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February 2018

Innovation happens in many different ways. At Rocket, we believe that personal connections and creating the time and space to collaborate are important ingredients that result in better, faster, and more meaningful innovation. We find that intentionally getting people together and providing them with focus – such as a particular problem to solve – yields more innovation.

Now that January is over (that’s our “Sales Kickoff” month), we are finalizing plans for our 2018 Rocket.Build events. This year, Rocket.Build will comprise four regional events and one global event. At each of our regional events, we will be focused on helping solve problems that affect our local communities. These will be open to high school and college students in those cities, and will be supported by Rocketeers providing technical guidance and logistical support. The winners will be invited to participate in our global Rocket.Build event later this year.

Rocketeers will also participate in non-Rocket hackathons this year. As an example, last week our Chief Marketing Officer, Christine Washburn (who previously worked on Capitol Hill and has a deep background in public policy) was a panelist at a hackathon focused on combatting homelessness hosted by the Catholic University of America. The event brought together teams of college students from the Washington, DC area, and the winning group will travel to Rome as part of a Vatican-sponsored hackathon to develop apps to combat global homelessness and hunger.

If you want our help in hosting an innovation event or a hackathon, reach out and contact me or any one of our Rocket executives. We are happy to share our stories and our expertise.

Innovation is part of our DNA at Rocket. Every time we create the time and the space to innovate, we learn more. Rocket is laser-focused on developing technologies that solve real-world problems. And while most of our work in this area is focused on our customers and partners, we also make sure that we are giving back to the cities that we call home.

 

Andy Signature

Andrew J. Youniss
President and CEO, Rocket Software, Inc.

Songs about building:

Pink Floyd Album

"Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" Okay, this one’s more about breaking down than it is about building up, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the most tightly-constructed tunes in the Pink Floyd catalogue. Be sure to savor all three minutes and 18 seconds of perfectly-welded protest music!

The Foundations Album

"Build Me up Buttercup" This selection fits this month’s theme in more ways than one: Not only are the lyrics about building, but it’s actually performed by ‘60s British soul group The Foundations. (Puns aside, it’s also just a great track.)

Sammy Davis Album

"Gonna Build a Mountain" The rare performer to earn respect as both a singer and a comedian, Sammy Davis Jr. had a singular style. Don’t be afraid to snap along to this jazz-inflected tune, the perfect soundtrack to an easy-going afternoon.

Artic Monkeys Album

"Brick by Brick" Closing out this month’s theme of building is this classic rock-inspired track from contemporary indie-rockers Arctic Monkeys. Fact: This song has fewer than 30 unique words (intentionally so). It just goes to show that with a bit of creativity, you can do a whole lot with very little.