As far as team development processes go, EcoSeagate represents one of the more unique propositions I've seen or heard of, and based on the considerations of the text, I would say there is value. After all, the text also uses EcoSeagate as an example in one of their sidebar boxes.
To speak more analytically though, EcoSeagate is a form of team development very much in the spirit of outdoor experiential learning, that is, developing teams by taking groups of coworkers into outdoor settings to participate in learning exercises with the intent of using a varied environment that would in most cases be a situation where "With such a foreign and intimidating environment, everyone feels off balance and no one has an advantage over anyone else" (Brown, 2011).
I do believe there is certainly value to be had overall. Considering other means of team development, the process would force people to work outside their comfort zone and reconsider their roles in the organization, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Further, by working with a group of peers, especially if they're from other departments or backgrounds, they may gain further insight from discussions where team members are sharing their thoughts on a given situation or in figuring out where they can fit to help the team best succeed. Certainly, a weeks worth of training culminating in an adventure race is quite the way for one to find out what they're made of when put into an unfamiliar situation.
I think in the case of Seagate, the point is to really keep the organization on its toes. With great success, it can be easy for one to rest on their laurels and not push themselves. Combine that with people getting into a comfortable routine with their department and with certain people, and one may find themselves with a company that is slow to innovate, if it innovates at all, and it may subsequently lack some of the necessary hunger and vigor to maintain success. To borrow as well from the thoughts of Bill Watkins, by showing the value of teamwork to people outside of work, it might be something transferable, a notion demonstrated by his musing of how "...people put their lives on the line for the respect of their platoon mates" (Brown, 2011). For my own thoughts, an engineer or software developer that stays in their office will likely continue to think like an engineer or software developer. Now, take that same engineer that had to adventure through 40 kilometers of a foreign country with a younger factory worker and an older executive, they might be able to look at problems through slightly different colored lenses.
My organization kind of has these outdoor activities built into their normal routine through the occasional round of training for deployments or field work, but it could be beneficial in certain ways. We spend most of our days cooped up in an office working on computers, and I find at times there isn't what I would consider much of a fighting spark on hand. We do what we can though, occasionally having a paintball competition between flights or holding sporting events on a designated "Wingman Day" to promote esprit de corps throughout the unit. I think though, if there was some way to do a short weekend trip with a mixture of officers, as well as junior and senior enlisted, cycling through positions of responsibility and doing things that your average communications person wouldn't do on a daily basis, although it wouldn't directly relate to the IT realm it could spur something in how we think or at least how we relate to one another. I have to admit, it sounds like a fun way to take care of training and I may well chew on options for how we could do it as a squadron or within flights, particularly given the opportunities afforded by being located in Northern California.
