Managing Project - BSH Participation to Hack Kosice 2023 Hackathon
This article is about my experience as project manager for the participation of BSH to Hack Kosice 2023. This is not an official communication from BSH and does not include any corporate information.
Situation
At the end of 2022, I have been tasked to organize the participation of my company #bsh to an event. Our primary goal was to improve the reputation of the company to the local IT community.
Situation of BSH Slovakia
BSH Slovakia includes really 2 sites:
BSH Slovakia currently has a workforce of approximately 800 employees, including 200 in its development department, which was established around 2000. Recently, BSH has made the decision to significantly increase the number of employees in its development department.
However, this decision poses several challenges:
Initially, it seems like there is a communication problem related to poor employer branding. However, there are deeper issues that will be discussed in another article regarding the 4C plan.
For now, it has been emphasized to me that we should actively participate in events to establish our brand as a cool and innovative IT electronics company. The term "Hackathon" was mentioned multiple times, so I began researching it further.
Hackawhat ?
What is a Hackathon?
A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest, datathon or codefest; a portmanteau of hacking and marathon) is an event where people engage in rapid and collaborative engineering over a relatively short period of time such as 24 or 48 hours. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackathon
Due to my background in chemical research since 2001, I had no prior knowledge or experience with hackathons. Despite being in academia for 20 years, I had never attended one, and the same was true for most of my colleagues.
How do you do one?
To organize a hackathon, you could potentially take the initiative from a project management standpoint. However, it would entail bearing all the costs, assuming most of the liability, and managing the logistics of a large-scale event. Considering our lack of experience in this domain, pursuing this path seemed impractical.
During my research, I discovered that there was already a local organization in Kosice called Hack Kosice, which organizes yearly events. While a few alternative hackathon events were mentioned online in the region, the majority of them seemed to have been halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and recent activity was difficult to find.
As a result, our primary focus became Hack Kosice, and we contacted them in late 2022, knowing that they were open to new partners and sponsors. They responded promptly and provided clear information about the benefits and costs associated with participating in Hack Kosice 2023. It became evident that they should be our primary target for collaboration.
How do you participate in one?
To participate in a hackathon, there are usually different sponsorship packages available, each offering increasing benefits based on the cost of the package. In this specific case, one of the key differences among the packages was the opportunity to present a technical challenge to the participating hackers and gain early access to their CVs.
What is a technical challenge?
A technical challenge for a hackathon refers to a specific problem or obstacle that participants must overcome using their technical skills, creativity, and problem-solving abilities. It typically involves the development of software, hardware, or a combination of both, and requires participants to design and implement innovative solutions within a limited timeframe. The challenge may be related to a particular technology, industry, or social issue, and often requires participants to leverage their programming, coding, data analysis, or engineering expertise. Technical challenges in hackathons are designed to encourage participants to collaborate, experiment, and push the boundaries of their technical abilities to develop functional and practical solutions.
Balancing the technical challenge with our own goal
Balancing the technical challenge with our own goals posed an interesting problem. There were several constraints that needed to be taken into account:
Additionally, it was important to define the goal of the challenge. Did the sponsor intend to incorporate the solutions into their own business? Or was it an opportunity to outsource some development work to the hackers? The organizers of the hackathon also had to balance the different types of challenges proposed during the event and understand their audience.
To address these considerations, the project was led by the BSH Innovation Group, which had broad interests but tended to have a shallower technical expertise. To generate technical challenges, an internal call was made to the various group leaders of BSH Slovakia's development teams.
Calling for challenges
As this was BSH Slovakia's first endeavor in offering a technical challenge in a hackathon, the initial enthusiasm was somewhat limited. To garner more support and participation, we had to emphasize the benefits for the company:
During the planning process, a few proposals were generated, including one related to a software/hardware problem and another involving technical artificial intelligence (AI). While we evaluated these proposals internally, we couldn't come to a definitive decision.
To gain further insight, we reached out to the Hackathon organizers for their feedback. They acknowledged the potential of both ideas but expressed concerns regarding the type of support that could be provided during the event.
Eventually, it became evident that the software/hardware challenge aligned more closely with BSH's activities and teams. Therefore, it was formally selected as our technical proposal for the hackathon.
Proposal
This first phase of the project aimed to conclude with a project proposal that would be approved by BSH management. To achieve this, we developed a comprehensive project documentation that included the following components:
Following the completion of the project documentation, our proposal was approved by BSH in late January, signifying the green light to proceed with the planned activities.
Let's get organized
We realized early on that two working groups or committees needed to be coordinated:
Both committees met weekly to promptly address any pending issues and ensure smooth progress.
To be successful
During these meetings, it was reiterated that our definition of success relied on hackers having a positive experience with our challenge and with BSH as a whole. The actual solution to the challenge itself was not the primary focus, and we had no intention of incorporating the solutions into our business.
This emphasis was important because both the organizers and ourselves had no prior knowledge of how a hardware/software challenge would be received by the audience. It was uncertain whether teams would choose to compete in our challenge or if we would receive any interest at all.
Personally, I would have been satisfied if at least four teams chose to participate in our challenge, but there was also the possibility that no one would select us.
Additionally, it was crucial for us to ensure that no hackers left the competition with a negative experience or negative perception of BSH. We aimed to avoid any negative impact on their perception of our company and foster a positive image instead.
Designing Technical Challenge
All technical issues were addressed by the technical committee during our weekly meetings.
The hardware platform
From the outset, we selected the Nucleo board from ST as the hardware platform for the challenge. While I personally hadn't heard of it before, ST is a significant supplier of components to BSH, and these boards were already being used as educational tools internally. They are similar in size, shape, and coding to Arduino boards but offer more power. The STM32 family of 32-bit microcontrollers, based on the Arm Cortex?-M processor, was utilized.
ST graciously agreed to support our challenge and provided development and extension boards to create 20 kits.
领英推荐
From the beginning, the Nucleo board from ST was selected as hardware platform.
I'd personally never heard of it but ST is a significant supplier of components to BSH and these boards were used internally as education tools. They are very similar to Arduino in size, shape, and coding, yet more powerful. The STM32 family of 32-bit microcontrollers are based on the Arm Cortex?-M processor.
ST gracefully accepted to support our challenge and provided some development and extension boards to form 20 kits.
This boards are controlled with C++ code using the compiler provided by ST.
The technical team opted to divide the technical challenge in several sub tasks to make it easier for the team to complete some milestones and for the judge to evaluate.
The communication Plan
The communication plan encompassed various components and needed to be consistent and aligned with BSH's employer branding guidelines.
Physical Components:
Online Components:
All these elements were included in the communication plan to effectively promote the challenge and engage with the target audience during the hackathon. All technical issues were tackled by the technical committee during our weekly meeting.
Attending the event
We devised a schedule to optimize the attendance of our technical team during the event, which took place over the weekend and outside regular working hours. It was necessary for all members of the technical team to agree to participate on their own personal time, considering that several colleagues were not based in Kosice and had to commute to the venue.
The event commenced at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 1st and spanned a duration of 24 hours.
Initial Reception
The hack's opening ceremony introduced all the sponsors and their respective challenges. We were already aware that our challenge marked the first hardware/software integration in the history of Hack Kosice. As the event progressed, it became apparent that a majority of the other challenges were centered around machine learning techniques.
The initial hour was particularly captivating, with teams forming, convening throughout the venue, and strategizing their approach to the available challenges.
We were pleasantly surprised to witness that all 18 available kits were claimed within the first hour of the event. It was a clear indication of the participants' enthusiasm and eagerness to engage in the challenges. We were especially thrilled to note that approximately 16 teams expressed interest in competing for our specific challenge. Such a high level of participation further fueled our excitement and anticipation for the upcoming activities.
the next 23 hours...
It was a delightful experience to explore the venue and witness the various teams passionately engrossed in their tasks, diligently working with the nucleo boards for hours on end. The BSH Technical Team continued to be present for an additional 5 hours before finally heading home to rest and recharge.
To provide additional support, we had arranged for an HR colleague to be available during the afternoon to address any queries or concerns from the participants.
Throughout the event, there were also a few workshops conducted by specialists, delving into trending topics, predominantly focusing on artificial intelligence (AI).
As night fell, hackers were given the option to rest on the indoor balcony on the first floor before resuming their work. A generous supply of pizzas was delivered to keep their energy levels up during the nighttime sessions. The expectation was for participants to continue working on their challenges unless they needed some rest.
The following day, we returned at 10:00 a.m. to oversee the final hours of the event and assess the progress made by the teams.
The accompanying aftermovie showcases a multitude of captivating moments and highlights from the entire event, providing a comprehensive glimpse into the action-packed proceedings.
Scoring
After the intense 24-hour hacking period, the competition reached its conclusion, and it was time for the teams to be evaluated by the technical team. To facilitate the assessment process, scorecards were prepared for the event, enabling a comprehensive evaluation of the final 14 teams. The judges dedicated an hour to carefully review the projects and deliberated on their decisions.
Finally, the results were posted, revealing the winners of the competition. It was a closely contested battle, particularly between two teams, but ultimately, the judges selected the team they deemed the best.
With the individual challenge evaluations complete, it was time to announce the winners for all the technical challenges. Excitement filled the air as the winners' names were announced, acknowledging their outstanding achievements and innovative solutions.
and the winners are ...
The 4 winners of the challenge were:
Read their interview on Devpost on all they cracked through the challenge.
Thanks to all colleagues
Lessons Learned
About the hackathon posts:
There were posts which averaged impressions, CTR and engagement rate.
Before the event