Another event hosted at WorkDay! This time it was a workshop on Agile development. The workshop consisted mostly of a game in which several groups created a system for making pizza (which we did using paper, scissors and markers!). The presenter gave us some examples for the finished product, and we had to try to make as many pizza slices as we could within a time limit with as little waste as possible.
We did several rounds of this; at the end of each round the presenter would judge all our slices, and reward or dock points based on the quality of the slices and the amount of waste.
It was interesting because it forced you to look at where the bottleneck in your chain was, and where the most waste was being created and it forced you to think of different ways of doing things in order to increase speed but decrease waste. We also switched roles based on talent (who could cut straight with scissors and who could color in the lines - like preschool all over again!). It was a fun, loud event. And we actually ate REAL pizza woohoo.
However, I walked away not feeling fully satisfied. I really wanted some follow-up after the workshop. I wanted examples of agile development in software engineering; I wanted some best practices/tips/things to look out for, I wanted links to more resources, I wanted an actual presentation on what agile development even is. I didn't expect to walk away with a check list or anything, but I wanted to walk away with a more practical grounding. There was a PowerPoint, but it was about 20 slides of the presenter showing him eating pizza in places all around the world. Amusing, but not what I came for.
So, overall, not a waste of time because I did learn something, I just wish that I had learned more. Although, take note pizza makers of the world...my team did come in first place. We are Pizza Masters!
