(finally bit the bullet and bought a Mac app to draft Typepad blog posts offline and manage postings for me. One of the very few things I missed after "switching" was a good blogging tool. Methinks it showed a bit eh?)
One of things I loved about working at Storm was the lack of ego's, sense of fun and the constant humour. Life at ViaData is much like the early days of Storm in that way, but in a company that is 13+ years old. There are two of us doing sales pitches and although the cold calling and guerilla maneuvres needed to evade gatekeepers is a pain, the pitching is fun an really rewarding when you find a need that matches the product. There is one of me doing product development, brand, marketing, pr, etc (sounds familiar, although I could really do with an Anne Hoemberg right now!) and some bright, enthusiastic people who love their product and get REALLY excited about what they're doing. Love it.
Today's musing though. We do lunch as a team each Friday - or at least anyone who is in the office joins in. We're a busy bunch, often with those 4pm/Friday crises that ALWAYS seem to appear. But team lunch is important enough to fit it in. The operation works like this:
- Around 12 Craig (MD), takes orders from the crew and calls Jakes and places the orders, stipulating the time the food must be ready 12h30.
- The crew carries on working.
- 12h25, five minutes before the food hits the table, we evacuate the building, pile into the biggest vehicle there.
- On or just after the appointed hour, we arrive, are seated, and while we're placing drinks orders, the food hits the table, followed shortly thereafter by drinks.
- There is time for debate (today's topic - "do you have the right to check your child's MXIT, MSN, Skype, Email history - even if you have warned them & you only have their safety at heart?"), general banter, digestion and paying the bill, before heading out back to the office...
- ... no more then 30 minutes past the hour!
ViaData is focused on delivering business value in all the work we do for customers. Very little patience is exhibited for fluffy stuff that does not add tangible value. It struck me today that Friday lunch is a corporate cultural reflection of that. Work hard, play hard, don't waste time.
Now I'm not against the odd lunch that slips quietly into supper when there is a good wine and fine company to go with it, but I wonder what your company lunches say about your company? ;)
