From our book The agile Manager (small a)
Hacks are an effective way to cut through the noise to get to a resolution. They are a structured version of swarming.
- Find a problem, need or risk to be solved.
- Assemble a cross-functional team(s) of the right people.
- Put them in a room for a day or two with everything they need.
- Give them the goal of coming out with a solution.
There are four kinds of hack:
Open hackathon
Run an “open house” providing resources and a backlog of problems to volunteers and invited participants in an open space: invited to play, usually lured by food and drink and glory.
- Varying levels of guidelines as to outcome, from “anything you like” to “make x better”.
- Measured by results: best to nail it on the day, though some will create ongoing work.
Formal hackathon event
Form multiple cross-functional teams (invited or volunteers) to address multiple selected problems in a structured way.
- Needs prework by the teams. This needs to be structured to ensure it happens.
- Often generates ideas not results.
- Present outcomes to a “Dragon’s Den” panel to get more resources.
- Work often happens after. Needs a strong lead, and plenty of follow-up and support.
Team Hack
For a single team to attack a set of their problems.
They will often need support to have access to the right resources, and will need to bring together a group from other areas to have all the right people.
Problem hack
Work to a defined requirement, a single need e.g. “we need to automate task x”.
- Ad-hoc as a need and a willingness come up
- Recruit a team with the required skills.
- The owner is a manager who will benefit from the outcome, and will run around to recruit/beg resources and to remove impediments.
- The goal is to nail it on the day, so manage scope well.
For more details see the book.