2020 Challenges
This year we decided to repeat something we did in 2018 and asked all guavos to disclose to the world the challenges they intend to tackle in 2020. But before we go ahead with what each one of us exposed as the desires for the new year, let’s take a minute to reflect on what we want to change, reinforce and create collectively.
What we would like to change in 2020
1. The difficulty in saying no
In many contexts we still struggle to say no — both to ourselves and to others. No to projects that don’t push us forward; No to activities that take more time than they are worthy. Let’s make 2020 with more nos.
2. Communication barriers
Guava is an upstanding company in terms of internal communication. This is expressed both during formal company processes and the informal dynamics of the day-to-day talk. However, unclear comms sometimes creeps in quite sneakily and is therefore something to be always on the lookout for. In 2020 we want to keep up experimenting with new activities and processes to bring those barriers down.
What we want to reinforce
1. Our hunger for more
A much common trait among us is the excitement and the willingness to learn more and do better. Let’s keep pushing this hunger forward in 2020!
2. Our passion for quality
We got this nigh obsessive passion for quality. We shan’t ever forget that delivering value to our customers is our job first and foremost, but doing that at the top level is what makes us special.
3. Our empathy and mutual respect
One always finds plenty of empathy and respect at Guava but these are delicate matters which are never stressed too much. Let’s keep nurturing them very carefully.
4. Our down-to-earth view
One thing relatively common among us guavos is an almost cynical take on corporate culture in general. Let’s keep our skeptical eyes open to this world of empty euphemisms, self-help coaching and tech hype but also open ourselves to the possibility of being wrong sometimes.
5. Our humor
Humor at Guava plays a fundamental role which is sometimes overlooked but always crucial: it razes psychological barriers, shrinks problems down to their real sizes, and brings people together. Let 2020 be an year to-empty our pun bucket list and keep up that fun vibe.
New stuff we want to bring in
1. Mentoring culture
The quality and diversity of the talent we have are immense. Still, we probably didn’t completely succeed in establishing a culture of exchange and collaboration as strong as it should be.
For 2020, let’s tackle this common individual challenge: think of something you’d like to improve, find someone at Guava who can help you with that, and ask if they’d like to mentor you somehow.
2. Authoring more
Lately, we’ve been struggling to establish a good pace of authored content production — be it open source contributions, blog posts, apps or other multimedia content.
We have experienced reasonable success with Goiabada, our social media and https://guava.software, but there is no doubt that we can go further.
What do the guavos say about their plans for 2020?
Artur Montenegro
From my first day at Guava I’ve been learning from the best professionals how to turn a company into the best place to work as well as an excellent environment for personal development. Now, in 2020, it is time to fortify my knowledge by teaching others (sounds cliché, but for me, teaching it’s the best way to learn). To that purpose, I plan to organize some workshops about web development, write more posts and read more books. Hit the little bell to enable notifications and stay tuned!
Camila
After two years within Guava, many times I found myself immersed in processes and internal activities. However, I would like to invest in new activities and to spread the word of Guava! Therefore, I want to implement improvements to make internal processes more streamlined and, than, get to promote Guava in the external environment.
Chico
In 2020 I’ll have a new challenge: alternating relatively long periods of remote and presential work. In order to achieve that, I’m sure it will be important to develop a routine which simultaneously healthy and productive. On top of that, I really want to improve my theoretical basis as a product manager and seek a more active role in producing content for Guava, be it in the form of talks, media content or as this blog’s editor :)
Daniel
In 2019 I was completely immersed in client work at Guava and didn’t do much else outside that. I plan to change that this year through some actions:
- Write 6 pieces to this blog. The first one is already out.
- Submit at least one talk proposal to an international conference.
- Engage in one local community.Besides, I want to enhance my workout routine, meditate daily and read more books.
Eduardo
After almost two months at Guava, I could already realize how much caring about people and the exceptional quality of the work done makes for an amazing collaborative environment. Therefore, I regard 2020 as a year of many challenges and I wish to dive deeper into Ruby on Rails’ best practices development as well as sharpen my front-end development skills. I also want to contribute to open-source projects, write articles to Goiabada, keep attending local events, read more books, and maintain a workout routine.
Fanny
This year, I want to continue learning and improving my knowledge of Front-end development and Design. Maybe try to do something outside of my comfort zone, such as workshops, talks, some article writing. I don’t feel confident enough to do any of these activities yet. I also want to try something related to Motion! Aside from that, I hope to be a more organized person and maintain a healthier and more productive routine.
Filipe Soares
In 2020 I complete 10 years of dedicating myself to Design. It seems to be a long time, but for me it feels like I started yesterday. During this time I could cycle through different areas of this profession, and this year I intend to revisit everything that I have learned so far and find ways to pass on the knowledge I’ve been gathering. It had been years of immersion and learning until I joined Guava and found many talented individuals with a lot to share, which makes me even more eager to sit by their side and learn. This year I want to read more, go deeper into design theories, put research into practice and better understand strategy and business. None of this is worth without physical and mental health, so I’ve committed myself to working out often and to join a race before the end of this year, drink less coffee (already trying that), and try to find some more time for myself.
Filipe Wanderley
My wishes for this year are not so different from the ones I had in previous years, they are key points that I’m still struggling with: I’d like to practice more writing and public speaking. Guava gives us incentives to do that, I just need to better dedicate myself to reach these goals.
Guilherme
In 2020 I want to shed my prejudices against modern front-end development and do a deep dive in Webpack, React and React Native. I’d also like to be more knowledgeable about people and project management, which are areas I don’t yet feel comfortable with. Besides all that I’d like to share more my experiences, either writing more on the blog or giving talks.
Juliana
My goal for 2020 is to focus on studies. When I’m immersed in a challenging project, other things like reading new books and discovering new theories lose priority. That’s why I want to try a new daily routine that allows me to build more knowledge.
Lailson
After almost 10 years in the market, today we have a clear idea of what are the projects that excite us and keep us motivated. My goal in 2020 is to focus on prospecting so that we have more and more projects of this type, which challenge us and allow us to have a positive impact on companies and society in general.
Lucas
In 2020 I want to slow down a little, deep dive into reading and studying and avoid the madness of news and trending messes on Twitter. From such reading and studying, I hope to discover ideas and concepts for new talks, blog posts and products we can elaborate and realize at Guava. This is also the year in which I’ll feed my passion for aviation with one of the most daring travels I have ever planned.
Matheus
I joined Guava 9 months ago — enough time to gestate many ideas of mutual growth. But to alleviate labor pains and increase the odds of success, I’ll give birth only to the ones I believe better pertain to the current moment and are so closely related that they could be siamese sisters. In 2020 I want to help with leveraging our outreach by posting to Goiabada, contributing to open source projects and giving talks.
Moisés
For me, 2020 will be a year for trying to get out of my comfort zone. Be it teaching, writing, giving talks, illustrating (got a head start on this one) or developing in languages/frameworks that I’m not used to. Regardless of this effort, I also plan to reaffirm my preferred tools: going deeper into JavaScript, React, React Native and GraphQL through personal or professional projects. On top of that, I want to increase my participation in the community via open-source projects and contributions.
Nathália
I joined Guava 5 months ago, and in this period I could already contribute to quite a few different projects and tackle diverse challenges. In 2020 I hope to be able to work more in open source projects (such as Mulheres de T.I.) and also learn CSS and HTML (maybe I can engage on some internal project for consolidating the learning, who knows?). I also intend to organize my routine so I can include more time for reading, workout and travel.
Paula
This year started with my first professional experience and loads of enthusiasm for this whole new world ready to be explored. So, for 2020, what I hope is to learn as much as possible from the entire Guava team to improve not only my skills with front-end development but also everything about my sprouting professional life. In addition to that, I want to write at least two articles on technical subjects to be more confident in my abilities.
Renata
In 2019 I came to realize that I love to teach, no matter whether the subject is something from my day to day life — as teaching my boyfriend to set the washing machine — or a technical skill — as drawing something to one of our Goiabada’s posts. So, in 2020 I hope to dedicate more to help other people by leveraging my knowledge: stimulating and enhancing the mentorship processes at Guava, continuing my illustration classes and giving more talks.
Sérgio
I expect nothing more than a year full of personal development. The goals I’ve defined for myself in 2020 are bold: I want to stop smoking; to write at least one article by month; to read at least six technical books; to lecture at least two workshops; to truly devote myself to personal projects. It’s been more than a month since then, and so far I’ve been keeping the pace. There’re 11 months left. Keep on!
