Hackdays and [in]cubator

This is the story of the Hackday and
[in]cubator programs at LinkedIn

This is the story of scalable, best-of-
breed methods for driving innovation

This is the story of transformation:
of your career, company, and the world

About me

Presentation Infrastructure, hackdays, [in]
cubator, engineering blog, open source

Terminology (just in case)

hack, verb:
1. To write computer programs for enjoyment

2. To jury-rig or improvise something inelegant but effective,
often as a rapid prototype or proof of concept

Outline

1. Internal hackdays
2. Public hackdays
3. [in]cubator history
4. [in]cubator process
5. Transform: career, company, world
6. Final thoughts

We dedicate one Friday per month to hackday

Open to all LinkedIn employees

Take the day to work on anything you want

Submit it on an internal hackday site
(Hackday Master = won 3 or more hackdays)

Present the hack to the whole company

Executive staff act as judges and award prizes

www.linkedinlabs.com
Internal hackday winners and experimental projects

InMaps
Visualize your LinkedIn network

Year in Review
See who changed jobs in the last year. "The best networking email you'll get all year" (CNN).

Resume Builder
Turn your LinkedIn profile into a beautiful resume in one click

Year round; a variety of locations and themes
http://hackday.linkedin.com

Open to hackers from all over the world

Intern Hackday DevelopHer Hackday Toronto Hackday

T-shirts

Industry leaders, investors, and execs as judges

The hacker toolkit

Disclaimer: data is from public LinkedIn hackdays, self-reported, free
form, ~100 responses per chart. Don't take this too seriously.

I built a great hack.
How do I get it to production?

A chance to work exclusively on your idea or hack
for 1-3 months

Created by a group of LinkedIn Hackday Masters

[in]cubator history

● Motivation: an official path from hackday to
production

● Inspired by startup incubators and
accelerators

● Incorporates learnings from a number of
other companies that had similar programs
(Google 20% time, Yahoo! Brickhouse,
VMWare incubator, etc)

[in]cubator was the first [in]cubator project

Open to all LinkedIn Employees

Submit proposals on internal [in]cubator site

[in]cubator proposal

● Description
● Team members
● Timeline
● Proof of concept or prototype
● Success metrics
● Risks, competitors
● Tech details

No one will be ever be assigned to an [in]cubator project.
It's up to the team to convince anyone they need to join.

The top teams present to the execs

Judging criteria

● Impact: what value does this project bring to
LinkedIn?

● Feasibility: how hard is this to build? What
are the risks?

● Timeline: can v1 be done in 3 months?

● Team ability: can this team pull it off?

Open to almost any type of project

● New products
● New revenue lines
● Internal tools
● Infrastructure/technology improvements
● HR processes
● New training programs
● Philanthropic programs

Approved teams get up to 3 months of dedicated time,
resources, and exec mentorship to bring their idea to life

We've had 2 rounds of [in]cubator so far
4 approved projects, 1 completed, 1 [in]cubating, 2 starting soon

1st completed [in]cubator project: go/book, which has
changed how we book and view meetings at LinkedIn

Why this all matters

1. Learning

2. Motivation

3. Innovation

In a 24 hour hackday, you can learn more about
building products - and about yourself - than in a
year of university classes

Hackday, [in]cubator = learning

● Rapid prototyping
● New technologies, libraries, techniques
● Team formation, project management
● Trade-offs, scheduling, focus
● Sales pitch, design, marketing
● Stamina

Hacking regularly will make you better at your job

"Autonomy. Mastery. Purpose."

Dan Pink
The surprising science of motivation

Hackday, [in]cubator = motivation

● You can't buy motivation

● For creative roles (programmers, designers),
money reduces motivation (mo' money, mo'
problems)

● Hackday and [in]cubator = happier, more
motivated, and more productive employees

"It’s hard to do a really good job on anything you
don’t think about in the shower."
Paul Graham

"Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine
percent perspiration."
Thomas Edison

Product development (assumption)

Mature, stable

Maturity

Proof of concept

Idea
Time

Product development (reality)

Mature, stable

Maturity

Proof of concept

Idea
Time

Product development (reality)

This is where
innovation happens

Mature, stable

Maturity

Proof of concept

Idea
Time

Hackday, [in]cubator = innovation

● All product development is trial and error

● Hackday and [in]cubator are trial and error at
light speed

● Innovation is something you do, not
something you have

"Innovation is a series of small wins along a truly
disruptive trajectory."

Deep Nishar

Even if not a single innovative project ever came
out of hackday or [in]cubator, it would still be
worth doing.

Give one day per month back to employees.
It will pay for itself many times over.

Hackdays and [in]cubator

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