Overview

We are Mori, Maya S, and Flo from the Global Development Group Business Enhancement Team. This is the second article in a series on KINTO Global Innovation Days, hosted by the Global Development Group. click here for the previous article 👈
In this article, we will report on the three pre-events held over the four days from December 14th to December 19th, as well as the actual Innovation Days. The full schedule of events was as follows:

Design Dash Workshop

As an organization expands, the tasks of each member are subdivided, and it becomes difficult to see how each member is thinking about how to complete a task if their role is different, even within the same team. To address this issue, we conducted a workshop focused on developing solutions to the challenges faced by the target.
In this workshop, participants conducted interviews based on a particular topic, developed a product to solve the interviewee’s problem, and then proposed and demonstrated the solution.
This workshop has four objectives:

• Ideation
• Rapid Decision Making
• Discovery Practice
• Improve Communication

We intentionally did not state the objectives at the outset because we wanted participants to discover the learning points for themselves. However, 72% of the participants expressed satisfaction in a survey conducted afterward. Feedback included comments such as, "I gained the ability to identify issues," "I learned how to find solutions within a limited time," "I learned how to design user-centric products," and "I realized the importance of teamwork." This feedback indicates that the objectives were naturally achieved.

Communication Workshop

As tasks become more subdivided, opportunities for presentations and output also decrease. Some participants rarely had such opportunities in their regular work. While the final pitch of this event provided an opportunity to present, we believed that understanding what others need is a critical skill for the preparation phase. The needs vary depending on the stakeholder’s position, and failing to grasp this can lead to off-target outputs. Therefore, we conducted a communication workshop as part of the preparation, focusing on thoroughly understanding the stakeholder’s positions and situations and identifying their current needs.
In this workshop, participants were divided into different roles: copywriters, designers, developers, directors and sales. They shared their concerns within the project and converted them into actionable to-do lists based on their respective roles.

This workshop also received a 56% satisfaction rate. Feedback included comments such as, "I learned the importance of sharing essential information," "I learned how to consolidate opinions from people with different focus points and deliver them as a well-integrated deliverable," and "I was able to see the perspectives of different roles."

Toyota Way Workshop

One of the benefits of holding the Innovation days at KINTO Technologies was the opportunity to learn from the unique practices of the Toyota Group. To this end, we organized a session on the Toyota Production System, which is also the origin of Agile methodologies.
While we will omit the specific methods here, the session provided a chance to learn about the Toyota Way and the Toyota Production System, guided by Toyota’s history and the founder’s philosophy. Rather than just receiving information passively, participants were encouraged to share their insights with their teams and make a pledge to uphold the critical mindsets during the following Innovation Days.

This also achieved an extremely high level of satisfaction at 72%, with some participants saying, "I was able to understand the Toyota Way not just as words, but also through its history."

Innovation Days

Building on what we learned in the workshops leading up to the event, the day of Innovation Days has finally arrived.
Schedule for the Day 🔻🔻

Opening Ceremony

We started with a pre-recorded message from our CEO, followed by a detailed explanation of the rules and an icebreaker activity.

Code of Conduct

We established the rules by referencing various case studies and emphasized the importance of adhering to the Code of Conduct ✨

• Presentation content
• Presentation time: pitch 5 minutes + Q&A 2 minutes)
• Approved tools for development
• Submission method for deliverables
• Evaluation criteria and points
• Advice from the organizing team

Icebreaker

For the icebreaker, we used Telestration, a drawing-based telephone game. It turned out to be quite challenging for the participants.

Ideathon

We began by nurturing the initial ideas participants had considered beforehand. Using the Value Proposition Canvas, they analyzed their target, identified the challenges, and explored the value their solutions could offer.

Typically, this type of analysis is conducted by product managers (PdMs) in the Global Development G. However, this event provided a rare opportunity for the entire team, including engineers, to participate in the process.

Hack Start!!!

Now, the actual development started. Each team was assigned to different rooms in the office to start their development work. They had a varied group of members, so some focused not only on coding but also on preparing for the next day's pitch or working on design tasks.
The actual development time was about 7.5 hours out of the two days. Within this limited time, each team considered where to prioritize their efforts, how much development to complete, and what key points to emphasize during the Final Pitch.

During the two-day Innovation Days, we also had lunch sessions. On Day #1, teams went to lunch together to deepen their ideas. On Day #2, one member from each team joined another team’s lunch to provide feedback on ideas and development content. While these sessions were intended for interaction, the informal discussions also sparked ideas that could benefit not only Innovation Days, but also our regular work.

The Final Pitch!!!

On the evening of Day #2, everyone gathered for the final pitch. Each team was allotted 5 minutes plus 2 minutes for Q&A.
Although we will omit the details of each idea, the pitches ranged from proposals for improving existing products and suggesting new features to introducing new services. Each team delivered unique pitches and demos.
The presentation order was decided by drawing lots on the spot to ensure fairness. Not knowing when their turn would come added an element of excitement!

Final Jury Review

After all the pitches were finished, it was time for the group manager and four assistant managers to evaluate the teams. Although two of them were participating remotely, it left an impression on me to see the four of them concentrating as they judged the teams.

Evaluation criteria for judgement is as follows 🔻🔻

Evaluation criteria	Ratio
Originality	10%
UI/UX	10%
Tech Skill	30%
Team Work	20%
Practicality, Feasibility	20%
Excitement factor	10%

As a result of the evaluation, the winning team was awarded an original smartphone stand and a cake. It was great that even the teams that didn’t win seemed to enjoy participating, creating a great atmosphere in the venue.

We removed our masks only during the photo shoot.

Summary

As KINTO Technologies’ first event, organized by the Global Development G, we not only achieved our primary goal of enhancing communication but also generated new ideas for KINTO and explored new technologies that we hadn’t been able to use in our daily work.
The event was well-received by all stakeholders, including participants, managers, and executives. Although we were on the organizing side, we gained various skills as an organizing team, such as responding to emergencies, facilitation, time management, and coordination skills. Most importantly, the bonds within our team were strengthened ✨
So far, we have written about the planning stage and the event itself from the perspective of the organizing team, but we will also be publishing an interview with the winning team from the perspective of the participants. Stay tuned!