Agile and Beyond 2018

Igniting culture change requires creating a movement. The movement we created was a hackathon. Julia, Jonny, and Max share how they came together to plan a hackathon for Ford Motor Company, and describe how a hackathon can be used to shift an organization’s mindset. Our mission was to create a movement within our community that would break down silos, inspire innovation, and motivate our peers to think differently. But how do you launch a movement? You start by recruiting the people that are most passionate about your mission, and give them a platform to share their ideas. By harnessing their enthusiasm, you create an environment for the rest of the company to experience their way of thinking. In the planning process, we emulated the behaviors we hoped to galvanize. We came together with different backgrounds, from different teams, in different locations to join forces. We inspired others to contribute their talents to the planning process, and we motivated our peers to participate in something Ford had never been done before. Candidly, we will share our journey, examine obstacles, and discuss the impact the event had on the culture at Ford. We will also explore Hackathon 2.0, and what we hope to achieve in our next iteration.