Back from the Retreat
Every year at Dynamo we take a couple days to recharge, reflect and take on the year with some new perspective. This past February, in addition to hitting the slopes and some spa time, we dove deep into five workshop themes that will shape not only our day-to-day, but our long-term path forward. Task forces were formed to explore and propose improvements in five key areas: Planning and Expectations, Quality of our Work, Self-Improvement, Community Involvement, and Voice.
A few themes and observations emerged across the various presentations:
Having largely thought of ourselves as a “small” business for the last fifteen years, it’s become clear, as we grow in staff and project scope, that we’re bigger than that, literally. As a medium-sized company, we’re transitioning from the family vibe we’ve held onto for so long to a team mentality that recognizes the power in choice — we’ve all chosen to be part of Dynamo, and we’re all committed to creating a supportive environment in which we can all do our best work.
Part of these growing pains also means doing things a bit differently. We’ve realized that we’re craving a more clearly defined, systematic approach to our work — everything from project management and quality control to self-improvement and hiring. We’ll have more time and energy to devote to quality code and creative if we don’t have to reinvent the process on every project.
Finally, it was clear from our Self-Improvement and Community task forces that working at Dynamo goes way beyond client work, that in fact, betterment and community outreach is an inherent part of our culture. This is currently expressed through our frequent Lunch n’ Learns, editorial content, podcast interviews, Dynamic/MTL conferences and DynamicLabs workshops, and overall freedom to experiment. A lot of great new ideas were introduced, such as quarterly hack days, a book club, more remote work, a mentorship program and support for exploratory projects.
As always, in the spirit of transparency and sharing the journey, we’ll keep you posted on our progress. If ever you’re curious for more insight, just ask.
