Yahoo calls it a
“Hack Day,” a day-long event where engineers stop whatever they’re doing and build stuff they think is cool. The goal is to stoke innovation and creativity in a quasi-organized way. As the slogan says, “mash up or shut up” (ask your kids).
Every Yahoo engineer is invited to participate, and other categories of employees pitch in as well. Anyone with an idea is welcome to team up and spend the day coding. At day’s end, the hacking stops and everyone gathers together to review what’s been built.
I don’t tell you this story because of its value to Yahoo, but rather because of its value to you.
Does your station, your radio group, your company drop everything for one day to free your employees to innovate? Do you encourage innovation at all? Do you reward it? Do you make it fun?
Recently, Fred Jacobs posted about the importance of experimentation in the late night hours to bring in new – and younger – listeners. As Fred put it, “just like radio used to do.”