SYNAQ24 Live Blog
The SYNAQ Office Logo, with a bit of a difference
In our previous post "What can be done in 24 hours?" we mentioned a new SYNAQ initiative, SYNAQ24. Giving the team 24 hours to work on anything they want with the only requirement being that they present what they working on the next day to everyone else.
Today is the day and the countdown has begun with 24 hours for the SYNAQ team to develop, fix, build whatever they want in 24 hours or less.
The main dashboard projector counting down the 24 hour deadline
We've got all the magic ingredients required to produce great things, namely:
Doughnuts and Energy drinks mixed with a pint of SYNAQ geeks
Mmmmmmmmm doooughnuts!
Mmmmmmmm geeeks :)
Let's see what the day produces - I've heard rumors of people working on a new accounting package, building a new feature into one of our products and painting a wall black... We'll be live blogging throughout the day so stay tuned.
With 21 Hours and 37 minutes to go, the team have all started their various projects and are well on their way. It's interesting to see what people have chosen to work on and the various projects on the go. We've got:
- Transforming one of our walls into a BIG chalkboard (using chalkboard paint)
- Improving the monitoring dashboard that projects the status of all of our clients systems onto a central wall for everyone to see
- Building a reseller portal from scratch (ambitious!)
- Adding a kick-ass new feature to Pinpoint SecureMail
- Building end user self-help and video tutorials
- A new streamlined agile development process for the dev team to embark on
- Streamlining the way the support team are able to log onto the BES server for support
- An automated way to scan contracts onto our CRM platform
And, one "Top Secret" project (I couldn't get the info out of 'em)
Here some pics of the team at work:
 Adi with her plan to build a reseller portal |
 Nic starting to develop his Agile Process for SYNAQ |
 David and Jaco "reworking" our client dashboard |
 Adrian working in the chill room and being "Top Secret" about his idea |
 Holden and Liza painting the SYNAQ Chalkboard - there's no going back from this one! |
 Sam getting into the spirit of things - I think those suspenders suit him |
With just over 17 hours to go the SYNAQ team broke for lunch (Nandos is always a winner). We did a bit of a recon as to the progress being made and where everyone was with their projects.
Overall things are looking pretty good, with most people making progress, some pulling in new recruits to help with parts that they couldn't tackle themselves (Holden is particularly in demand for front-end UI design work), while others (Adrian) are still being cagey with what they are working on.
We even had one completed project (done in just under 7 hours). Let's have a look at the before and after results.
 The SYNAQ Noticeboard Wall - BEFORE - |
 The new SYNAQ Chalkboard Wall - AFTER - |
Impressive isn't it! In just under 7 hours we have, well, a black wall instead of white one... well this one we can write on :) I must say though, we've got some potential painters in the ranks here at SYNAQ, the paintwork quality is outstanding.
 Gareth working on some new code for the new Pinpoint SecureMail feature |
 Brainstorming the MVP for the new feature release in Pinpoint SecureMail |
Above, we have Gareth and Yossi working on a MVP (minimal viable product) spec for the new feature release in Pinpoint SecureMail. They think it can be done in 24 hours... Gareth looks a bit skeptical though! (if they manage to do it we'll blog about the process in a separate post)
 Christina working on automating our contract process while answering the SYNAQ switchboard. Now that's multitasking! |
 Obi getting into end-user documentation and self-help. I think the glasses suit him! |
 Dave and Nic collaborating. Nic is helping with some dev code needed for Dave and Jaco's dashboard project |
With just over 15 hours to go, the team felt it was necessary to bring out the beers for an extra dose of motivation.
Need we say more?
At this point we interviewed Sam Gelbart (head of Product Development at SYNAQ) to see what he's been working on and why (is his idea revolutionary saving the way we at SYNAQ do work? or just crazy? - you decide)
With 13 hours to go some of the SYNAQers are persevering in the aim to complete their project, others are dropping like flies! (well actually most have finished their projects and have to go home and feed their kids, pack for a trip and unimportant stuff like that)
We've had some successes, with Liza managing to migrate most of the data from Pastel into an online accounting package that we're evaluating called Xero.com - we happen to have a specific dislike for Pastel (it's Windows, it's closed source and it's on-premise - need we say more?) so I'm pretty excited about this.
 Liza excited after she managed to migrate all the data from Pastel into Xero |
 Xero showing SYNAQ's budget for the up and coming year - we couldn't go in too close on the screen for obvious reasons :) |
One of the other teams have been working on redesigning our monitoring dashboard so that it gives more relevant information.
Here's what it looked like before:
The old SYNAQ dashboard
A sneak preview of what it's going to look like (I wasn't supposed to see this)
The NEW SYNAQ monitoring dashboard
The new dashboard makes it easier to see which one of our systems have problems that need attending to, ensuring that we respond quicker and never miss a beat. I like it!
The new dashboard a bit broken about 2 minutes later
About two minutes later the dashboard stopped working though... looks like a bit more work is needed before the guys can call this one done and dusted.
After a bit of bug fixing, the guys managed to get the dashboard working again and everyone that was left decided to take a break for a bit of dinner...
 The last few SYNAQers enjoying the "fruits" of their labour |
 Bruford sitting proudly after completing his preventative maintenance automation project (he's also doing the body for life challenge so couldn't partkae in dinner) |
With just over 11 hours left most SYNAQers have successfully completed their projects and gone home, Gareth and Yossi were the last two "lone rangers" fixing the last few bugs in the new Pinpoint Mailing List Manager module (yes, we know we need to come up with a better name but it's 21:07 and our creative juices are miss-firing)
Yossi and Gareth about to finish the last bit of code for the new feature release, Gareth looking a bit tired :)
All and all it looks like SYNAQ24 was an overwhelming success. Tomorrow everyone will be showcasing the work that they did but from the coverage today it can already be seen that a bit of autonomy, freedom and focus can go a long way in a very very short span of time. Watch this space for future SYNAQ24 updates in the months to come..
Till next time
Signing off!
It’s inspiring watching the Synaq team in action. Good luck with those new features on Pinpoint Securemail, which is an awesome product already.
You need your own cartoonist to draw on your new blackwall.
Very cool, such a great idea, leading to great ideas.
Well done, the hard work is awesome and great energy.
Absolute gold. Love the idea. Love the smiles.
Sam / Yossi – you guys are better looking as nerds. time for a fashion change?