At Kindred Group we have five values that saturate everything we do. We are Individuals United, We Dare to Challenge, We Build on Trust, We Seek to Innovate and We Believe in Friendship. One internal event that embodies all these values at the same time is Kindred´s Hackday.
For the seventh time in a row, employees from locations in Stockholm, London, Gibraltar, Madrid and Malta joined forces in seven different teams to solve a problem of their own choice, with only have 24 hours to do it. The winner this time round was a team with participants from both Madrid and Stockholm. We had the opportunity to talk to Team leader Miguel Adan about their new Native App idea.
What made you participate in Hackday?
We felt that we could improve our product by adding more native elements, we wanted to show that the idea that we had was possible and that it wasn't that hard to accomplish.
How did you form your team?
I just asked the members of the team if they were interested in participating. This was the first time we entered Hackday, but there was little persuasion needed, since everybody liked the idea and thought it was a fun thing to work on.
What was the name of your team and was there a meaning behind it?
The name of the team was "Señor Developer". This was a fun play on words from Senior Developer, as we all have Hispanic roots.
Can you explain your idea and contribution?
Our idea was to create a simple native App, focused only on the live events in which the user could load the events and place bets very quickly without losing a second of the event being watched on TV or at the stadium.
Why do you think your team won?
I think that it was a very good and fresh idea. Also, we were able to finish it in time to make a live demo, which went very well during the final presentation round.
Which other team impressed you and why?
All teams and ideas were great and in fact, we won by a very small difference. I was especially impressed by other teams like "In Android We Trust !" and "Look What Just Popped Up!"
Was there a difference in attending Hackday remotely?
For us in the Madrid office, it made really no difference at all because we are used to working remotely with other offices on a daily basis.
What were the hardest and the easiest parts of participating in Hackday?
The hardest was not knowing if we were going to finish in time for the final demo presentation, so I would say the planning. The easiest part I think was doing the actual development and implementation.
What was the funniest part?
The final demo presentation, all the teams were excellent and some presentations were really funny.
Would you consider participating again?
Yes absolutely, we are just waiting to have another great idea.
Any tips and tricks you can share with future participants of Hackday?
Yes, always enjoy what you are doing and don't feel pressured if you can't finish on time. Don't worry, just be sure to have a PoC prepared in that case and everything should be fine.
