Changes

The Innovation Hub was approached by a group that was interested in experimenting with a new approach to taking into consideration EDI aspects in its decision-making. The Innovation Hub reviewed the new approach as well as existing approaches and proposed an evaluation method to assess what approach might be best to use in different scenarios based on three criteria: (1) ability to reach the target; (2) administrative effort required; and (3) stakeholder perception.

The Innovation Hub was approached by a group that was interested in experimenting with a new approach to taking into consideration EDI aspects in its decision-making. The Innovation Hub reviewed the new approach as well as existing approaches and proposed an evaluation method to assess what approach might be best to use in different scenarios based on three criteria: (1) ability to reach the target; (2) administrative effort required; and (3) stakeholder perception.

== What is a Hackathon? ==

 

=== What is a Hackathon? ===

The annual Hackathon encourages people to come together to solve both technical and non-technical problems in creative ways. It is an opportunity to collaborate with colleagues to help improve the agencies by developing time-saving tools, more effective procedures, streamlined workflows, leaner processes, and other innovations.  Typically, Project Leads identify a problem that they want to team up with others to solve and then go through various steps of exploration, brainstorming, planning and execution until a mutually agreed solution is found. This exercise results in several benefits for participants as they acquire new knowledge (including developing communication, organization, and leadership skills) and meet with various people of diverse horizons from both within and outside of their teams while trying something new in a fun and supportive environment.

The annual Hackathon encourages people to come together to solve both technical and non-technical problems in creative ways. It is an opportunity to collaborate with colleagues to help improve the agencies by developing time-saving tools, more effective procedures, streamlined workflows, leaner processes, and other innovations.  Typically, Project Leads identify a problem that they want to team up with others to solve and then go through various steps of exploration, brainstorming, planning and execution until a mutually agreed solution is found. This exercise results in several benefits for participants as they acquire new knowledge (including developing communication, organization, and leadership skills) and meet with various people of diverse horizons from both within and outside of their teams while trying something new in a fun and supportive environment.

== Hackathon organization ==

=== Hackathon organization ===

The Innovation Hub leads the Hackathon Event Planning Team that organizes the annual Hackathon. It is composed of volunteers from across the different divisions at the agencies. Their goal is to create a supportive, hybrid environment for innovation to enable teams to achieve their own objectives. To achieve the goal, they do the following: reserve a suitable space for teams to collaborate, plan activities during the Hackathon, maintain a website where information can be found, present to various groups to encourage participation, create a list where project leads can add their projects and participants can join, facilitate Idea Labs to generate projects, provide project management tools to help project leads, provide training sessions for project leads, and more.

The Innovation Hub leads the Hackathon Event Planning Team that organizes the annual Hackathon. It is composed of volunteers from across the different divisions at the agencies. Their goal is to create a supportive, hybrid environment for innovation to enable teams to achieve their own objectives. To achieve the goal, they do the following: reserve a suitable space for teams to collaborate, plan activities during the Hackathon, maintain a website where information can be found, present to various groups to encourage participation, create a list where project leads can add their projects and participants can join, facilitate Idea Labs to generate projects, provide project management tools to help project leads, provide training sessions for project leads, and more.

The most recent Hackathon involved a full day of project interactions followed by ad hoc engagements within the project teams during the remainder of the week. The Hackathon was a hybrid event where people participated either in person or virtually. Following the Hackathon, project leads reviewed what was accomplished with their teams and obtained approval to continue working on the project where it made sense.

The most recent Hackathon involved a full day of project interactions followed by ad hoc engagements within the project teams during the remainder of the week. The Hackathon was a hybrid event where people participated either in person or virtually. Following the Hackathon, project leads reviewed what was accomplished with their teams and obtained approval to continue working on the project where it made sense.

== Idea Labs ==

=== Idea Labs ===

All the great projects of participants in earlier Hackathons have started with one thing: an idea. To help generate and explore ideas in the lead-up to Hackathons, the Hackathon Event Planning Team facilitates Idea Labs. They involve setting a place and time to investigate current problems or potential improvements and propose new ideas and approaches to resolve them. In these labs, ideas are evaluated based on their merit and potential for advancement and impact. Idea Labs can be a brainstorming session which may lead to the creation of new ideas; and/or it can be a validation exercise of pre-existent ideas. The purpose of bringing up ideas in such a setting is to get instant and informal feedback on whether they’re worth pursuing as well as things to consider if you decide to move forward (e.g., what has been done to solve this problem previously, who might have more information on this topic, etc.).

All the great projects of participants in earlier Hackathons have started with one thing: an idea. To help generate and explore ideas in the lead-up to Hackathons, the Hackathon Event Planning Team facilitates Idea Labs. They involve setting a place and time to investigate current problems or potential improvements and propose new ideas and approaches to resolve them. In these labs, ideas are evaluated based on their merit and potential for advancement and impact. Idea Labs can be a brainstorming session which may lead to the creation of new ideas; and/or it can be a validation exercise of pre-existent ideas. The purpose of bringing up ideas in such a setting is to get instant and informal feedback on whether they’re worth pursuing as well as things to consider if you decide to move forward (e.g., what has been done to solve this problem previously, who might have more information on this topic, etc.).