kyooz

So we just got back from the quarterly retreat, which was again at Clam Bay on Pender Island. The first retreat was back in January and we’d just done a growth spurt, up to twelve from eight in just a couple months.

One early January morning, hung over:

Three months later there are fifteen of us, and that’s after losing two. I look around the room at the weekly All Hands meetings and, after picking my way through the crowd trying to find a place to sit, I count more new faces than old. How about that. We’ve been around long enough to have an old school. Kewl.

Anyway, since that first retreat we’ve grown into our new pacing. We’re a much tighter ship. Exponentially. What used to take eight weeks now takes two, which isn’t to say we’re working like mad dogs. We’re just Getting Things Done. Then again, it wasn’t so long ago that this pace did feel like working like mad dogs. Hmm.

Strangely, a lot of the things we thought were important back then have completely changed. In one important instance I can say, “I told ya so.” I’m hoping to be able to do that again at the next retreat for something else.

And we’re moving into new space. Double the size and a view of the water. We’re really making it our own space. Colours & lighting & such. We’re in there with the littlest of the big fish now. As Aaron puts it, on the life path of this company we’re entering the teenage years. It’s important to point out that this will not involve goth makeup or angst bands. Mostly. Sometimes it’s hard to tell with jesteR.

I think by next quarter we’ll be less surprised at the changes, even though they’ll be undoubtably just as significant. We’re thoroughly embracing change. It’s part of us and that’s new, even though it was always supposed to be there.

Nurturing that ability to flex and pivot is what will keep us thriving. This time next year we’ll probably have at least one more major project out the door, and that means we’ll be a tripod. Stable. Secure. Finding security in embracing change is a really neat trick.

You look at the huge megalithic corporations and you just know that they can’t keep up. They can’t do what we can do. All that money, and we’re too quick for them. That’s fun. For a little while longer the web is pretty much anybody’s game.

Whew. Holy tangent. I’ve been waiting for Aa to send me his pics from the Q2 retreat so I guess I wandered off a bit aimlessly. My own pics won’t be ready til Friday. Soon, digital. Soon. Most of my pics from the retreat are black & white so I may double post them to the Q2 album & a B&W album along with some from last summer.

So here you go. Us, three months later. Anton is still a member of the happy fam, but he was rawther sick, so he missed out. Strangely, his face got blocked last time. Fate is a fickle wench.

April, mid-day, looking forward to a hangover:

We look a little more sedate, but don’t be fooled. When I get them all together I’ll post the others. Wooohaaaa!