Hello! My name is Andrew. At Tinkoff.ru, I am responsible for decision-making and business process management systems. I decided to radically revise the stack of systems and technologies in my project, I really needed fresh ideas. And so, not so long ago, we held an internal decision-making hackathon at Tinkoff.ru.
HR took over the entire organizational part, and, looking ahead, Iβll say that everything turned out to be bomb: the guys were happy with the gift merch, delicious food, ottomans, blankets, cookies, toothbrushes and towels β in short, everything was at a high level and, at the same time, , cute and homey.
All I had to do was come up with a task, assemble a team of experts / jury, select the submitted applications, and then choose the winners.
But everything turned out to be not so simple. I want to share my thoughts on what questions should be answered in advance so as not to screw up.
Why do you need a hackathon?
A hackathon should have a purpose.
What do you personally (your product, project, team, company) want to get from this event?
This is the main question, and all your decisions must be consistent with the answer to it.
For example, the topic of decision making is very extensive and complex, and I was well aware that I definitely wouldnβt be able to take and launch the applications made at the hackathon in production. But I can get new technological ideas, and prototypes, as confirmation of the applicability of these ideas to solve the problems posed. This became my goal, and, in the end, I consider it achieved.
Why do participants need a hackathon?
Companies often make the mistake of expecting cool business ideas for new products from participating teams. But a hackathon is an event primarily for developers, and they most often have other interests. Most programmers want to take a break from everyday work and try new technologies for themselves, change the stack, or, conversely, apply the stack they are used to in a new subject area. Having understood this, I completely took over the business task, leaving the hackathon participants with maximum freedom in choosing technical solutions.
Most employees do not participate in the hackathon for the prize, but, nevertheless, the prize should be worthy in order to work hard on the weekend without sleep! We gave the winners a trip to Sochi for 4 days with full payment for travel, accommodation and ski passes.
Why do organizers need a hackathon?
The hr team organizing a hackathon usually has its own goals, such as promoting the hr brand, increasing employee interest and engagement. And, of course, these goals must be taken into account. For example, we were ready to give the winner of our hackathon a cool and expensive prize (more expensive than at the previous hackathon) - but in the end we abandoned this idea, because. this would demotivate people to participate in further activities.
Are you sure that your topic is of interest to someone?
I wasn't sure. Therefore, I made a draft of the task, went with it to the developers of different business lines and different stacks and asked for feedback - is the task understandable, interesting, implementable in the allotted time, etc.? I am faced with the fact that it is very difficult to fit the main essence of your work over the past 5 years in a couple of paragraphs of text. I had to spend many such iterations and hone the wording for a long time. The text of the assignment, which turned out, I still do not like. But, despite this, we received applications from employees of as many as 15 different departments from 5 regions - this indicates that the task turned out to be interesting.
Are you helpful during the hackathon?
During the hackathon, I caught myself thinking that while the teams were coding, the team of experts and I were either messing around or minding our own business. we are not needed here. We periodically approached the tables of the teams, asked how things were going, offered help, but most often we received the answer βeverything is OK, we are workingβ (read βdo not interfereβ). Some teams for all 24 hours have never shared intermediate results. As a result, several teams failed to conduct a full-fledged demo, limited themselves to slides with screenshots. It was worth more actively explaining to the guys that it is important to share intermediate results so that we can direct projects in the right direction during the hackathon, help plan time and overcome difficulties.
Perhaps it would even be worth introducing 2-3 mandatory checkpoints, where the teams would talk about their progress.
Why do we need experts and a jury?
I recommend recruiting into the team of experts (those who help the teams during the hackathon) and the jury (those who choose the winners) not only people who are knowledgeable in their field, but also people who will be as active and energetic as possible. It is important to help the teams during the hackathon (and even be sometimes intrusive, although you will not be thanked for this), ask them the right questions both during the hackathon and during the final presentations.
Can you calmly look into the eyes of the losers?
In the morning, after a night in front of the monitor screen, the programmer's soul is the most vulnerable. And if you were somewhere unfair, inconsistent in your actions or decisions, you will definitely be reminded of this insult. Therefore, it is important to indicate in advance the criteria by which the jury will select the winners. We distributed sheets with a list of criteria to each team and posted them on a common board so that the participants would always remember them.
I also tried to give all the participants a brief feedback - what I liked about their work, and what was not enough to win.
Π‘onclusion
To be honest, by and large, I didnβt care who wins, because. it would not affect the achievement of my goals. But I tried to make sure that the decision was fair, transparent and understandable to everyone (although I was not on the jury). In addition, the level of warmth and comfort offered by the organizers made it possible for the participants to feel good, and for us to receive positive feedback from them and a willingness to participate in further similar events.
Source: habr.com