2016 in review. Goodbye “fun”.

Seems Medium has become a place I return to once a year to recap on our venture into building a small digital agency. So here goes for 2016. And yeah, Imma leave you hanging for a while before we get to the “goodbye fun” bit.

Goodbyes & hellos

We’ve said some goodbyes at Magic People Voodoo People this year. Sometimes things don’t pan out exactly as planned, and we have had to adjust, evaluate and reboot. That isn’t easy, but it’s been necessary and it’s been valuable. It reminds us that, at the end of the day, if we keep a strong core of passionate senior people with a genuine care for the agency, we can get through tough times and learn and grow along the way. And personally, I am pleased to see that those who have left the voodoo lounge in the past year all seem to have found awesome places to hang their hats. They are good people. Good things should come to them.

And then the hellos.

The most important addition to the team and the agency in the past year has been Mads “mr. Good Vibes” Bjerre. A dude we first met back in the day, when he was interning at the Hello Monday Copenhagen office. Since then he has grown enormously. Not in size, mind you. Despite all of the dürüms and m’zemens he is still as skinny as ever. But as a designer and art director, and as an integral part what I guess you could call our management (basically that is anyone making decisions, which is basically anyone). It’s good to have you on board, buddy.

Also, we are lucky enough to have Mikael Waaben intern at the agency for a few more months. Mikael brings some serious skills to the table, and we’re glad he chose to spend some of his time learning from us, and bringing his fairy dust into the mix.

Goodbye “fun”?

A little while ago, we got to talking about how we present ourselves. We have a few principles that we feel it’s important for clients to know, before we kick off a project. Until recently, they were

• KEEPING CLIENTS CLOSE — We’re in this together.
• QUALITY — WE DO NOT COMPROMISE — If we did, we’d be out of business.
• CHALLENGING — WE ARE NOT YES MEN — There are enough of those around.
• HAVING FUN — Every project gets better that way.

Now, the first three still mean something to us. We do work very closely with our clients, we do still insist on maintaining a high level of execution (in fact sometimes we miss out on projects, because we insist that we spend enough time making sure everything is just right. That sucks, but it sucks less than delivering sub par solutions). We also do still challenge clients, whenever we think they should reconsider a solution. So far so good…

But have you stopped having fun?

No, not really. There’s still plenty of laughs at the office. In fact, maybe more than ever. But we’ve stopped trying to fool ourselves and others into thinking that everything is always hilarious.

There are good days and bad. There’s ups and downs. Some projects run smoothly, and some are more tricky. Everybody don’t always get along. Some meetings are tough. Some pitches are lost. Some cups of coffee are cold. Sometimes a bunch of assholes break into the office and steal your stuff. You know, the usual.

And that’s just it. It’s life. And why should life at the office be any different than life anywhere else. So we’ve stopped talking about always having fun. ‘Cause it’s dumb and pointless. It’s not how it is. It’s not how it should be.

But then what?

Well, we’ve put our energy into thinking about what we meant, when we talked about fun. Now, this isn’t the list in its entirety, but it’s a start:

Respect: How we talk to each other means something. When we disagree we do so respectfully. When clients make demands we don’t find reasonable, we should consider what life is like on their end. And when competitors beat us in a pitch or get an award we were aiming for, we should congratulate them, and try to figure out what made the difference. Maybe we can actually learn something from it.

Professionalism: It doesn’t sound all that fun, but in every aspect of the work we do, we need to be professional. Because it is deeply satisfying to know, that we have put our all into a project. And because we owe it to our clients, to each other and to ourselves.

Development: We need to grow as a company. Not necessarily in terms of head count. That’s never been the goal. But in terms of how we handle the business, and how we handle the projects. And in terms of pushing it and doing new stuff. This year, for instance, we invested a lot of our time in Mediano — a podcast start up, that from a business point of view won’t be super profitable for quite some time, but from a development point of view, it helps us take on a more defining role in our professional lives.

Wabi-Sabi: We need to practice embracing imperfection. Sometimes even celebrate it. It’s not the same as compromising. It’s more like accepting that there a curve balls. Mind like water, and all that jazz.

Thank Yous

There are a bunch of people that play a major part in me still wanting to be a part of Magic People Voodoo People. On the verge of 2017, it seems appropriate to throw them a thank you.

Søren, the best business-buddy I could ever ask for.

Louise and the kids. I love you, and I love that you support me in this.

Isa, Mads, Mikael. Team Voodoo. I’m am fortunate to get to work with you every day.

Clients and collaborators. It still thrills me to make stuff with all of you guys.

All the wonderful competition. For keeping us on our toes.

And you for reading this. Who’d have thought you’d get this far in my ramblings?

Have a beautiful 2017. It’ll be fun, and a lot of other things. And that’s ok.