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[1] Skip to Main Content
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[2] Viget
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We’re a full-service digital agency that’s been helping clients make lasting
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More
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Featured
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[22]
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Read the Article: First Impressions of the Dia AI Browser
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Newsletter
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First Impressions of the Dia AI Browser
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[23]
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Read the Article: Time, Tools, and Permission to Experiment: A 2026 Pointless
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Palooza Recap
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Article
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Time, Tools, and Permission to Experiment: A 2026 Pointless Palooza Recap
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Time, Tools, and Permission to Experiment: A 2026 Pointless Palooza Recap
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[eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ2Z3QtdmlnZXRjb20tYW]
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• [24]Home
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• [25]Articles
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• [26]Time, Tools, and Permission to Experiment: A 2026 Pointless Palooza
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Recap
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[27] Subscribe (opens in a new window)
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Share
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• [29] Share this page
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• [30] Share this page
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• [31] Post this page
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[32] Aubrey Lear
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[33]Aubrey Lear, Director of Employee Engagement
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Article Categories: [34] #News & Culture, [35] #Employee Engagement
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Posted on March 13, 2026
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• [36]
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Share
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• [37]
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Share
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• [38]
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Post
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48-hours, 8 projects, a dash of 8-bit influence, and agentic collaborators.
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Hackathons foster more teamwork, stronger output, and more learning than ever
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before.
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4 8 - h o u r s , 8 p r o j e c t s , a d a s h o f 8 - b i t i n f l u e n c e
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, a n d a g e n t i c c o l l a b o r a t o r s . H a c k a t h o n s f o s t e
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r m o r e t e a m w o r k , s t r o n g e r o u t p u t , a n d m o r e l e a r
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n i n g t h a n e v e r b e f o r e .
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A few weeks ago, we paused client work for Pointless Palooza, our internal
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hackathon. It was our largest and most successful Palooza to date! Eight teams
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shipped projects, prototypes, and explorations in roughly 48 hours.
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[eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ2Z3QtdmlnZXRjb20tYWxsLWFzc2V]
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Hacking in 2026
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Pointless Corp. is Viget's long-running innovation lab, [39]neither pointless
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nor a corporation. It's how we make space to try, fail, and learn without the
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constraints of client deliverables. [40]In past years, Pointless projects
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required carefully assembled teams with dedicated developers. The mission was
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the same, but the output looked drastically different.
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For example, in [41]2021, our hackathon hosted a similar number of
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participants, who formed 3 teams and shipped 3 prototypes, all less functional
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and polished than what we accomplished this time around. In 2026, tools like
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Replit, Lovable, Bolt, and Claude Code enabled small teams and even individuals
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to accomplish far more than ever before.
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What We Built
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[42]A Custom Obsidian Plugin
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Viget's Obsidian enthusiasts used Pointless to explore what happens when you
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point AI coding agents at your personal knowledge base. The team experimented
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with Claude Code inside Obsidian, building a plugin that connects your web
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clipper and file tree to cheap, targeted LLM calls. Their finding: AI tools are
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becoming effective general-purpose assistants for managing information, not
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just producing it.
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[eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ2Z3QtdmlnZXRjb20tYWxsLWFzc2V]
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[43]Scooter Commuter
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A browser-based game that helps remote workers mentally arrive at their workday
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through playful moments: waking up, grabbing coffee, or hopping on a scooter.
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The five-person team of designers, project managers, and strategists went from
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idea to interactive prototype in 48 hours, tackling a universal remote-work
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challenge with creativity and warmth. They leveraged agentic tools, eliminating
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the need for a dedicated developer to get past the starting line.
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[44]Shelf Help
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Born from Viget's thriving book culture, Shelf Help delivers smarter, more
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personalized reading recommendations. The team researched what existing
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platforms get wrong, mapped MVP features, and built a working
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prototype—starting with a personal pain point and validating a better solution
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in a short sprint.
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[45]A Slack-Based Weekly All-Hands Production Tool
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Seeking to cut down on coordination overhead, this solo exploration set out to
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build a Slack-first tool to manage presenter slots, nudge people through prep,
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and keep the run-of-show coherent for our internal weekly all-hands meeting.
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[46]To-Don’t List
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Flip the script on productivity: instead of tracking what you do, track what
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you successfully don't do. This gamified habit tracker rewards restraint with
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collectible pixel plants for an isometric garden, all wrapped in a cozy 8-bit
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aesthetic inspired by Stardew Valley and Tamagotchi. The four-person team used
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an agentic workflow and AI image generation to build the experience, a great
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example of a cross-disciplinary group turning a playful concept into something
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polished and cohesive.
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[47]Barnaby
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An AI-powered language app that replaces grammar drills with contextual
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conversation practice, like ordering food or meeting a friend, and adapts to
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the learner's level. The functional app was built entirely by three UX
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researchers (no developers) using Lovable and Supabase. Their takeaway: prompt
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engineering is its own kind of UX design.
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[48]Wereabouts
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This werewolf-themed location-sharing app blends playful branding with real
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utility. The team used AI to spark creativity, starting with their mascot.
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Shipping a working prototype by the end of Day One. Their key insight: AI
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handled speed, but human judgment handled direction.
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[eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ2Z3QtdmlnZXRjb20tYWxsLWFzc2V]
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Another Awesome, to-be-announced, Project
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The last project, internally dubbed Dave’s Mystery Project, has not yet hit the
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Viget blog. What we can reveal is that a cross-disciplinary team worked to
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combine digital and physical tech advancements to foster connection and
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friendship, all with an 8-bit spin. We’ll share more in the months ahead. The
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team remains hard at work and plans to unveil their experience at our upcoming
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spring all-hands retreat.
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Takeaways
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AI didn't replace anyone; it changed who could build what. The most striking
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pattern this year was who was shipping software. A team of three UX researchers
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built a fully functional language learning app. A DevOps engineer inspired a
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team of designers to create a gamified habit tracker with pixel art. A client
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strategist helped architect a location-sharing app. AI tools didn't eliminate
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the need for expertise; they redistributed what's possible across roles.
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Human judgment remains the critical ingredient. Every team used AI to
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accelerate their build and reported the same thing: knowing when to redirect,
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override, or step away from AI output was just as important as generating it.
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Teams treated AI as a capable collaborator that still needs a clear-eyed human
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in the loop.
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Solving real problems creates the best energy. This year's projects tackled
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genuine needs: coordinating a weekly all-hands meeting, finding the right book,
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and creating a sense of balance for remote workers. Pointless projects don't
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need a business case, but we find that solving problems rooted in real
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frustrations tends to generate the most momentum and learning.
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What’s Next
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Pointless Palooza has always been one of Viget's most valuable investments. A
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chance to step outside the day-to-day, experiment freely, and come back
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sharper. This year, teams moved faster, the diversity of who built what
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expanded, and the sophistication of what got shipped increased. All reflecting
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the real shift in what’s possible in our industry today.
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The point of Pointless has never been the projects themselves. It's what we
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carry back: new skills, stronger relationships across disciplines, and a
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clearer picture of what's possible. This year, what's possible got a whole lot
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bigger.
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[49] Aubrey Lear
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[50]Aubrey is Viget’s Director of Employee Engagement based in our Falls
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Church, VA, HQ. She is an organized advocate for color coordinated calendars
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and closets, but most importantly she is a believer in team spirit and creative
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thinking.
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[51]More articles by Aubrey
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Related Articles
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• [52]
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The Point of Pointless Corp. in the AI Age
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Article
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The Point of Pointless Corp. in the AI Age
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Brian Williams
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• [53]
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The Art of Doing Nothing: Building the "To-Don’t" List
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Article
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The Art of Doing Nothing: Building the "To-Don’t" List
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Annalisa Kleinschmidt
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• [54]
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Pointless explorations of Obsidian & Claude Code
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Article
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Pointless explorations of Obsidian & Claude Code
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Joshua Pease
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The Viget Newsletter
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Nobody likes popups, so we waited until now to recommend our newsletter,
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featuring thoughts, opinions, and tools for building a better digital world.
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[55]Read the current issue.
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[56]Subscribe Here (opens in new window)
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[45] https://www.viget.com/articles/building-pointless-flf/
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[47] https://www.viget.com/articles/big-prompts-beagle-power-how-we-built-an-ai-language-app-in-24-hours/
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[48] https://www.viget.com/articles/where-were-you-how-ai-and-human-instinct-built-wereabouts-at-pointless-palooza-2026/
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