AppsAnywhere Fest 2023 – Flamenco Edition

Simplification

On the 24th-25th July we held our second annual AppsAnywhere Fest; an internal 24 hour hackathon event. Things were a bit different compared to last year and was not just focussed on ideas to enhance the product. This time 5 teams were encouraged to create plans or push forward projects that were themed around simplification.

Internally we call our values around simplification Project Flamenco, a random but fun name that helped it to stick and become part of our DNA when we communicated it internally earlier this year. Therefore it was inevitable that this year’s Fest would become the Flamenco edition!

The 24-hour Projects

In the lead up to the event 65 ideas were submitted and five were selected for the final. The 24-hour projects taken forward were:

• A Proposal for Simplifying the Packaging Offering
• Simplifying the Website
• A Plan for Reorganising the Public Documentation
• Connection Tests for DB and API Connections
• Sales Simplification

As you can tell from that list, the projects were very different in scope, covering multiple business functions and not restricted to just software development. It was going to be difficult to select a winner! But like every great 80s movie about an immortal sword-wielding Scotsman played by a French actor: “there can be only one.” (If you’ve never seen Highlander before... shame on you.)

Why Flamenco though?    

We needed a name at random for our simplification project so looked at a what3words map of our UK office, The Foresters Arms, and “flamenco” caught the eye. I don’t believe any of us have any Spanish dancing skills.

One of the alternative what3words options for the office was “snacking” and snacking skills are something that we definitely do have – as anyone who has heard about our World Cup of Crisps event from last year will know. In fact I lost track of how much pizza, candy and coffee was consumed during AppsAnywhere Fest but it seemed to do the job!

Bragging rights & doing right

The teams were after this beautiful trophy which is approximately 1.5 inches taller than last year’s and I plan on making them bigger and bigger each year until one day they become impossible to pick up without a forklift. And if that wasn’t enough, the teams were also competing for a $500 donation to a charity of their choice.

How AppsAnywhere Fest works

The rules were that the teams had 24 hours to make progress on their projects. How they made best use of the 24 hours was totally up to them. Some of the teams were based around particular business responsibilities, some teams were cross functional and some were transatlantic.

Regardless of their set up it was up to them to make the best of it so that at the end of the 24 hours they had something to present; their demo or pitch lasting no longer than 10 mins! They were judged on the following criteria: Achievement, Alignment to Flamenco goals, Collaboration, Presentation and Wow factor.

Collectively innovating on a global scale

Everyone really threw themselves into the contest and the opportunity to create something of real value in such a short space of time – especially those that hadn’t had the opportunity to be involved last year. Thankfully the competitive banter stayed just on the right side of healthy and teams drove each other forward to achieve some fantastic results.

The winners ceremony

All teams did themselves proud and the presentations were excellent; ranging from real-time illustrations, software demonstrations, as well as the ubiquitous Powerpoint slideshow.

Judging was tricky but the panel came to a consensus, crowning the team who put forward a great proposal for simplifying public facing documentation!

Congratulations, James, Ryan & Sean!

From AppsAnywhere Fest to worldwide rollout

The great news about the event, and for Project Flamenco, is that all ideas will continue to be taken forward in one form or another. For example, the Connection Tests feature created by the Development Team will make its debut in AppsAnywhere 3.2.

Also, a big shout out goes to the Marketing team who actually put their work live during the event itself; proof-reading as many words as there are in JRR Tolkein’s The Hobbit in the process! (This blog is all about the fantasy references it seems.)

I’m already looking forward to AppsAnywhere Fest 2024!