A couple of weeks ago I was invited by McCormack & Morrison to be one of the judges at their Day of Hack event. I’m always pleased to be invited to anything, and I love listening to other peoples ideas. So I graciously accepted and set off for west London, typically getting lost on the way. The brief given to the three groups, was to think of a “digital idea that helps our industry” and to present concepts, wireframes, scope, budget, timings and commercial models by the end of the day.
Not exactly a cake walk, right? Which is why I was so impressed by the quality of all three presentations. In every instance, the team had highlighted a genuine problem and tackled it in a considered and thoughtful way. If I was one of those mean spirited Dragon’s Den types, I would question the commercial models for them, but I’m not (thank the Lord). Beside’s, it’s a pretty tall order not only to come up with an idea, but to create a business model for it in a matter of hours. The last time I looked, there were some fairly high profile businesses that were struggling to present clear revenue models.
At the end of the day, the winning idea was the simplest one – LunchRunner, a mobile web app to make the lunch run easy. There’s a lot to be said for keeping things simple. Especially when you don’t have much time and there are some serious question marks regarding the intelligence of one of the judges.
Hack days and similar initiatives are brilliant. Getting people to work in mixed skill-set groups on an open brief can only benefit the agency. It democratises the whole concept of having ideas, which is often the preserve of an elite group – A model that needs shaking up a bit, in my opinion. The best ideas now need a combination of skills and knowledge that are rarely found in any one individual or defined role (even in a department full of them). The aim should be to create an environment where everyone has ideas, all the time, and not just on the days when they’re told to. That would be something which we would all benefit from.
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The Day of Hack
A couple of weeks ago I was invited by McCormack & Morrison to be one of the judges at their Day of Hack event. I’m always pleased to be invited to anything, and I love listening to other peoples ideas. So I graciously accepted and set off for west London, typically getting lost on the way. The brief given to the three groups, was to think of a “digital idea that helps our industry” and to present concepts, wireframes, scope, budget, timings and commercial models by the end of the day.
Not exactly a cake walk, right? Which is why I was so impressed by the quality of all three presentations. In every instance, the team had highlighted a genuine problem and tackled it in a considered and thoughtful way. If I was one of those mean spirited Dragon’s Den types, I would question the commercial models for them, but I’m not (thank the Lord). Beside’s, it’s a pretty tall order not only to come up with an idea, but to create a business model for it in a matter of hours. The last time I looked, there were some fairly high profile businesses that were struggling to present clear revenue models.
At the end of the day, the winning idea was the simplest one – LunchRunner, a mobile web app to make the lunch run easy. There’s a lot to be said for keeping things simple. Especially when you don’t have much time and there are some serious question marks regarding the intelligence of one of the judges.
Hack days and similar initiatives are brilliant. Getting people to work in mixed skill-set groups on an open brief can only benefit the agency. It democratises the whole concept of having ideas, which is often the preserve of an elite group – A model that needs shaking up a bit, in my opinion. The best ideas now need a combination of skills and knowledge that are rarely found in any one individual or defined role (even in a department full of them). The aim should be to create an environment where everyone has ideas, all the time, and not just on the days when they’re told to. That would be something which we would all benefit from.
Danny.
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