Hackathons are a growing staple of our tech culture. They provide a playground for innovation and forward thinking. The concept has application anywhere eager engineers, project managers can be brought together to hack together on a defined problem to create a new solution. Typically Hackathons are held in a confined space over a short timeframe (e.g. 24 or 48 hours). Teams compete for best delivered solution. A local office was part of an early start-up of what has now become an annual global event. Al Kroska will talk about the tactical aspects of the annual project, and the strategic impact to the company's growth and innovation goals.
Al Kroska has a B.S. in Information Technology and is an Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP). Al led the agile transformation for Wolters Kluwer Compliance Solutions. Mr Kroska is currently Director, Technology Project & Program Management at Wolters Kluwer. He is dedicated to the concepts of continuing education and lifelong learning. Al has conducted training for various business units at Wolters Kluwer, as a volunteer at the Agile Alliance annual conference, and as a speaker at PMI MN Outreach events.
Patty Sandstrom is the Software Quality Assurance Manager at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, leading a team of global QA Engineers in their software testing practices. She has held roles in Quality Assurance, Product Ownership, and Business Analysis within various industries and companies in the central Minnesota region. Patty was the champion of the original innovation ‘hackathon’ tournament within Wolters Kluwer five years ago and has been leading the planning committee each year since.