In addition to lying by the pool, swimming in the ocean and swinging from trees, we actually managed to get some very productive work done. Costa Rica allowed us the opportunity to have discussions that simply would not have been possible during a typical work week.  Tuesday and Thursday were fully dedicated to Table XI business, with our work day going from 9am to 10pm.

One of the activities we engaged in was the rapid development of our own “pet projects”. Prior to heading to Costa Rica we solicited ideas from everyone at Table XI and ended up with a list of over 25 possible projects to choose from.  Ideas ranged from content based websites to iPhone games to ways to use technology to modernize the public education system.

Three teams were created by grouping TXIers that normally don’t work together.  Each of the teams selected a project to rapidly prototype and evaluate for commercial viability.   Ideas were brainstormed, wireframes were created and code was written.  After two days, groups presented their projects to the rest of Table XI for feedback.

Overall it was a great exercise in team building and rapidly vetting, brainstorming and developing ideas. In fact, a couple of the ideas were intriguing enough to receive some post-costa-rican attention.  We won’t say too much about them other than yes, that is a keyboard cat in Jordan’s presentation.

Jordan presenting on his group's project.