I've experienced both short code sprints and hackathons, and I can recommend both.
At Yola we had a series of short code sprints to focus as much attention as possible on a particular project - no interruptions, specific outcomes, everyone fully present. Authoritative decisions came faster due to high-bandwidth communication between everyone with a stake (and that spilled over a bit after the sprints).
Meanwhile, hackathons at Facebook seem to continue the aims of bootcamp - promoting discovering more about people, code, and technologies that you won't usually interact with on your usual team/job. After the day (or two) recovering from hacking all night, everyone seems a little more energised.
At Yola we had a series of short code sprints to focus as much attention as possible on a particular project - no interruptions, specific outcomes, everyone fully present. Authoritative decisions came faster due to high-bandwidth communication between everyone with a stake (and that spilled over a bit after the sprints).
Meanwhile, hackathons at Facebook seem to continue the aims of bootcamp - promoting discovering more about people, code, and technologies that you won't usually interact with on your usual team/job. After the day (or two) recovering from hacking all night, everyone seems a little more energised.