Since 2005, we’ve been holding quarterly internal innovation days – our unique blend of a hack day and Google’s 20% time. Seven years later, we’ve done 19 of these events, featuring more than 500 projects from developers, IT ninjas, and even marketing folks. The name for the event was inspired by the one company that “ships” more than anyone – [Redacted] – and their commitment to ship something in 24 hours. We liked the idea of applying that “ship in a day” concept to these internal innovation hack-a-thons, so we began calling them “[Redacted] Days” informally.
As the [Redacted] Day concept grew, so did its popularity. Several publications – from Pando Daily to Fortune to an inspired TED talk by the inimitable Daniel Pink – took note of this clever way to inspire employees to experiment with a single, unadulterated day of innovation. And more than 50 different companies from dozens of industries were inspired enough by the concept to run [Redacted] Days of their own.
Another organization that become aware of [Redacted] Days is…well, [redacted] Corporation. They’ve asked us nicely to discontinue using their brand in connection with this event. It’s not something we asked permission for originally, since it was just a cheeky way to spike innovation internally and we never anticipated the idea would take flight like it has. We’re grateful to [redacted] for being the great company they are and, even though the name holds pretty deep meaning for us internally, we’re happy to comply. And we want your help!!
Onward and Upward – A new name!
Since these [insert name] Days have morphed into a phenomenon bigger than us, we want the broader community to help us rename it.
Sound off in the form below with your ideas about what we call this thing. We’ll be taking your submissions for the next week until May 23rd 2012 at midnight PDT, so share ’em while they count. Stay tuned for a future post with the shiny new name. As an extra incentive, the provider of the winning name will get a special package of our finest Atlassian swag.
Now, start your creative engines!
Update: We’ve received hundreds of suggestions! Thanks to everyone who made a submission and read up on our newly-minted ShipIt Day!