A couple of weeks ago we held our biggest Hack Week yet at our co-headquarters in Austin, TX. All of the ForeFlight developers gathered to brainstorm, to plan future features, and to finish out existing features. And what would any self-respecting Hack Week be without a little food, fun, and fellowship (ok, a lot of food and fun).
Hack Weeks are an integral part of our culture of innovation. Many of our development team members are virtual workers, and so everyone together face-to-face brings a whole new energy and dynamic to the collaboration.
The Austin office, located in the heart of 6th Street, is an open workspace. Basically one big room where desks are spread throughout – no cubicle walls here. There is a comfortable seating area with a couch and chairs so folks can gather there for watching presentations or for ad hoc brainstorming. An evergreen kitchen is maintained with a steady flow of caffeine and snacks.
And there is a ping pong table for recess.
Each Hack day begins with a presentation by team members who are chosen to share their area of expertise with the rest of the team. After the presentation, everyone breaks into smaller groups to work on individual projects or to test out new ideas.
Hack Week also included our company holiday party. Our entire fabulous and fanatical Pilot Support Team (PST) was brought to Austin for the celebration. For all of you that have emailed team@foreflight.com, here are the faces behind that great support:
The end of Hack Week signals a period of heads-down work as developers continue to prepare for the next big release of ForeFlight Mobile. Go forth and code!
Here at ForeFlight we are keeping our speed up and have lots more planned for 2014.