While on my usual web travels, I came across a great idea from the guys at Atlassian. Every so often, they hold a FedEx Day. The idea is simple, the team chooses a new project/technology that they would like to work on and the task must be deliverable in one day (hence Fedex Day - "We deliver.")

The rules are:

• The project/technology must be something new i.e. something that the developer/team has never worked on before, but something that they'd like to try.
• The task must be something 'out of the ordinary'.
• Each developer (or group) chooses their own project.
• Pizza must be bought in. The fridge must also be stocked with beer, juice and Coke.
• The task must be something tangible (it doesn't have to be something ready to ship, but it must be something that can be shown to the team at the end of the 24 hour period).
• Tasks can be team or individual projects.
• Work on each project starts at exactly 4pm on a Thursday, work stops at exactly 4pm on Friday. Each project must then be demonstrated during the team review.
  
• The developers must post a blog entry for each project once they team review has finished.

The inaugural Starlight FedEx Day will take place on Thursday/Friday 17th/18th June. The entire Starlight team will not be available during this period (no emails or phone calls). Watch this space.

I recently came across a really interesting group of people going by the name 091labs. They kinda remind me of those days as a kid sitting in the landing with my box of Lego surrounded by half the neighbours' kids. Quite simply, it's a group of people that meet up to share ideas, encourage one another and collaborate on tech/creative projects.

In these times of dreariness, it's nice to see some sort of spark in the Galway Tech community. I was particularly encouraged to see people who for one reason or another are not able to find work, participating with the group. It would be great to see some of those guys collaborating and starting companies off the back of the 091labs meetings. Hopefully we'll see some real magic emerging from there soon.