My mythical vacation sprint

One week, one team, one beach house and a lot of productivity.

Last week I came back home after taking 1 week away from the office. I went to a beach and stayed at a beach house with 4 other people. It was great, it was fun, it was relaxing. I came back happy and refreshed. Sounds like a great vacation, no? Well technically, it wasn’t a vacation.

The 4 other people I went with are my co-workers on my team and we weren’t here to play.

I woke up early each day to miles of beach and ocean laying out in front of me, and after a delicious breakfast prepared by a professional developer, designer, or product manager (my teammates are great cooks), I started to work . During the day, maybe I would take a stroll on the beach or a dip in the water for a break, then come back to….work. At dinner time the laptops are put away and the table is set and we enjoyed food we prepared ourselves. Afterwards we would either relax or continue finishing off some more… work until the day’s end.

Call it a week long hackathon, an unconventional offsite, working remotely, or whatever label deemed appropriate corporate-speak. The bottom line?

It was the most productive and rewarding work week I’ve ever had.

We achieved in 1 week what would have taken us 3 at the office. I worked more productive hours than a normal work week but didn’t feel drained at all. The progress we made that week is now going to drive us forward even faster. I don’t know exactly what made this week work so well but there’s definitely an upside to taking yourself outside your normal working environment and being under the same roof as a team. In a world where most of us think of work as a Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 ordeal, I believe there are many, many teams out there who would greatly benefit from an experience like this.

Making it happen

I should state that I don’t work at a startup. I work at a company with over 8000 employees where working from home is an exception and not the norm. This week didn’t happen because someone wanted to run an experiment, nor was it masterminded by one of our superiors. This week was a reality because I’m fortunate enough to be part of a team where we took the initiative to define our own outcomes and goals, where each team member doesn’t just come to work to fulfill what is written in our job descriptions, and where there is an extremely high level of trust between each and every one of us. As a team, if you can clearly state your goals, how you will get there, and prove that you are capable of delivering, you should be offered the trust and responsibility to define the way you work. Perhaps you think your team has that too, then, there should be nothing stopping you!

Yes, of course we also each have our own lives outside of work, we all need personal time and there are always external dependencies that require our attention. This isn’t a permanent deal, all it takes is just 1 week, 5 days if you don’t want the weekend. There is something uplifting and energizing about changing up the environment for a week where, instead of trying to manage work/life balance, you simply devote yourself for an entire week to work and those you work with everyday. For one week, you no longer have to think about juggling work and trying beat the commute. Your todo list becomes very clear and you’ll be surrounded by others all striving for the same goal. You’ll work more efficiently, feel more accomplished, become a better team member and come back refreshed. Best part, you didn’t even use any vacation days.

The finer points

Provided you have a team of people who are all motivated to go out and jam for a week, there are some particular things that you might want to consider in order to maximize your productivity and chances of having a successful week.

Set a goal — And not just finishing this sprint’s stories or your remaining upcoming tasks. Set something specific, something meaningful, and perhaps something that just seems a little out of reach. For our team we set out to deliver a working native V1 iOS app(We started the week with no screens).

Minimize time drains — Being under one roof already removes the pain of commuting but while you are together under one roof, you only need to be talking to each other and no one else. That’s why you should set your calendar to Out of Office (it’s true anyway) and move your meetings.

Cook and eat — Doing our own cooking for most of the meals was not only healthy, time-efficient but actually boosted productivity. There’s nothing more motivating than the knowledge that your co-workers take turns toiling away in the kitchen to put food on your plate (helps if everyone can cook).

Go somewhere fun — The best part about not being in the office is just that. Even if you are doing the same work, it doesn’t feel like work when you aren’t in the office (and other people are). Pick a location that you want to go to (especially if you’re footing your own travel costs). Yes you’ll spend most of the time working, but you’ll definitely have some unique memories of that place.

Crazy talk

This probably sounds crazy to many people, after all, why would you voluntarily put in ‘overtime’ without extra pay, spend your own money to work remotely, and live with your co-workers. And they’re probably right, because if you are just working to put in a shift to earn your salary and move ahead in your career, then this totally not going to make sense. Also if you hate your coworkers this won’t work either (hopefully you don’t). But for those of you who are lucky enough to be working on a product you believe in, with people you like being around 8 hours every day, and have that desire to truly work hard together and carve out an achievement as a team…

Give it a shot.

Take just 1 week.

Rediscover work.

Edit: We finished our app! Please check it out here.