7th DevCon: Development news, team workshops and lots of fun
The traditional quarterly meeting of Development (DEV) department members is over. The all-day internal conference with DevCon workshops was held on January 10, 2023 in our Karlin office and it offered a lot of interesting information and a lot of fun.
Why DevCon?
The DEV department is the symbolic heart of DODO, because this is where all the technological innovations and improvements are created. Primarily, DEV handles the development and operation of our GAIA data and software ecosystem, but the team includes not only the developers themselves, but also technologists, product managers, and other indispensable components of DODO’s technological advancement.
What is GAIA?
GAIA is our in-house developed data-driven platform for smart city logistics. It enables us to efficiently plan and manage all logistics operations using artificial intelligence. GAIA makes us an expert in the same-day delivery.
And because we want to continuously improve our services, the DEV department grew by 7 new colleagues this January. Team leader Tomáš Fiurášek is currently in charge of 84 people who work mostly remotely. Regular DevCon allows them to meet colleagues in person and strengthen the team.
News from the DEV department
The 7th. DevCon did not lack news updates. Individual teams presented both their completed and ongoing projects – either in the form of a quiz or classically through speakers. We recapped the completed processes and technical advances over the last quarter and presented the roadmap of innovations and modifications for 2023.
“Kill the company” workshop
The afternoon was dedicated to workshops designed to bring the teams together and test their creativity and ability to work together. The “Kill the company” workshop tested the team’s ability to think strategically and anticipate potential threats to the company. The main objective was to identify potential problems, prioritize them according to their significance and deal with them.
Spaghetti workshop
The second workshop was also a developer workshop, although in a different sense than we would have expected. The teams were tasked with building the tallest tower possible – and they did it out of spaghetti and marshmallows. For the basic materials, they were given only a meter of string and a meter of duct tape. So creativity was an essential part of each construction.
Sport for team spirit
In the evening, the teams went ice skating together at the River City in Karlin. A delicious mulled wine and free entertainment awaited them, which often brings unforgettable experiences and perfectly strengthens the team. And because we at DODO really care about collaboration within teams and across the company, we are very happy that the 7th DevCon was a success and the turn-out (although completely voluntary) was high.
