resources first. In our company, there are a lot of developers, but a lot fewer designers and UX. My team always ends up without one. That’s why this year I started by looking for a UX and found one early. Unfortunately, it didn’t help me because she had to cancel on us so we’re without one yet again.
7. Help other teams. It’s a competition and yet we have to remember to be friendly. If you help others you will also get help when you need. At the last hackathon we “exchanged” a developer from our team for a few hours for a designer from another team. both teams profited and it was great meeting more people from the other team :)
8. Think of how you can split areas of responsibility between the members of the team. It helps if each member can have a separate area he/she is working on and can concentrate on that.
9. Don’t forget to enjoy it!!!

Gabi and Slava after too many hours of coding :D

That’s it. My team is assembled and We’re ready to go — Wish us luck!
Stay tuned for my live hackathon journal next week — follow me here or on twitter