The format was pretty simple. We paired (or tripled) for 40 minutes with 10 minute breaks. Using TDD and ping-pong or carousel, we attempted to create a program for Conway's Game of Life. At the end of each 40 minute session, we threw away the code, changed partners, and started all over again.

For many, this sounds like an exercise in torture. It is nearly impossible to write a solution for Conway's Game of Life in under 40 minutes. So how did we expect to achieve anything for the day?

I came to genuinely understand the purpose of the day early into the second round. I was in a triple the first round and we'd made it pretty far. We were satisfied with our approach and were confident we were on the right track. One of our members swapped out, so I was in a pair with a gentleman I had already completed a round with. Dumping the code was painful. All that progress lost. We decided to quickly rebuild what we'd previously developed and move forward with our solution. While he was writing a test, Corey Haines joined our team. I was explaining our approach to Corey. He remarked how different it was from the approach his prior team had taken. We were coding as we spoke. Before we knew it, we'd taken yet another approach to the problem. One neither of us had previously considered.

This was the purpose of the day. We weren't there to use Java. We weren't there to practice a few agile techniques. We certainly weren't there to write the Game of Life. We were there to  sharpen the saw. To share. To learn. To grow. This was everything about the journey and nothing about the destination.