In Spring 2015, About.com – one of the world's largest digital premium publishers – decided that their teams desperately needed a change of pace, while their company needed a rapid injection of new products. And so, the team held an innovation tournament. This presentation tells the story of what they did and what they learned along the way.

1. We Ran An
Innovation Tournament!
And Why You Should, Too. A Step-by-Step Guide.
by Tricia Han & Nabil Ahmad

2. •To develop new products and features that
might not otherwise get built, sometimes
innovative
•To help people think differently, outside the box
•To de-centralize tech & data for a bit
•To increase staff engagement and get different
people to work together
•Seems like everybody does it
Why Do Companies “Hack”?
2

3. New products & features did not get built or shipped
• Company hadn’t committed to action on “good” ideas; we shipped nada
• Some ideas not viable for business, e.g. a Tetris-style game using our
content
Staff bonding did not happen in new places
• Main participants were Product & Tech; teams were same people who
worked together every day
Staff and mgmt were engaged, but frustrated by the results
• Participants enjoyed it, but hard to know where to start
• Everyone frustrated that no ideas – even the good ones – made it to
production or onto a roadmap
We Tried Running A Short Hackathon, Too – It Was Meh
3

4. Read “Innovation Tournaments” by Christian
Terwiesch & Karl T. Ulrich*
They define innovation as:
• Achieving a new match between a need and a solution
• Creating value where “value” = financial profit for a
commercial org
Successful innovation for a business is not:
• Just building cool, new stuff
What’s An Innovation Tournament? Why Is It Different?
4
*Terwiesch, Christian & Ulrich, Karl T. Innovation Tournaments. Boston: Harvard Business
Press, 2009. Print. (Yes, print.)

5. • Research by Terwiesch & Ulrich* found that more $ spent
on innovation doesn’t necessarily lead to increased
profits. (Note: Apple is not on the list to the right!)
• They argue companies need to instead identify more
exceptional opportunities.
But how?
Myth: More R&D $ Spent Leads To Innovation
5
**Booz & Company: 20 publicly traded companies worldwide that spent the most on R&D, ranked by the amount they
spent: http://www.strategyand.pwc.com/global/home/what-we-think/global-innovation-1000/top-20-rd-spenders-2013
INNOVATION BY
THE NUMBERS
Top R&D Spenders in
2013 (Tech in blue)**
*Terwiesch, Christian & Ulrich, Karl T. Innovation Tournaments. Boston: Harvard Business
Press, 2009. Print. (Yes, print.)

6. 1. Increase the
quantity of raw
opportunities
2. Increase the
average quality
3. Increase the
variance in the
quality
A Better Way: It’s A Numbers, Quality & Variety Game
6
Terwiesch, Christian & Ulrich, Karl T. Innovation Tournaments. Boston: Harvard Business Press,
2009. Print.

7. 7

8. 1. Create innovative ideas that lead to financial
and productivity benefits for the company
• Target: 50 ideas or more (the more, the better)
2. Help staff become better connected with
company’s products & tools, and with people
from other teams
• Target: 75% staff participation in some shape or form
3. Retain talented staff through an engaging
program
• Target: 75% of participants feel the program worthwhile
and valuable
What Were Our Goals For The Tournament?
8

9. 1. Defined goals, metrics, problem statements & judging
criteria for a 4-week tournament
• Got management buy-in
2. Created a cascading tournament – ideas were
evaluated, advanced or eliminated through 3 rounds
• All staff invited to participate
• We helped design the eventual teams
• Only 1 round of actual design and coding
3. Cross-functional judges filtered ideas using pre-set
criteria
• Staff also voted on ideas to inform judges & select “wild cards”
• Identified and assigned team mentors to give feedback during
competition
4. Marketed the program relentlessly throughout
How Did We Set Up The About.com Innovation Tourney?
9

10. How Did It Work?
10
Round One:
Ideation
• All staff invited to
submit ideas using a
template
• Ideas posted
anonymously
• All staff voted on “wall
of projects”
• Judging panel
selected top 18 ideas
to advance, staff
selected 2 “Wild
Cards”
Round Two:
The Pitch
• Idea creators
presented ideas
during a “Public Pitch”
(2-1-0 rule)
• All staff voted
• Judging panel
selected top 9, staff
selected 1 “Wild
Card”
• Staff signed up to join
project teams of Pitch
winners
Round Three:
Collaboration
• Teams designed and
built concept over
one week
• Teams presented at
end of week
• Staff voted for favorite
• Judging panel
crowned winner(s),
including “People’s
Choice”

11. Judging Panel Winner(s)
• Monetary reward: $1,000/team member
• Idea to be implemented for real-world testing in next
quarter
• Names added to a championship trophy
• Bowling against senior team
People’s Choice Winner(s)
• $250/team member
Did We Mention There Were Prizes?
11

12. So What Happened?

13. We received 182 ideas (or ~1/employee)
• Ideas came from diverse teams, including
unexpected ones – Finance, HR, Admin
• Ideas came from all levels – CEO to Admin
• Staff started publically campaigning for votes
• Over 80% of staff voted during each round
Most were product ideas, but there were
other types
• Staff realized they had a forum for all types of ideas
• One idea was a health challenge; we ran it
(separately) and participating staff lost 211 lbs!
Lots of Ideas Generated
13
Ideas was our
original target
50
This was the beginning of the “Wall of Ideas.”
We’d eventually need 3 big walls, floor to ceiling.

14. Ideas were initially anonymous
• The best ideas won, as determined by judges and
staff
20 people pitched their ideas to the
company
• Pitchers came from all levels, depts & multiple
cites – Admin to VP, Ad Ops to Eng
• Many pitchers were not regular presenters
• You can watch one of the pitches here:
https://vimeo.com/134442289
• It was exciting!
Individuals Were Recognized For Their Ideas And Shined
14
This is Tatum. She had a great idea.

15. Diverse, balanced teams got to work
• We organized teams by skill set & mixed people up
• From day one of collaboration week, teams had an
idea of what they wanted to build
• They had a full, uninterrupted week
Teams also thought about business
• Team included “business” people to model
financial and traffic impacts
• Final presentations included viability and
opportunity, along with designs and code
Winners are on their way to production!
Teams Built Viable Products, Not Just Concepts
15
Here are just a few of the
projects. These actually
worked!

16. Here’s What We Learned…

17. It’s motivating.
It’s exciting.
And you can trash talk.
17
People Love Competitions.#1

18. Rules make it easier to start + mark the finish line.
Rules can push you to work outside your comfort zone.
Rules guide the work towards things that will make a
difference. (That’s what we all want.)
18
Good Competitions Have Rules.#2

19. A little bit of prep time to think, marinate & plan helps
the actual “work” go faster.
That being said, 1-2 days is likely not enough time for a
good project.
19
Good Things Take Time (But Only A Week).#3

20. Sell people on the idea. You’ll have to be inspiring.
Prep everything – rooms to work, data, design kits,
access to mentors, communications, snacks…
Call the plays throughout. Show people the standings
frequently and very publically.
20
It Takes A Lot Of Work To Play This Hard.*#4
*Dolly Parton inspired this one. Thanks, Dolly.

21. Open casting: You’ll be surprised who shows up and
what they bring.
People will vote for them.
New stars are born.
21
It’s Fun To Root For People.#5

22. In Conclusion:
Run An
Innovation
Tournament!