texas.gov - using hackathons to work together towards a common goal

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A hackathon is defined as an event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development collaborate intensively on software projects. Hackathons are also about bringing people together for a common cause or goal. At Texas.gov, we embraced the spirit of collaboration, innovation, ingenuity, and agility by recently hosting our first hackathon. In addition to producing viable solutions, our hackathon generated team pride, enhanced core technical and soft skills, identified key success factors, and modeled a lean delivery approach. This presentation will showcase exactly how Texas.gov hosted our hackathon, what the outcomes and lessons learned were, and how we benefited from the experience.

TRANSCRIPT

Create Your Own

Ocean’s Eleven:

Using

Hackathons to Work Together Towards a Common Goal

Presented by Texas.govTASSCC 2013

What?

Where?

How?

Why?

Agenda

Danny OceanThe RingleaderBrian Stevenson

Rusty RyanPartner-in-CrimePete Eichorn

Rueben TishkoffWealthy FriendRaj Polikepati

Starring …

What is a Hackathon?An event where programmers

and others involved in software

development collaborate on

software projects to achieve a

common goal.

Lean, agile, rapid

development of a solution

(not necessarily software).

Hackathons can be used

for non-technical

situations (e.g. cost

reduction initiatives)

Started with technical brown bags 5 years ago

Progressed to “all hands on deck” workshop 2 years ago

Leverage prototyping and proof-of-concept for new possibilities

Recently held 1st 24-hour Hackathon through grass-root interest

Evolution at

Ideation & Innovation?

Innovation lunches

Problem

solving

Voting Improvise

Good night’s sleep

Large room with whiteboards, sunlight, bright lights, hydration supplies, and lots of food

Laptops/notebooks with access to existing SDLC toolset

Guaranteed support structure (operations) for day-to-day production support

Logistics

Release plan

Epics

User stories

Velocity

Sprint review

Retrospective

Sprint planning

Agile Terms & Roles

Product Owner

Scrum Master

Team

Stakeholder

9:00 am start time; offsite conference room

~20 people – web services, user experience, and server-side web developers

All-hands standup to discuss goals

Input from team on execution approach – chose Agile Scrum

Hackathon Itinerary

Build a mobile app that scans a QR/bar code to renew service

Build a tool to help Finance team with monthly close

Things under control: renewal service, payment service, technologies, financial knowledge

Unknowns: QR code scanning technology

Initial Standup

4 Scrum teams to handle:

Bar code scanning work (biggest unknown)

Creating/utilizing web services needed

Web design & development activities for app

Financial tool for monthly close

Team Formations

Release planning– 4 sprints, 4 hours each

Sprint planning– Select features from product backlog– Finalized acceptance criteria

Sprint standups– Discuss progress across teams

Sprint review & retrospective– Teams demonstrated functionality– Discussed new findings & solutions– What worked, what didn’t– Improvements for next sprint– Food breaks

Hackathon Day Ceremonies

Reusable services Reusable assets (e.g. view

templates & themes)

Scaffolding– Ruby on Rails– Groovy on Grails– ASP.NET Dynamic Data Scaffolding– Spring MVC Scaffolding

Mobile first technology Mock capabilities Contract interfaces

Technologies for Success

License procurement for scanning software

Bullet-proofing Security scanning Show & tell for overall team Coordination with partner for

production release plan Celebrate!!!

Follow-up Activities

Hackathon Benefits

Team building

Employee satisfaction

Learn execution experience

Solve problems

Prototype for new opportunities

Reduce investment risks with proof-of-concept

Improve culture by demonstrating a “can do” attitude backed by results

A New Card in Your Deck

New project execution plans

Emergency handling

Sustained annual planning

And more ….

Fosters blue-sky thinking

Entire organization can participate

Teaches effective decision making

Can deliver results in astonishingly short timeframes

All about the team – environment & empowerment

Executive Viewpoint

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