From Code Cleanups to Breakthroughs: Evolving Innovation at G2

Ever marvel why your groups wrestle to innovate past their roadmap? They’re seemingly too busy maintaining the lights on to step again and rethink what’s doable. 

I get it — I’ve spent 20 years in software program, continually balancing the pull of delivering identified outcomes towards the necessity to discover what’s subsequent. It’s a troublesome tradeoff, however one I’ve wrestled with lengthy sufficient to know this: if you happen to don’t create house for innovation, it received’t occur.  

At G2, we’ve advanced our strategy over time, beginning with one thing easy — giving folks the respiratory room to sort out concepts they wished they’d time for. That small shift grew into one thing a lot larger: a two-week hackathon experiment that has repeatedly advanced. 

On this article, I’ll stroll you thru that journey — not as a prescriptive playbook, however as an invite to experiment in your personal approach. As a result of innovation isn’t about having the proper technique — it’s about making house for what’s doable.  

The reply to that’s normally dictated by the corporate’s stage and tradition. Some organizations have by no means seen innovation achieved effectively, making the thought of groups spending every week or extra in unstructured work a tough no. 

And truthfully, I get it. Betting on an undefined final result can really feel dangerous. However does that imply innovation is out of attain? By no means. Begin smaller. Are you able to carve out a day? A day? Show the worth in increments, and over time, that urge for food will develop.  

At G2, I used to be lucky to work with founders who already noticed the worth of innovation, which meant we began with a bigger urge for food. However that didn’t imply we all the time bought it proper. Our journey, from chore week to the ultimate hackathon, has been filled with classes, iterations, and surprising turns, every shaping how we foster innovation as we speak.  

Chore week: the respiratory pause

Within the early days, our strategy to innovation wasn’t about constructing the subsequent massive factor — it was about catching our breath. Our groups had been pushing laborious to ship options, however in that relentless drive, we weren’t all the time leaving the codebase in a state that inspired long-term innovation. So, we carved out time to return, refactor, and clear up patterns: a chore week. We mainly applied a reset button for the code.

Nonetheless, this effort revealed that one of many largest limitations to innovation isn’t only a lack of time — it’s the technical debt that makes future innovation more durable. If you transfer quick however don’t repeatedly form the code into one thing maintainable and extensible, you create friction for each future concept.  

Whereas this strategy helped us enhance our code high quality, it didn’t spark a lot inspiration. Nothing groundbreaking got here out of it, simply small quality-of-life enhancements that made improvement just a little simpler. In some methods, it even despatched the improper message: it was okay to ship subpar code so long as we had a “chore week” to scrub it up later. It was a mandatory first step, however we shortly realized that if we wished to push actual innovation ahead, we would have liked a unique strategy. Dev week was created to fill that position.

Dev week: the innovation summit

As G2 grew, so did the necessity for alignment. Scaling an organization introduces extra processes, and whereas construction is critical, it will possibly additionally mess with the artistic power that drives actual innovation. We began listening to a constant theme from our groups: they wished house to discover concepts exterior the roadmap.  

On the identical time, we didn’t need to absolutely abandon the advantages of our authentic “chore week” mentality — some engineers nonetheless valued time to enhance the codebase. So, we advanced.  

The outcome was what we first referred to as “Dev Week”, which ultimately turned the “Innovation Summit.” It was an unstructured, two-week occasion the place self-selected groups may discover new concepts, experiment with rising applied sciences, and construct one thing actual. 

On the finish of the 2 weeks, groups showcased their work, and immediately, we noticed wins. One of many largest early successes? An integration that introduced G2 actions straight into Slack. This was one thing that wasn’t on the roadmap however delivered fast worth. 

However whereas this strategy unlocked creativity, it had its personal challenges. Many nice concepts by no means noticed the sunshine of day. Even after we cherished what groups constructed, we struggled to shut the loop and produce these improvements into manufacturing. As quickly because the Innovation Summit ended, we went again to “common” work, and plenty of tasks merely light into the background.  

The inspiration was there. The educational was there. However we weren’t realizing the total influence of those improvements. We wanted to discover a method to bridge the hole between artistic exploration and actual, lasting outcomes. That’s after we launched hackathons to carry these concepts to life.

Hackathons: bridging innovation and influence

As power and urge for food for innovation grew, so did our ambition. We had seen the spark that unstructured exploration may generate, however we wished to take it a step additional — to not solely encourage our groups but additionally drive actual enterprise influence. This led us to our subsequent evolution: the G2 hackathon.  

Hackathons aren’t new; the tech business has lengthy used them to drive breakthrough concepts. Nonetheless, at G2, we wished to refine the method to reconcile open-ended creativity with a concentrate on outcomes. The important thing shift? C-level buy-in. We introduced our executives in as judges, guaranteeing alignment between the boldest concepts and the outcomes that may drive the enterprise ahead. We discovered main success in the best way we selected to run our hackathons, and as all the time, sharing is caring.

• Nudges in my.G2: This helps clients shortly floor what’s most vital and streamline evaluation assortment.  
• G2 built-in influence: Seeing the affect of G2’s knowledge in a advertising and gross sales move turned a actuality via getting the total circle view from some associate integrations.
• AI-powered automation: AI-powered automation, similar to producing touchdown pages and AI-assisted evaluation responses, have turn into central to our product expertise.  

However, as all the time, there have been challenges. Not each nice concept made it to clients. Competing priorities meant that some extremely promising tasks stalled out, and we needed to rethink methods to maintain momentum past the hackathon. We additionally discovered that whereas structured themes helped align innovation with enterprise targets, they generally constrained the form of far-out, moonshot concepts that might redefine our future.  

To steadiness this, we break up time between the hackathon and Innovation Summit. Hackathons stay targeted on delivering tangible outcomes, whereas Innovation Summit provides house for open-ended exploration.  

And that’s the place we’re as we speak — a continually evolving tradition of innovation. We now know that actual influence doesn’t come from a single occasion or course of however from regularly making house for daring pondering. And as we transfer ahead, we’ll continue to learn, iterating, and discovering new methods to push the boundaries of what’s doable.

Life hack

G2’s journey exhibits that innovation isn’t a one-time initiative; it’s a mindset. It requires fixed experimentation, not simply in devoted occasions however in how groups strategy their work on daily basis. We’ve seen this shift firsthand, with groups naturally carving out moments of innovation inside their common cycles. The result’s extra engaged groups and a extra sustainable path to constantly high-impact outcomes.

Undecided the place to start out with launching your personal hackathon? Begin the place you may. Determine the funding you’ve got management over and launch an innovation occasion — irrespective of how small. Give groups the liberty to discover, however set a transparent objective for measuring influence. Have a good time the wins to construct momentum and develop that funding over time. And most significantly, by no means cease experimenting.

Able to dive into extra G2 tech data? Be taught extra about The Grand Delusion and why cybersecurity retains failing.

Edited by Supanna Das