Knowledge-sharing Across Large Teams
By: Tobias Sjölin and Jonny Johansson
Large teams can be challenging to manage and keep aligned towards a common goal. When spread across different locations and with autonomous teams, it can be even more difficult to ensure knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and a sense of community. In this context, we in the Platform organisation have found our annual conference is a powerful tool to achieve these goals.
The birth of the Platform conference
Platform has 190 employees spread across 5 locations and 6 branches, all working towards the same goals in autonomous teams. The multiple different teams all work in very different business areas. It becomes very important to align work processes and overall strategy every now and then.
To achieve this we host an annual Platform conference. This is three intense days in May that focus on knowledge-sharing, socialising, and pushing each other to be even better. Each year the topics and speakers change so that we are always learning and exploring new areas that are interesting to most.
The first Platform conference took place on Friday the 13th in April 2012. In the first couple of years, the entire Platform team could fit in one meeting room. However, as the team grew, we needed to expand and update the set-up of the conference to accommodate 180+ people.
The Platform conference encourages good communication and collaboration which are essential for success when it comes to large teams and with people that work in very different business areas. It is also an opportunity to share knowledge, collaborate on projects, and build a sense of community.
One important aspect of the Platform conference is to give everyone responsibility and the opportunity to be involved. When we started the platform conference everyone in the team had a speaking role, hosting a talk or workshop. As the team grow this became harder because of time constraints. Now instead, those that are not hosting/speaking are still participating and given responsibility in other ways, either by organizing and coordinating or contributing to the workshops and brainstorming.
Another thing we have found that brings people together and gets them excited is merchandise. It has become a tradition for us since 2017 when we printed the first hoodie with the Platform Conference logo. The developers appreciate receiving a hoodie or t-shirt during the conference, as it creates a sense of team feeling and pride.
Tips for doing your own conference
Bringing teams together in such a setup has several benefits for the business and employees. Firstly, it fosters a culture of collaboration and innovation, allowing teams to learn from each other and push themselves to be even better. Secondly, it creates a sense of community and team feeling, which is important for employee morale, engagement, and retention.
Here are some tips and tricks to help you get started:
- Focus on knowledge sharing and the social part
- Involve as many people as possible and give them responsibility
- Merchandise is important!
- The goal is not to be productive — it is for team building and connecting
- Timebox your speakers
- Use your network to get external speakers
- Get feedback from the team to improve for next year
- It won’t be perfect — Just do it!
In conclusion, for us in Platform the annual conference is a powerful tool to build on knowledge-sharing, and a sense of community. By bringing our teams together, the conference fosters a culture of collaboration and innovation, aligns work processes and overall strategy, and creates a sense of team feeling and pride among everyone that participates.
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