FedEx Day 2015

DMC held its fifth annual FedEx Day this Spring, spanning three different cities as our Boston and Denver offices joined Chicago's creative efforts!

The idea for FedEx Day originally came from Drive, a book by Daniel Pink that we read for the DMC Book Club, and from software development company Atlassian. The event has grown alongside DMC since our first FedEx Day in 2011 to encompass an increasingly diverse group of projects across a wide range of technologies. At its core, FedEx Day allows engineers to dedicate an entire day to a project of their choosing that they normally wouldn't have time to work on.

Preparing for a FedEx Day often takes weeks of planning as we brainstorm, build teams, strategize, and knock out ancillary labor. Most teams work on internal development initiatives, but employees are welcome to choose purely fun projects, especially to explore new technologies. It's also a great opportunity for employees with different areas of expertise to work together and tackle multi-dimensional projects.

Since each team is required to provide a tangible result by the next day, finding creative solutions to unexpected challenges while racing against a deadline is one of the most exciting parts of FedEx Day. While each team is required to provide a tangible result by the next day,

Below are some of the projects that engineers and their teams worked on:

• Building a miniature Maglev train

• Recording a series of short training videos on common SharePoint and Office 365 tasks
• Constructing a bartending robot that can mix specialty cocktails ordered from a smartphone
• Automating an Etch-A-Sketch to draw pictures from a computer app

• Improving the video conferencing systems for the DMC Portal and our main meeting room
• Developing an application to help organize restaurant choices for lunch breaks
• Upgrading the internal Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 server to the latest 2015 version

• Upgrading the video recording and playback features of the DMC Ping Pong App
• Assembling and testing an X-Carve in the lab

• Refurbishing the rooftop garden with more plants and weather condition broadcasting
• Developing a motion demo that simulates a PLC for training engineers and testing code
• Building an automated kegerator that regulates beer dispensing

FedEx Day generates a lot of excitement around the office that tends to last long after the day is over, and many of the initiatives turn into ongoing projects.