Texas.gov - Using Hackathons to Work Together Towards a Common Goal
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Create Your Own Ocean’s Eleven: Using Hackatho ns to Work Together Towards a Common Goal Presented by Texas.gov TASSCC 2013
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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 of Texas.gov - Using Hackathons to Work Together Towards a Common Goal
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)
Business
Government
Techcrunch Hackathon
Rallyon Hackathon
Facebook Hackathon
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
