Ever surprise why your groups battle to innovate past their roadmap? They’re possible too busy holding the lights on to step again and rethink what’s potential.
I get it — I’ve spent 20 years in software program, continuously balancing the pull of delivering recognized outcomes in opposition to the necessity to discover what’s subsequent. It’s a tricky tradeoff, however one I’ve wrestled with lengthy sufficient to know this: for those who don’t create house for innovation, it received’t occur.
At G2, we’ve advanced our method over time, beginning with one thing easy — giving individuals the respiration room to sort out concepts they wished they’d time for. That small shift grew into one thing a lot greater: a two-week hackathon experiment that has constantly advanced.
On this article, I’ll stroll you thru that journey — not as a prescriptive playbook, however as an invite to experiment in your individual approach. As a result of innovation isn’t about having the proper technique — it’s about making house for what’s potential.
G2’s journey to innovation: chore week to hackathons
Each experiment begins with a speculation. However in software program supply, there’s one other essential issue: the urge for food for that experiment. How a lot time are we keen to put money into exploring the unknown?
The reply to that’s normally dictated by the corporate’s stage and tradition. Some organizations have by no means seen innovation performed nicely, making the concept of groups spending per week or extra in unstructured work a tough no.
And actually, I get it. Betting on an undefined final result can really feel dangerous. However does that imply innovation is out of attain? By no means. Begin smaller. Are you able to carve out a day? A day? Show the worth in increments, and over time, that urge for food will develop.
At G2, I used to be lucky to work with founders who already noticed the worth of innovation, which meant we began with a bigger urge for food. However that didn’t imply we all the time bought it proper. Our journey, from chore week to the ultimate hackathon, has been stuffed with classes, iterations, and surprising turns, every shaping how we foster innovation in the present day.
Chore week: the respiration pause
Within the early days, our method to innovation wasn’t about constructing the subsequent large factor — it was about catching our breath. Our groups have been pushing exhausting to ship options, however in that relentless drive, we weren’t all the time leaving the codebase in a state that inspired long-term innovation. So, we carved out time to return, refactor, and clear up patterns: a chore week. We mainly carried out a reset button for the code.
Nonetheless, this effort revealed that one of many greatest boundaries to innovation isn’t only a lack of time — it’s the technical debt that makes future innovation more durable. If you transfer quick however don’t constantly form the code into one thing maintainable and extensible, you create friction for each future thought.
Whereas this method helped us enhance our code high quality, it didn’t spark a lot inspiration. Nothing groundbreaking got here out of it, simply small quality-of-life enhancements that made growth a little bit simpler. In some methods, it even despatched the fallacious message: it was okay to ship subpar code so long as we had a “chore week” to wash it up later. It was a mandatory first step, however we shortly realized that if we needed to push actual innovation ahead, we wanted a distinct method. Dev week was created to fill that position.
Dev week: the innovation summit
As G2 grew, so did the necessity for alignment. Scaling an organization introduces extra processes, and whereas construction is important, it might probably additionally mess with the inventive vitality that drives actual innovation. We began listening to a constant theme from our groups: they needed house to discover concepts exterior the roadmap.
On the similar time, we didn’t wish to absolutely abandon the advantages of our authentic “chore week” mentality — some engineers nonetheless valued time to enhance the codebase. So, we advanced.
The consequence was what we first referred to as “Dev Week”, which finally turned the “Innovation Summit.” It was an unstructured, two-week occasion the place self-selected groups may discover new concepts, experiment with rising applied sciences, and construct one thing actual.
On the finish of the 2 weeks, groups showcased their work, and immediately, we noticed wins. One of many greatest early successes? An integration that introduced G2 actions straight into Slack. This was one thing that wasn’t on the roadmap however delivered rapid worth.
However whereas this method unlocked creativity, it had its personal challenges. Many nice concepts by no means noticed the sunshine of day. Even once we liked what groups constructed, we struggled to shut the loop and convey these improvements into manufacturing. As quickly because the Innovation Summit ended, we went again to “common” work, and lots of initiatives merely light into the background.
The inspiration was there. The educational was there. However we weren’t realizing the total impression of those improvements. We would have liked to discover a option to bridge the hole between inventive exploration and actual, lasting outcomes. That’s once we launched hackathons to deliver these concepts to life.
Hackathons: bridging innovation and impression
As vitality and urge for food for innovation grew, so did our ambition. We had seen the spark that unstructured exploration may generate, however we needed to take it a step additional — to not solely encourage our groups but in addition drive actual enterprise impression. This led us to our subsequent evolution: the G2 hackathon.
Hackathons aren’t new; the tech business has lengthy used them to drive breakthrough concepts. Nonetheless, at G2, we needed to refine the system to reconcile open-ended creativity with a give attention to outcomes. The important thing shift? C-level buy-in. We introduced our executives in as judges, guaranteeing alignment between the boldest concepts and the outcomes that might drive the enterprise ahead. We discovered main success in the way in which we selected to run our hackathons, and as all the time, sharing is caring.
How G2 runs a hackathon
At G2, our hackathons are designed to strike the proper steadiness between inventive freedom and enterprise impression. Right here’s how we construction them to maximise each engagement and outcomes:
A transparent however open-ended theme
Every hackathon kicks off with a guiding theme — broad sufficient to spark creativity however targeted sufficient to drive significant outcomes. For instance, our “Encourage Buyer Love” theme inspired groups to discover methods to reinforce the shopper expertise whereas holding the result aligned with enterprise targets.
Workforce formation with goal
As soon as we collect members, each in-person and distant, we give attention to forming groups that blend views and expertise ranges. This isn’t nearly getting individuals collectively; it’s about fostering new collaborations and guaranteeing every workforce has the suitable mix of abilities to deliver an thought to life.
Quick-paced ideation and execution
Because the hackathon begins, groups shortly register their concepts to decide to a route. From there, they’ve two weeks to experiment, construct, and refine their ideas. The objective isn’t simply to brainstorm; it’s to ship one thing tangible by the top.
Govt-level judging of actual impression
On the finish of the hackathon, groups current their initiatives to a panel of cross-functional executives. The profitable concepts aren’t nearly technical ingenuity; they’re judged closely on how confidently they’ll impression enterprise targets.
Recognition, rewards, and subsequent steps
The highest three groups win financial prizes and ongoing help to show their concepts into actuality. Nevertheless it doesn’t cease there. We amplify their work throughout the corporate and on social media, making it clear that these improvements matter and have the potential to form the way forward for G2.
This construction ensures that hackathons aren’t simply enjoyable facet initiatives however a core driver of innovation at G2. By combining inspiration, execution, and recognition, we make house for groundbreaking concepts to take root and thrive.
The true impression of hackathons
This method labored. By putting the suitable steadiness between pleasure and focus, we began seeing actual, tangible product enhancements emerge from our hackathons.
A few of the greatest successes embody:
- Nudges in my.G2: This helps prospects shortly floor what’s most essential and streamline evaluate assortment.
- G2 built-in impression: Seeing the affect of G2’s information in a advertising and gross sales stream turned a actuality via getting the total circle view from some companion integrations.
- AI-powered automation: AI-powered automation, resembling producing touchdown pages and AI-assisted evaluate responses, have turn into central to our product expertise.
However, as all the time, there have been challenges. Not each nice thought made it to prospects. Competing priorities meant that some extremely promising initiatives stalled out, and we needed to rethink methods to maintain momentum past the hackathon. We additionally realized that whereas structured themes helped align innovation with enterprise targets, they often constrained the sort of far-out, moonshot concepts that might redefine our future.
To steadiness this, we break up time between the hackathon and Innovation Summit. Hackathons stay targeted on delivering tangible outcomes, whereas Innovation Summit provides house for open-ended exploration.
And that’s the place we’re in the present day — a continuously evolving tradition of innovation. We now know that actual impression doesn’t come from a single occasion or course of however from regularly making house for daring considering. And as we transfer ahead, we’ll continue learning, iterating, and discovering new methods to push the boundaries of what’s potential.
Life hack
G2’s journey reveals that innovation isn’t a one-time initiative; it’s a mindset. It requires fixed experimentation, not simply in devoted occasions however in how groups method their work day-after-day. We’ve seen this shift firsthand, with groups naturally carving out moments of innovation inside their common cycles. The result’s extra engaged groups and a extra sustainable path to constantly high-impact outcomes.
Undecided the place to start out with launching your individual hackathon? Begin the place you possibly can. Establish the funding you might have management over and launch an innovation occasion — regardless of how small. Give groups the liberty to discover, however set a transparent objective for measuring impression. Rejoice the wins to construct momentum and develop that funding over time. And most significantly, by no means cease experimenting.
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Edited by Supanna Das
