{"id":39701,"date":"2023-10-20T15:03:57","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/multibillion-dollar-giants-atlassian-and-zendesk-use-this-for-innovation-six-tips-to-start-your-own-hackathon-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:03:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:03:57","slug":"multibillion-dollar-giants-atlassian-and-zendesk-use-this-for-innovation-six-tips-to-start-your-own-hackathon-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/multibillion-dollar-giants-atlassian-and-zendesk-use-this-for-innovation-six-tips-to-start-your-own-hackathon-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Multibillion dollar giants Atlassian and Zendesk use this for innovation: Six tips to start your own hackathon – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Zendesk<\/div>\n

As a startup grows, the ability to easily run with innovative bright ideas and creative streaks can drop.<\/p>\n

So how do you maintain that spirit when you go from a team of two to five, to 50, then 300 and beyond?<\/p>\n

Some of the world\u2019s fastest growing tech companies like Atlassian and Zendesk use internal hackathons.<\/p>\n

The employee-only events are stitched into the fabric of these multibillion-dollar giants and it gives every staff member the opportunity to create something new from scratch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is wired in from day one,\u201d Atlassian\u2019s HipChat general manager Steve Goldsmith told StartupSmart<\/em> of the 24-hour hackathons the company run each quarter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zendesk runs its 24-hour hackathon, \u201cZendevian Cup\u201d, once a year.<\/p>\n

The outcomes of these types of events vary from developing new products to innovating existing processes, but one of the best results is it builds culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about the win or loss of the idea,”\u00a0says Goldsmith.<\/p>\n

“We celebrate the innovation and the act of trying something new.”<\/p>\n

So how do they work?<\/p>\n

StartupSmart<\/em> asked Brett Adam, the managing director and vice president of engineering at Zendesk in Australia and New Zealand, about the golden rules.<\/p>\n

1. Everyone should participate<\/h3>\n

To make an event like this work, Adam tells StartupSmart<\/em>, every person in every department should participate.<\/p>\n

At Zendesk, the Zendevian Cup brings together more than 100 teams across the company’s global workforce.<\/p>\n

The 24-hour event is run from midnight and all teams start\u00a0at the same time.<\/p>\n

To make it fair for all teams, Adam says the company chooses a different time zone to start from each year.<\/p>\n

2. Encourage collaboration across departments<\/h3>\n

For the best results, Adam says it\u2019s important that every team is made up of employees across various departments, and if employees are dispersed around the world, they\u2019re encouraged to team up across borders.<\/p>\n

To ensure this happens at Zendesk, teams are scored for their diversity.<\/p>\n

\u201cA team made up of only engineers will not score as much as cross-collaborative teams,\u201d Adam says.<\/p>\n

3. Stick to the hackathon rules<\/h3>\n

While each company will set and amend its own rules, Adam says the following rules have worked for their hackathons.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t work on your project until the clock starts, you\u2019re not allowed to start early and you can\u2019t finish late.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can build anything. It needs to be somehow related to Zendesk in some fashion\u2014apps, process, innovation, internal tools\u2014it just has to help Zendesk or Zendesk employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeams should be balanced and there are points [for that].<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important that the whole company does this on the same day, you\u2019re getting paid as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Produce real results<\/h3>\n

Over the course of 24 hours, the Zendesk teams must produce something at the end that they can pitch.<\/p>\n

Adam says this could be anything from new products and internal \u201cprocess innovation\u201d, to an interactive story website for new employees to learn about the history of the company.<\/p>\n

At Adam\u2019s first Zendevian Cup, he says he had only been with the company two months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just threw my hat in the ring, hacked a bit of java script\u2014I felt like the newbie. It\u2019s done in an intense hot house environment,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Once the teams have their idea, they create a short video pitch, which is reviewed by the judging panel. The best pitches are chosen in categories like \u201cmost innovative new product idea\u201d or \u201cfounders’ choice award\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey produce some kind of result of their efforts,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody participates in the way they feel most comfortable with.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Celebrate and reward effort<\/h3>\n

To celebrate the efforts of everyone involved, Adam says the Melbourne Zendesk team watches all the pitch videos created at a shared lunch.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them are hilariously funny,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The winning teams and runners-up have their pitch videos watched by the entire Zendesk family around the world.<\/p>\n

This gives everyone a chance to look back, learn and celebrate their efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe important part is it\u2019s the whole company,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In addition to a charity donation in their name, the winning teams get a whole week to work on their idea and build it out further.<\/p>\n

Adam says the company previously gave teams cash prizes but because most participants would donate it to charity, Zendesk switched it to a charity donation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really about the money,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been many times where these ideas have turned into something really valuable.<\/p>\n

\u201c[When ideas] generally help make things better [the] company invests in the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

6. Create hype around it<\/h3>\n

Because hackathons require a high level of engagement and excitement from every staff member to work, Adam says it takes a dedicated effort from the top of a business to \u201cbang the drums\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an internal website that has a countdown clock till the next one,\u201d says Adam of the Zendesk events.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the lead up to the next one, we\u2019ll show a highlights reels [which] takes a bit of energy to organise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Six to eight weeks before the next Zendevian Cup, an email is sent out with a link to the website and a reminder for employees to register. Rules for the event, including any changes, are also published around two months ahead of time.<\/p>\n

Three weeks ahead if registration numbers are low, Adam will actively encourage his team to sign up and may even hold a quick company meeting to talk about the upcoming hackahton.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really go remind, remind, remind,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may take a little bit to get it right and a couple of years of doing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing this long enough that it\u2019s something that existing employees look forward to, which makes it really easy for new people to come in and learn about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em>\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and iTunes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a startup grows, the ability to easily run with innovative bright ideas and creative streaks can drop. So how<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}