I’m doing this scared. This is hackathon weekend, and I’m doing something I would never have imagined I would be doing 5, 10, or even 25 years ago. I’m the captain of DUnderdogs, with the Professional Coding League (PCL), as part of CodeLaunch‘s U.S. competition.
This particular post will be somewhat misplaced, a bit out-of-synch.
It is part “The Great Inversion” and part self-reflection.
Working with colleagues at Improving, including our oldest daughter, to take TravelSpoken to the next level. Matea, who is an intern at Improving, will be the user experience (UX) designer while I handle scrum master duties. Jake is the full-stack developer and technical leader, and Mason is the front-end developer for the team. My scrum master role includes “flexing” into spots where my AI orchestration experience could be handy.
We will just have to see how that works.
Before the hackathon begins, we put in work to understand the “why and what” TravelSpoken is about. We had called with Eni and her team. Recorded the conversations for context and reference. Those were then fed into the Build More Architect Dreams (BMAD) method. This was on top of pre-work that had been done before the draft was conducted.
Are we as prepared as I would like us to be? No. And we are in a better place because we understand the probability of winning is slim. That’s why we are DUnderdogs.
The name is a two-fold take:
- Short form of Dallas Underdogs, 10 character limit for our jerseys
- An acknowledgement of our lacking experience, which is not to say we lack the fight
For me, this is a unique position to be in. I want to win, and I also intend to see what my team and our startup partner bring to the table. My time in the military has helped me “see” talent that most people overlook.
Do you know what a “special operator” looks like?
I don’t, and if we’re honest with each other, neither do you.
Army Rangers, yeah, they have a certain look.
Green Berets, SEALS, PJs, Combat Controllers, Marine Raiders—well, maybe Raiders have a certain look. Most “specops” members don’t have an easy-to-spot-in-the-crowd “look”. The operators I worked with and deployed with looked, well, average.
My point is the most nondescript people can bring their massive key skills and abilities (KSAs) to the table when they need to. I’ve seen it happen time and again. I expect to see it happen during the hackathon.
Being a team captain means encouraging the best version of the team to show up.
Part of it is talent identification and matching. Another piece of it is recognizing capabilities that create synergistic (or exponential) effects. Some of it is trusting your gut. A lot of it is pure belief in people and their ability to rise to an occasion.
This weekend may end up as pure alchemy. An experiment that yields competition gold. Not because all the “right” attributes, elements, or talent are in place. It might be the result of an unwillingness to get beat by the competition.
By Wednesday, April 15th, 2026, we will know. The rest of the world will need to wait until the broadcast!
