Extreme Blue: the turning point

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The Amsterdam Extreme Blue HQ has undergone a week of change as we reach the half-way point of the program, both on a local level and a global level. The brainstorming and flurry of post-its around the office are now being turned into code, businesses cases, and some pretty slick user-interfaces.

Globally, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty unveiled the 9 practices designed to capture what IBM culture is all about, live streamed to IBM HQs around the world. As interns, and new to the IBM office, this was a great experience to take part in. It demonstrated how internationally vast IBM is, and the importance of progressively educating and connecting the company.

One practice we have already begun using is “Think. Prepare. Rehearse.” Following last week’s PR training, the Extreme Bluers took the Amsterdam office by storm, surprising unsuspecting IBMers with our elevator pitches. We practiced creating excitement about our projects and inviting employees from all departments to drop by our space, and cannot wait to do it again next week.

It hasn’t been all business though! This week we had our second improvisational acting class where we get out of the building, out of our comfort zones, and learn to listen to our impulses rather than over-thinking. Recently our team was preparing a client presentation and were spending a great deal of time translating our technical concept to PowerPoint slides. Instead of wrestling with PowerPoint all day, we listened to our instincts, scrapped the slides and jumped over to the flipchart and created several simple, clear diagrams. The client loved the flipchart and we have since begun using it more and more to communicate our ideas visually.

Our two take aways for this week are:

1. Always have a project pitch ready!
2. Don’t be afraid to use unconventional methods to present

Andreea and Kieran