INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this Better.sg Guide to Hackathons is to help communities to self-organise events falling under the umbrella term of ‘hackathons’ and is by no means an exhaustive or prescriptive guide to hackathons. We welcome your comments and experiences to better improve the guide book. The broader impact of this guide can be felt in the post-hackathon experience to better frame the incentives and rewards systems for participants to continue their projects and develop them to a stage where their impact is felt in society.

Tech for Good refers to the use of technology for social impact, with the goal of creating positive social change. This can include the development of new technologies or the innovative use of existing technologies to address social or environmental challenges. Often, Tech for Good initiatives are driven by non-profit organisations (such as Better.sg), social enterprises, or other mission-driven organisations that are focused on creating social impact.

Overview

Hackathons are great opportunities for teams to come together and develop creative solutions to problems. Whether it's in person or virtual, there are steps that can be taken to ensure that the hackathon is successful. This playbook will provide an overview of how to effectively run a hackathon and manage what comes afterward.

Spend time understanding why your organisation wants to run a hackathon. Have a thorough conversation with the leaders / management team of your organisation to determine the objective of the hackathon, the resources available, the problem statement, and consider the pros and cons (see below).

Remember that a hackathon is just the beginning, not the end, of addressing the problem statement that your organisation has identified. Substantial effort, time, resources, and support is still needed to follow through, even if good ideas are discovered.

Ultimately, the organisation must also recognise that a hackathon is a competition, and that participants will also be aware of the competitive dynamics. Understanding how to harness this dynamic productively is important, as a poorly designed hackathon could be extremely counterproductive (e.g. toxic competitiveness among players, winner-takes-all mindset, insincere participants who are seeking fame/fortune and do not care about the social problem, etc.)

What should a hackathon be used for?

A hackathon should be used for developing creative solutions to problems. It is an opportunity to bring together talented people from different backgrounds and let them collaborate on projects. Hackathons can be used as a platform for social initiatives and to help solve tricky problems with innovative or unexpected solutions. Ideally, the projects developed during the hackathon should not be abandoned after the event. The organisers should provide ongoing support and resources to teams that want to continue working on their solutions. This can help ensure that the projects developed during the hackathon have a long-term impact and are sustainable.

• [ ] Our organisation will be using a hackathon mainly to discover creative solutions to a problem that we have identified.

What should a hackathon NOT be used for?

• A hackathon should not be used if you are just trying to promote your product or service or organisation (i.e. the key goal is publicity). Participants should not be made to feel like their efforts are irrelevant to the purpose of the hackathon (i.e. that their ideas will be discarded and the organisation just wanted to use the event for self-promotion). Hackathons should not be used for any ulterior motive besides the sourcing of creative solutions to problems.
• Hackathons should not be used for “free labour” to do work that should be done by paid professionals. Participants should be made to feel like their creativity and innovativeness is being recognised and rewarded by the organisation.
• Hackathons should not be used for recruitment of new staff. While it is possible to identify creative and talented individuals through a hackathon, there are better alternatives to find such staff, and using a hackathon would disrespect the time and effort of the other participants who wanted to address the problem statement, rather than find a job.
• It's important to emphasise that the goals of the hackathon should be transparent and clearly communicated to all participants. This will help ensure that the hackathon is focused on developing innovative solutions rather than serving any other purpose.
• [ ] Our organisation will not be using a hackathon purely for self-promotion, free labour, hiring, or any non-transparent purpose that is unrelated to finding creative solutions to a problem.

Pros in running a hackathon

• A hackathon is a great opportunity to bring together talented people from different backgrounds and let them collaborate on projects.
• It helps create a sense of community, allowing people to share ideas and networks.
• A hackathon gives participants the chance to learn new skills and develop existing ones.
• It is a great opportunity for teams to showcase a technology idea and gain valuable feedback.
• It can be used as a platform for social initiatives and to help solve societal problems.

Cons in running a hackathon

• It can be difficult to find the right people to participate and often requires a large amount of resources to organise.
• There may be difficulties in ensuring that the hackathon is open to all and that it is not dominated by any particular group of people.
• It is not always easy to ensure that the hackathon is focused on the goals of the event, as participants may be more interested in the competition aspect.
• It can be difficult to ensure that the project ideas surfaced during the hackathon are developed into full solutions, or are sustainable with long-term impact.
• It can be challenging to measure the impact of the hackathon and evaluate its success.