Complex, knowledge-intensive projects present challenges in terms of defining the work and determining roles. Time pressure makes these challenges more acute. External leadership can provide necessary direction and shape, giving the work a clear focus guiding the team’s efforts. With hackathons and rapid product prototyping more feasible than they ever have been, collaborations that fast-track innovation by drawing together teams of unfamiliar experts are more common than ever.

Drawing on the process perspective on creative action, we seek to understand the generation of new ideas and solutions when teams are working within an extremely brief time frame of one week. The influence of mentors on these interactions has received limited attention. We fill this gap through a study of fifteen case teams who participated in a week-long boot camp where they generated proposals for public health studies, guided by mentors who were experts in the field. The teams’ proposals were evaluated by independent panels, and the evaluations provided metrics for team success.

Our results suggest that even in short-term teams, the timing of mentor interventions is critical to team success.