‘Playing Up’: How Hackathons Drive Technical Innovation, Team Alignment and Enterprise Improvement
Jennifer Johnson
AI-Driven Content Leader | AI & Content Operations | Communications Expert Who Works At Intersection of Media, Government and Enterprise
PROJECT LINKS AT BOTTOM OF ARTICLE
I’m competitive to a fault, mostly in sports and board games, and I have always believed competition makes people, teams and companies better.
It is called “playing up” in tennis – when a person plays their best because they are competing against someone as good or better than they are.?
Last month, I participated in a technical Hackathon sponsored by my company? with 16 teams participating from locations in India, Dubai, Minneapolis and Dallas.?
We were given a list of problem statements to choose from as a team.?
We picked one, and the clock started. We had to design a solution, build it and present it within 24 hours.?
It was the technology parallel to playing up in tennis.
Here's how it went.
Choosing A Problem Statement
The problem statement we chose was Create a multi-step form that submits to a third-party endpoint and then create a use case of using that posted form data.
As a team, and for a variety of reasons, we opted to create a web form that connected to Salesforce so we could play with Salesforce’s new Generative AI feature, Einstein Copilot, and show off what we could do with the data once it got into Salesforce using Einstein Prompt Builder.
We wanted to have some fun, so we started there.
The Creative Concept
It was the job of our creative team with Lisa, our design lead, and Jack, our UX lead, to brainstorm on a use case that would resonate with the team and entertain a panel of judges from across the company.
One immediate challenge was that our team captain (yours truly) failed to recruit a frontend developer (FED) to the team, so we had to improvise.
For those who don’t work in technology, a front end developer is the person responsible for taking bland HTML and turning it into a beautifully designed application.
To accommodate for a lack of a FED, we relied on low-code, no code solutions that were available to help achieve our objectives.
With WYSIWYG Forms and XM Cloud Pages, we could do almost all of our work without diving deep into code.
For ragtag Team Texas, which required team members from Ohio and Minnesota to fill out our roster, the approach proved liberating and not constraining.
Jack and Lisa’s idea was to create a guided experience to report UAPs, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, or UFOs.
The team loved the idea, and we immediately got to work.
Front stage: I Need To Report A UAP
Here is how the solution design worked at a high level:
When the user pressed submit, the data was captured as a lead in Salesforce so that we could gain insights from the information using CRM and AI capabilities in that system.
An email verification was then sent to the user to validate the UAP reporting.
Here is what the information looked like in Salesforce CRM against the Lead object.
Backstage: Technical solution
The technical solution involved best of breed solutions from Sitecore and ? Salesforce.
With the data in Salesforce CRM, we could use Einstein Copilot, Salesforce’s new customizable, conversational, and generative AI assistant for CRM, to? query our UAP data as “interactive records" and produce outputs with the data.
As the team AI nerd, I had a great time exploring Einstein Copilot and Einstein Prompt Builder in Salesforce CRM, where we created custom prompts to get selected outputs.
“Einstein Copilot: Summarize the UAP report”
Prompt 1: Write UAP Report
In Einstein Prompt Builder, we created custom prompts to create UAP reports based on the submitted data.
{!$Input:Lead.FirstName}
{!$Input:Lead.LastName}
Etc.
Output
Here is what our output looked like:
领英推荐
A report has been submitted by TJ from Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, regarding an unidentified aerial phenomena sighting.?
Witness Name: TJ??
Alias: Spaceman??
Location: Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia??
Weather: Clear & Calm??
Description of the Phenomena:??
Shape: Cylinder??
Quantity: 1??
Witness State of Mind
Substances Used: Hard Alcohol, Weed (Marijuana), Hallucinogenic, Prescription Drugs??
Emotional State: Panic, In Awe??
Additional Details:??
Witness speculates that the phenomena may have been a beer can thrown by a friend. Recalls the friend throwing a can at one point.??
This report provides essential information on an alleged unidentified aerial phenomena sighting in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.
The options here are going to be limitless.?
Prompt 2: Write Sci Fi Fiction
Act like a fiction writer. Write 200 words of fiction in the tone of a science fiction writer. Make the tone interesting and spooky.
Output
In the vast expanse of space, TJ, a spaceman from Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, found himself alone in his cylindrical spacecraft. The view outside was clear and calm, a stark contrast to the chaos within. TJ's mind was clouded by the effects of hard alcohol, weed, hallucinogenics, and prescription drugs. As he floated in the void, emotions of panic and awe washed over him in waves.
"It may have been my friend's beer can. I remember him throwing a can at one point," TJ muttered to himself, trying to piece together the fragmented memories swirling in his mind. The combination of substances had blurred the lines between reality and illusion, leaving him in a state of confusion and disorientation.
As the spacecraft drifted further into the unknown depths of space, TJ's thoughts spiraled into a kaleidoscope of sensations and perceptions. The stars shimmered like diamonds against the velvet backdrop of the universe, a mesmerizing sight that both captivated and terrified him.
Alone in the vastness of the cosmos, TJ grappled with his altered reality, unsure of what was real and what was a product of his intoxicated mind.
Feedback and Lessons Learned
During a team retrospective held right after the Hackathon, we all agreed that the Hackathon experience itself was so rewarding that winning it would be a cherry on top of what was already a pretty magical work experience.
That sentiment was reflected in a Slack to the team Monday after the Hackathon after we all had recovered.?
“Thanks guys for a fantastic weekend. I asked this morning when results will be announced and did not hear back. … YOU GUYS ROCK. I loved everyone's participation and input. I don't care if we win or lose. Like Bill Murray says in Meatballs, IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER. IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER. IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER. Thank you for everyone's efforts.”
And the Winner Was …
Not us (congrats Fikr Tech!)?
But we did finish third, and I’ll speak for all of Team Texas when I say we were absolutely thrilled with the bronze.
And with comments like this we got from the judges:
Team Texas had heavy weights from technology as well as strategy - compared to other teams. they put that to really good use. The interplay of various technology platforms was well thought out, process was used well - right from use of Figjam for ideation, building wires, accounting for tone and copy and the form design.Incorporation of Sitecore Forms for XM Cloud, Sitecore Connect and Sitecore Send was a good call and enabled the team to achieve what they could in 24 hours - which was a lot.Use of SF Einstein to crunch leads in SF was also a good idea - especially useful to make more sense of long form data and collate similar leads and identify patterns.I tried to submit a form and must say that it was fun.The documentation/presentation was excellent too - detailed and informative but also accurate as compared to other teams. The team had good insights on how this could be implemented in other areas such as Finance and Marketing as well.I would call out that the idea itself was not groundbreaking - in that it was not something innovative. The use of latest best in class tools to achieve the form submission and analysis was what stood out.Also, this is an excellent how-to project that will increase efficiency for teams using Sitecore Forms for XM Cloud, Sitecore Connect, Sitecore Send and SF Einstein ... All in all - this project is a front runner for the winning prize!
But as the person who got Team Texas involved in this Hackaton to begin with, it was this comment from a judge that got me the most, mainly because it underscored what the team felt coming out of the 24-hour event.
Winning or placing was always a "Nice to Have."
The experience itself was the real payoff and the learnings will pay dividends for a lifetime.
I am really impressed with the vision and execution. Maybe most importantly, I see that this team worked as a team, they are demonstrating so many behaviors that are critical to our success day in and day out. Really nice work to Team Texas, way to think outside the box and lean on each other to drive innovative outcomes. Love the cross function of this team from UX, design, pm, technology. Inspiring!
So, thank you, Horizontal Digital, for the opportunity to participate in Hackathon 3.0.
And thank you Team Texas for the collaboration.
I can’t wait to do it again.
For those of you who are curious, here was our presentation PDF.
And if you have 15 minutes, here is our team video walkthrough.
If you see a UAP, you know who to call.
#(team)texasforever
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Jennifer Johnson is Associate Director of Platform Strategy and AI at Horizontal Digital. She lives in Dallas.
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Associate Director - Data & AI Practice
11 个月This concept was so interesting, really liked it. Thanks for the demo Jennifer Johnson .
Managing Director, Salesforce Consulting at Horizontal Digital, India
11 个月Interesting solution. Thanks for sharing Jennifer and congratulations to your team ??