Hackathons are Crap

Hackathon (n)

1. a design sprint-like event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers, project managers, and others, often including domain experts, collaborate intensively on software projects. The goal of a hackathon is to create usable software or hardware with the goal of creating a functioning product by the end of the event.

I posit Hackathons are Crap.  

They are useless distractions from Actual Work® that have none of the intended outcomes for anyone involved.

The goal of most hackathons are these:

1. Provide a break from regular work for "creatives" like programmers and graphic designers.
2. Break the top-down product cycle and let said creatives make something that seems relevant to them.
3. Provide useful ideas as fodder for the next strategic planning cycle.
4. Provide useful features for customers.

Let me take each in turn.

It is NOT a Break

This is my major beef. "Hackathons" that randomly appear out of nowhere are not a break.  Normal Software development is a 40-60 hour/week job, steady state.  You have to react to changing requirements, insufficient/misisng documentation, and bugs that ALL start out as "ZOMG you must fix this!" without triage.  This is "Agile" development, and it's exhausting, particularly at a top-tier shop.

Now let's create a synthetic event where we say "you can work on whatever you like for 2 days."  Invariably these are two days at the end of the week, with a demo on Monday, with the STRONG implication that you should also work the weekend to Get.  It.  Done.

So, it's not a break.  It's "Please work Harder."

Moreover, during that 2-3 days, do your project deadlines move?   No.

Basically, Hackathons might as well be:  "Take two or three days,  make yourself exhausted as possible, and come back and work harder to make up the time."

No, thanks.

It DOES NOT influence the Product Cycle

I've worked hackathons for 15 years now.   For every 1 idea that gets through,  hundreds do not.  As noted in the above, these happen within the product cycle.

It becomes a crutch that REPLACES Strategic Planning

The most pernicious of these is possibly that Hackathons become crutches for Product to avoid doing their job.  Bottoms-up ideas from the "troops" are often great.  There are shining examples like Facebook's 'like' button that prove this.

However, these are not the 10x to 100x ideas that become new lines-of-business. They don't replace an organic growth strategy or a Mergers/Acquisition strategy.  Gloming-on  to some random engineer's idea is fine, but it cannot replace real Strategy

It provides NOISE features for customers 

I can't think of many products that benefit from MORE disjoint, undesigned features.  Better: Think of what portions of your offerings you can end-of-life and simplify.  Apple does this well.  Nobody else does, because they have strong Product guidance.

* * *

I'm not looking forward to next week.  Not in the slightest.