July 2011 marked the anniversary of Trulia’s Innovation Days. We are extremely excited about our innovation program and wanted to take this opportunity to share some details and insights into what these Innovation Days entail.
It all started with the recognition that innovation is very important when creating a winning company, and that it can really blossom when actively nurtured and developed. We truly believe innovation is free spirited and should not be bound by strict rules! The program evolved following a simple principle: “Pave sidewalks where people walk”. This statement helps the program to retain its grass roots, unbound and organic characteristics and leverages the power of our teams without over-management.
Once a month, during Innovation Days, Trulia’s product managers and engineers dedicate time to share novel ideas and experiment with and implement new concepts. This is a sacred time…No project management, no deadlines! We limit the number of meetings and other “normal business” distractions: only creativity and innovation are allowed during this time.
Anyone who is passionate about an idea is urged to share it and is responsible for recruiting the players that can help bring the idea to life. There are no limits to making this happen; although word on the street is Trulia engineers enjoy their beer and Oreos (bribing is not discouraged). Once the group or individuals have identified an idea or two to explore, they work together overtime to make it happen.
After a few innovation cycles, typically once a quarter, we all get together to check out a few of the ideas in different stages of maturity and readiness. These informal “show and tell” meetings are a big component of the program. They provide an outlet for the groups to showcase what they did, stimulate new ideas, and provide input to product planning: few of the innovation experiments are in fact incorporated in the product development and shipped!
One of the first projects that stemmed out of innovation days is http://www.plotornot.com, which shows correlations between different census data sets. More ideas that have been implemented on the site include: QR codes for mobile integration, flash maps for a more engaging map experience, and several other core technology projects around site performance, optimization, and search!
So, with that said “Happy Anniversary Trulia Innovation Days!” It’s time for Trulians to put their thinking caps on and let the “paving” continue!
