My first Go-Karting experience and realizing the growth mindset!

In July 2018, the SECO/DevSecOps Team (of 4) had a Fun Thursday outing with Go-Karting!

I generally do not prefer to drive a four wheeler and haven’t driven one in a long time. So initially I was excited to be there, not so much for Go-Karting but it was our first team outing. Once we reached the Go-Karting venue, we completed the formalities of payment, dress code and Go-Karting initiation by the Marshals there, etc. I realized I was the only one in the group for who this was the first such experience with the sport- Go-Karting! So, I listened carefully to all the rules and instructions. We had booked three rounds. It was a weekday (Thursday) so the place was not crowded. There were few other groups, however we got the track completely for ourselves for all three rounds.

First Round:

I was conscious of my ‘i-don't-prefer-to-drive’ thing and drove my kart by following all the rules. I was still understanding the basics of Go-Karting. It was a kind of on-the-job-training, that too while in a competition! Soon, all my colleagues, Coen, Dominik and Rahul, overtook me.

After the first round, since it was indoor, we all were sweating heavily. I removed the helmet and tried to balance my body temperature as much possible. However, only a cold drink could help. We got our score printouts, then it was analysis time! Till that point in time, I had never seen the Go-Karting score sheets. My closest experience with such sheets was with Cricket scorecards. Once I had my first look at the printout, I realized this was a very serious sport. There was lot of science to the game that with a lot of parameters that were being measured. I had completed 12 laps while Coen, the lead driver, finished 16 laps. My best time was 38.83 seconds to complete a lap, while Coen had clocked 30.22 seconds. I thought, as a first timer, I did really well! However there was room for improvement.

Second Round:

We waited for few minutes for another group to complete their round. It was fun to watch them live and see what areas I could improve. Coen talked about the ace driver in that group and his super driving skills. That time I realized brakes slow you down, so managing the speed during turning, and while going up the slope is very crucial to keep the momentum and balance of the vehicle.

After a round of cold drinks, and some rest to both mind and body, we felt refreshed and were eager to start the 2nd round. This time, I noticed I started liking this sport. This round was going very smooth and I thought I was improving my timing per lap and then the disaster stuck! On one of the turnings, Rahul’s kart hit mine from behind, my kart’s balance was lost for few milliseconds and eventually my wheel got stuck in the fence. The Marshals helped to get my go-kart back on the track. In that lap I clocked 56.99 seconds! Once I was comfortable, I was able to drive with single hand on the steering wheel, at least on the straight stretch on the track (of ~30 meters). Then I realized that I was actually having a good time!  That eventually reflected in my scores.

We got our second round score sheets. This time I had improved in both areas, the number of laps and timing per lap. I felt very happy, that I was able to apply the new learning. I felt like a kid who has just learned to ride a bicycle and now wants to race past other kids at high speeds!

In 2nd round, I completed 14 laps (+2), while Coen completed with an additional lap, totaling 17 laps!! I improved my timing per lap to 34.22 seconds that's almost 4 seconds refinement! while Coen, the Ace, achieved his best timing with 29.78 seconds.

Third Round:

We had a drink break, and were waiting for our turn. I was thinking what kind of accidents would happen on such tracks. And it happened - A fast kart hit another slow one from behind and slow driver’s helmet popped out of his head and was flying for few seconds before it fell on next adjacent track. Immediately the Red flag was shown and the race was brought to a complete stop. That was dreadful to watch!

Eventually it was our turn. I was in the best possible spirit – enthusiastic, ready to hit the road with everything that I had – doing my best- I was mentally ready!! In my mind’s eye I was improvising my steps, apply new learnings, following all the tips from co-worker Coen. I realized that in the 2nd round, I was braking much less than first round and hence I improved my timings. This time I decided that I will experiment with no braking at all but managing with speed - this by the way did not happen.

For the first time in those 3 rounds, while driving I felt the breeze, which helped me to relax. I was not bothered with anyone overtaking me. I was getting a kick by experimenting with speed, it was first time in my life! I knew in my heart and mind I would do better than the earlier rounds. This time around, I wanted this round never to end...

I ran towards the printer to check my score sheets. I completed 16 laps (+2) this time. I was surprised to see a marked improvement in my timing, I had clocked 30.79 seconds! I was in 30 seconds bracket

By this time, Coen, the Champion, had added one more additional lap to his kitty, to have a total of 18 laps in 29.07 seconds, this was the best timing in the competition for that entire day by any driver. Dominik and Rahul had also improved their timings as well as number of laps. I was on cloud nine, I ranked in the third place with improvement in the number of laps as well as the timing per lap.

In the end, we all were very happy with the whole Go-Karting team outing experience as well as our achievements.

We were exhausted and hungry. Our colleague, Dominik had ordered dinner in advance, so food came on time. Everyone liked the food, may be we were a little too hungry! Overall, it was a fantastic evening!

Lessons Learned:

1.    Steering Wheel: I understood - there is difference between car driving and Go-Karting, the Steering Wheel is very smooth in cars than the Karts.

2.    Forward Only: You can go forward only. If you get stuck the Marshals come and rescue (pull your Kart back and place it on the track to continue).

3.    Safety first: Follow all safety rules while choosing your gears. The flying helmet incident taught me to wear a right sized helmet and suite. As a driver, you should feel safe and comfortable with your gears and clothes you wear.

4.    Right Braking: Where-not-to-apply-brakes is very crucial. In the first round, I was careful not to hit the side fence, and following so-called lanes by applying brakes at almost all corner places well in advance. By the end of third round, I understood where and how much to apply brake, and where to speed-up.

5.    Managing weight: When you are going with a nice speed, while turning the weight shift happens. Coen suggested to move away from turn helps balance the weight. I tried and it helped. Its bit counter-intuitive. However if you are aware, you can acquire this skill.

6.    Loosen up and enjoy the drive: This is important as part of learning the Go-Karting. If you want to enjoy both the competition and your own driving experience, you should be able to relax yourself and have fun while driving.

Next day, @Jean Paul van Deursen, our Manager, enquired about our experience and the result. Coen shared his victory details and then he told about my achievement. At first I did not realize why he is talking about the 3rd placed player. However what he said was quite a revelation to me. He told it was my first Go-Karting experience in entire life, and the overall improvement in 3 rounds (from 38+ seconds to 30+ seconds) was 8 seconds, which was something phenomenal.

The Growth Mindset

On 18th August 2018, I came across a book called - The Growth Mindset by Dr. Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. According to her research, a person with growth mindset believes in process than the end result, embraces failures and thinks of failures as part of learning.

As I had just read through the Growth Mindset, I could relate my Go-Karting experience with it. I realized that, Coen’s praise for the improvement than the winning position, is what we need!!

Developing Growth Mindset among Development Community

That got me into thinking that as a developer, if I get a conducive environment, I can definitely improve. At CoE Software Development, we are using various tools (Sonarqube, Fortify, Nexus Lifecycle, Splunk, etc.) to show the developers their progress in Software Quality Journey. At the same time, we are setting appropriate (i.e. not unreasonable) expectations and providing necessary support to reach there.

By focusing on "One Step At-A-Time, Every-Time, Towards Quality and Security" approach, we are basically following on Dr Dweck’s path and proving that acknowledging Persistence and Perseverance among the development community, we can change the stakeholder's mindset. Once that happens, we can definitely see a better outcome, as an obvious by-product!

The SECO Team: @Dominik de Smit , @Rahul Ranjan, @Coen Goedegebure and @Mohan Yelnadu i.e. me :) 

Additional References:

1.    TED Talk - "The Power of Believing That You Can Improve" https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en

2.    Developing Mindsets that Promote Growth https://vincentfarmes.bcps.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_4203998/File/Mindset%20for%20parents.pdf