Do you know your accelerators from your incubators? Even heard of a (business) catapult? Attended a hackathon? The world of intensive business support can be a little tricky to navigate, and to make it more difficult, some organisations mean one term when then mean something else. Here is our quick guide to some of the types of support out there. This week we are looking at Hackathon

 

The concept of hackathons originated in the world of software development, before “hacking” became a concept with negative or criminal associations. These events are sometimes called a hack day or a hackfest. Simply put, the idea is that a group of people (originally these would be software developers) collaborate intensively to solve a specific problem or make improvements to a product.

Recently this term has come to be used more generally for events where a group of people from within an organisation or sector, or with shared interests, take time out to intensively problem solve or find ways to improve a product or service.

A hackathon will usually have a defined focus (a problem, problems or a product) and there is usually a mix of structured time (for example action learning) and unstructured time where people work alone or in small groups on the problem. Hackathons may also start with a structured session to “prime” people to think more creatively. For example, when we facilitate hackathons we would usually start with some of the exercises we use in our innovation training which help people to take different perspectives on problem solving.

Hackathons can be a productive means of problem solving, and the very best ones will also be exciting, adrenaline fuelled and do wonders for team morale and bonding. If it’s not something you’ve done before it can be a relatively simple and quick way to boost your business.

 

 

Blog by Isla…