Project R Team Apple Pie

You don’t need a Fortune 500 budget to replicate this. If your teams are siloed, stressed, or cynical, consider this minimalist playbook inspired by the original mission.

Phase 1 – Discovery (Days 1–5)

Phase 2 – Prototyping (Weeks 2–4)

Phase 3 – Development & Integration (Weeks 5–7)

Phase 4 – Testing & Deployment (Weeks 8–9) project r team apple pie

Unlike a typical hackathon, Project R Team Apple Pie had strict, bizarre rules. The project lasted exactly four weeks, and involved 40 employees from four different warring departments. They were split into ten teams of four. However, the rules were the real genius of the operation.

Rule #1: No Titles Allowed The Vice President of Engineering had to peel apples alongside the junior social media intern. Name tags displayed only first names and a "Pie Role" (e.g., "Crust Roller" or "Filling Specialist"). This flattened the hierarchy instantly. You don’t need a Fortune 500 budget to replicate this

Rule #2: The “Black Box” Oven Every team was given the exact same ingredients—Granny Smith apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, butter, and a generic pie crust mix. However, each team had to use a specific, unfamiliar "smart oven" (the “Black Box”) that required a team member from the opposite department to read the manual. Engineers had to listen to marketers; marketers had to listen to QA.

Rule #3: The Blind Taste Test (The “Apple Pie Index”) At the end of the four weeks, the pies were judged not on looks, but on a specific, weighted rubric called the Apple Pie Index (API): Phase 2 – Prototyping (Weeks 2–4)