Ashish Kumar from Tekriti Software

An initiative we have taken at Tekriti is the organization of monthly Innovation day - that we call TekInnovate day. It’s scheduled on the 3rd Saturday of each month - which means that 1 saturday in each month is a working day. This is a day when people are ‘not told’ what they should be doing. Instead they come up with the ideas themselves and execute upon it.

And, boy, I am so glad to see some wonderful ideas coming up on the occasion. People came up with a lot of ideas - some that are highly usable for us internally, some which might make sense to launch commercially and some which are done just for plain fun. But I must tell that I am super excited about a couple of ideas that came up. We just need to spend a day more on those and then brainstorm about its future.

Here is the text of the email I sent to the team a couple of months back:

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All,

One of the many things I like about us being a small and young unit is the ease and speed at which we can innovate – and that is something which will help us distinguish from the other companies. In order to promote innovation in the company, we are introducing a new practice – organization of ‘TekInnovate Day’.

What is TekInnovate Day?
We all get ideas, we all have craving to follow up on our ideas. Some of us do follow up on that in our spare time while some of us don’t because of lack of motivation, lack of resources or just that we want to catch up a little more sleep. TekInnovate day is being organized to make sure that everybody gets to follow up on their dreams, their ideas and the company will make it easier by giving it a little structure. So, this is a day when everybody works on their ideas and not something which has been assigned to them.

How does it work and what is a typical day like?
The plan is to think of an idea which can be taken from idea to implementation stage in a day. Yes – 1 day – that is important. You don’t have to come up with a full working system – but come up with a very basic prototype of your idea – something which can be evaluated for its potential. So, a typical TekInnovate day will start at 9 AM where we spend first 60 minutes (or less) evaluating the ideas pursued in the last TekInnovate day (of course, this is not applicable for the first time) and then the rest of the day is spent working on your ideas. There will be an informal status check at the end of the day and you can continue working on your ideas in your free time until the next TekInnovate day.

Can I seek help of others while working on my ideas?
Yes, of course, but avoid it! The idea is to work independently and everybody will be working on their ideas – so try to be as independent as possible.

When are the timings for TekInnovate Day?
3rd Saturday of every month! Please note that this will be a working day at Tekriti and the attendance is mandatory. This work will be taken into account during performance reviews.

Do we have rewards associated with it?
Hmm… Good question! Can there be a better reward than having the freedom to work on your ideas with the complete backing of the company? If your idea is worth pursuing, you may continue working on the same idea for the successive TekInnovate days. And, if it is worthwhile, you will see that coming as a product from Tekriti – with you playing a big part in it.

I don’t have an idea, right now. What do I do?
Although, it’s encouraged to come up with an idea of yourself, we have discussed some ideas to seed the system. You can discuss and get more details about those ideas from your manager.

When is the 1st TekInnovate Day?
Next month – when we will be in our new offices! I will send out another email when we are near that date – which should be followed by discussions with your managers in your 1:1s.

Let me know if you have questions.
-Ashish Kumar
Tekriti Software
http://www.tekritisoftware.com
Blog: http://www.latestinindia.com

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I will, definitely, have a lot more to talk about a few months from now when we start seeing the results.