I recently blogged about Google's
Innovation Equation and discussed how other
companies are implementing similar
models to drive innovation within their organization.

Well, it looks like Yahoo has their own innovation equation, called “Hack Day.” Their fourth Hack Day was held on June 15th, very much in the same
spirit as Jot's
“Hackathon”. Basically, Yahoo designers were given 24hrs to build
innovative new projects and then present their ideas within a minute and a
half. Here's
a write-up by Chad Dickerson (Hack Day Organizer) on the preparation and
inspiration that went into the event. According to Chad, these are the minimal
(official) rules:

(1) Take something from
idea to prototype in a day
(2) Demo it at the end of the day, in two minutes or less (usually less)

Their very apt slogan for the event
was”Mashup or Shutup” and they had a total of 102 project
submissions, according to Mike Arrington from TechCrunch, who was invited to witness
the event first hand and blogged about it here.

There were trophies, pizza, and what
sounded like a real fun time for everyone. And the fact that everyone was having a
positive experience within the work environment was probably a good driver for
“out of the cube” thinking and also a great way to enthuse, inspire,
and motivate them. Here's what Mike A. had to say in his write-up:

The trophies weren’t the
only award, though, or even the most important incentive. Each project is
carefully documented and tracked, and a few will evolve into Yahoo products or
product features in the future. There’s big bragging rights associated with
this, and it’s a sure way to make a name for yourself among your peers.

Chad D. sums up his thoughts and
reflections on Hack Day in this
post and here are a couple of quotes that worth thinking about if you’re
considering (or trying to get buy-in for) such an event:

Companies of all types
are naturally very goal-oriented and there is always the temptation to create
constraints on activity to nudge that activity in a very specific direction to
meet some sort of short-term need or goal. There’s no denying that Hack Day has
immediate positive business implications for Yahoo! but the constraints are few
and are only put in place to prevent completely unproductive anarchy. If you
think this is easy, it’s not. There’s always the temptation to form committees,
add more rules, and create a more heavyweight process….

Another positive outcome
of Hack Day is the spontaneous emergence of people from within the organization.
There are lots of stars at Yahoo! but the company is large enough that you
might not meet some of them. Also, some hackers are shy and hesitant to show
some of the personal stuff they’ve been working on, but the shyness seems to
melt away on Hack Day. Since hierarchy is completely meaningless on Hack Day,
it’s all about how cool your hack is, not the org chart.

More write-up's on Hack Day by: Jeremy Zawodny, Dav Glass, Michelle
Hedstrom, Gordon
Luk.