Dev week: the innovation summit
As G2 grew, so did the need for alignment. Scaling a company introduces more processes, and while structure is necessary, it can also mess with the creative energy that drives real innovation. We started hearing a consistent theme from our teams: they wanted space to explore ideas outside the roadmap.
At the same time, we didn’t want to fully abandon the benefits of our original “chore week” mentality — some engineers still valued time to improve the codebase. So, we evolved.
The result was what we first called “Dev Week”, which eventually became the “Innovation Summit.” It was an unstructured, two-week event where self-selected teams could explore new ideas, experiment with emerging technologies, and build something real.
At the end of the two weeks, teams showcased their work, and right away, we saw wins. One of the biggest early successes? An integration that brought G2 actions directly into Slack. This was something that wasn’t on the roadmap but delivered immediate value.
But while this approach unlocked creativity, it had its own challenges. Many great ideas never saw the light of day. Even when we loved what teams built, we struggled to close the loop and bring those innovations into production. As soon as the Innovation Summit ended, we went back to “regular” work, and many projects simply faded into the background.
The inspiration was there. The learning was there. But we weren’t realizing the full impact of these innovations. We needed to find a way to bridge the gap between creative exploration and real, lasting outcomes. That’s when we introduced hackathons to bring these ideas to life.
