smartwith heart
Beyond the sprint board: what two days of hackathon unlocked
Luke Watson - September 3
When you hear the word Hackathon, you might picture groups of coders huddled around laptops, typing furiously through the night, racing against time. And hey, that does sound like a lot of fun. But here in our Atlanta office, it looks a little different, and that’s exactly what makes it special.
Each year, colleagues from Software Engineering, Data Science, Quality Assurance, and Platform Services come together for two energizing days of building, prototyping, and collaborating. The goal? Tackling real-world challenges we see in our daily work. Every team comes away with a working proof of concept, some of these ideas even make it into production. But what we carry forward goes beyond the tech itself.
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Starting strong with thoughtful prep
This year, we switched things up. Instead of walking into day one with just a rough idea, every team came prepared. We brainstormed early, collected feedback, pitched our ideas, and even mapped out our work in Azure DevOps.
This added an extra layer of thoughtfulness and gave everyone the chance to hit the ground running.
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What no road map can cover
Sure, the Hackathon leads to cool ideas and clever solutions. But to me, its real value lies elsewhere.
It’s the space to explore new things. To learn. To collaborate with people you might not work with every day. And in the process, it builds trust, confidence, and a sense of connection. That’s something no road map or sprint board can ever capture.
Hands-on learning curve
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This year, I was part of team Bug Busters. Our idea was to build a ‘Debugging Assistant’, powered by OMP Companion, our in-house AI tool. We wanted it to help detect similar or duplicate bugs, suggest next steps, and identify the right expert to resolve a newly reported issue.
Most of us had never worked with AI before. We weren’t tweaking neural networks or training models from scratch, but we got hands-on with how AI engines work and what it means to apply them in a practical way. Managing the whole project in Azure DevOps also gave some of us a crash course in project planning.
In the end, this wasn’t just about outcome. It was about what we learned and how we grew in the process.
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A reflection of who we are
As someone who’s also on the planning team, I see the event from both sides. And every year, I’m reminded why this initiative matters so much. Yes, the Hackathon drives innovation. But more importantly, it brings people together. It creates space for curiosity and collaboration, and it strengthens the culture we’re proud of. That’s what keeps me looking forward to the next one because every time, we shape the event a little more. And every time, it shapes us in return.
Curious what you would prototype here? So are we.
Luke Watson
Senior Software Engineer at OMP USA
Biography
With a Computer Science degree from Binghamton University in New York, Luke Watson carries almost a decade of experience as a software engineer, both in the Aerospace & Defense and Supply Chain industries. Luke joined OMP in 2020 and now serves on the Supply Planning team as a Senior Software Engineer. Throughout his time at OMP, Luke has taken on both technical and functional roles, especially investing in the maturation and development of his team at the Atlanta office.
