Minimal and Adaptive Coordination: How Hackathons’ Projects Accelerate Innovation without Killing it

Lifshitz-Assaf, Hila; Lebovitz, Sarah; Zalmanson, Lior

doi:10.5465/amj.2017.0712

Cited by 54 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 113 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…However, the unusual aspects were incentivization through “civic duty” rather than the cash prizes which were used in European COVID hackathons ( Bertello et al, 2021 ), and the rapid adoption and benefits realization by the Uruguayan government. Interestingly, research on assistive technology hackathons ( Lifshitz-Assaf et al, 2021 ) indicates that the formal agile methodologies break down in hackathons because, ironically, they are too rigid to deliver in extremely schedule-compressed environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operation Warp Speed: Projects responding to the COVID-19 pandemic

Winch¹,

Cao

Maytorena-Sanchez³

et al. 2021

Project Leadership and Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has profound socio-economic consequences. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, so this paper focuses on radical changes to accepted practice in project organizing in response. In particular, we focus on schedule compression to deliver outputs to mitigate the immediate impact of the pandemic on health. In the spirit of engaged scholarship, which is problem-driven rather than theory-driven, we address directly the evidence of what happened in two empirical vignettes and one more substantial case study – the CoronavirusUY app; emergency field hospitals; and vaccine development. We then suggest the implications for project management theory in discussion.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operation Warp Speed: Projects responding to the COVID-19 pandemic

Winch¹,

Cao

Maytorena-Sanchez³

et al. 2021

Project Leadership and Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, conferences in academic communities are governed by a scientific norm of common ownership over a shared body of knowledge (Merton, 1973) O 'Mahony & Ferraro, 2007;Seidel & Stewart, 2011). Hackathons often adopt norms that encourage the open sharing of expertise (Lifshitz-Assaf et al, 2020). Many software projects created at hackathons are, themselves, made available as open source.…”

Section: Temporary Gatherings As Forums For Knowledge Exchangementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Software development hackathons often have some affiliation or overlapping membership with open innovation and open‐source software communities, which nurture an ethos of openness, valuing the free exchange of ideas and encouraging knowledge to flow between members (Lee & Cole, 2003; Lifshitz‐Assaf, 2018; O'Mahony & Ferraro, 2007; Seidel & Stewart, 2011). Hackathons often adopt norms that encourage the open sharing of expertise (Lifshitz‐Assaf et al, 2020). Many software projects created at hackathons are, themselves, made available as open source.…”

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We focus on temporary gatherings in the form of software development hackathons, which we further describe later in the paper. In short, hackathons bring developers together to create new software applications in a short time frame (Lifshitz‐Assaf, Lebovitz, & Zalmanson, 2020). 2 Software developers come to these events to learn new skills, create new applications (with teammates), and compete for prizes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Platform diffusion at temporary gatherings: Social coordination and ecosystem emergence

Fang

Clough

2020

Strategic Management Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research Summary Software platforms create value by cultivating an ecosystem of complementary products and services. Existing explanations for how a prospective complementor chooses platforms to join assume the complementor has rich information about the range of available platforms. However, complementors lack this information in many ecosystems, raising the question of how complementors learn about platforms in the first place. We investigate whether attending a temporary gathering—a hackathon—impacts the platform choices of software developers. Through a large‐scale quantitative study of 1,302 developers and 167 hackathons, supported by qualitative research, we analyze the multiple channels—sponsorship, social learning, knowledge exchange, and social coordination—through which hackathons serve as a social forum for the diffusion of platform adoption among attendees. Managerial Summary A software platform such as Windows, iOS, or Amazon Web Services relies on third‐party developers to create applications that complement the platform and make it valuable for end users. However, developers face a wide range of possible platforms, and they may have limited information about which platforms would be worthwhile to develop for. A software platform business can educate and encourage developers to adopt their platform by supporting in‐person software development competitions, known as hackathons. Developers learn about prospective platforms that advertise at the hackathon. Developers also learn whether and how to use a platform by observing and teaching one other. Hackathons are particularly useful for spreading platform technologies: developers prefer to adopt widely used platforms, and hackathons permit developers to identify and join fashionable platforms.

show abstract

“…When interactions are fluid or round-the-clock, using a team of researchers can help in generating sufficient observation. For example, researching make-a-thon groups—small groups that participate in 72-hr sessions to build new devices—Lifshitz-Assaf et al (2018) coordinated across authors to collect data round-the-clock (e.g., observational field notes, artifacts, informal interviews), which they supplemented with video recordings, blogs written by make-a-thon members, and websites. To keep up with the groups they were studying, members of the research team had to work separately to collect data, coming together regularly in huddles to compare observations and recalibrate their work before collecting more data.…”

Section: Adaptive Approaches Related To Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Into the fray: Adaptive approaches to studying novel teamwork forms

Kerrissey

Satterstrom

Edmondson³

2020

Organizational Psychology Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Novel forms of teamwork—created by rapid change and growing diversity among collaborators—are increasingly common, and they present substantial methodological challenges for research. We highlight two aspects of new team forms that challenge conventional methods. Factors pertaining to change (e.g., in membership) create entitativity challenges such as whom to count as team members, while factors pertaining to difference (e.g., in expertise) create concordance challenges such as how to interpret disagreement in groups. We review research methods that are well-suited to each of these specific challenges. We identify the particular challenges of studying teams that exhibit high difference and change simultaneously and call for adaptive methods that enable insight into how they work. Clarity about the dimensions of deviation from ideal team forms, along with shared terminology, will help researchers make and discuss tough methodological choices and assist reviewers in evaluating them.

show abstract

Minimal and Adaptive Coordination: How Hackathons’ Projects Accelerate Innovation without Killing it

Cited by 54 publications

References 113 publications

Operation Warp Speed: Projects responding to the COVID-19 pandemic

Operation Warp Speed: Projects responding to the COVID-19 pandemic

Platform diffusion at temporary gatherings: Social coordination and ecosystem emergence

Into the fray: Adaptive approaches to studying novel teamwork forms

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About