When the big guns are human

1 June 2022 

The most ordinary thing I do in the office almost daily, is take a regular black coffee from the machine in the kitchen after lunch. There I was waiting for the coffee to be poured as usual and Liam walked into the kitchen to take his coffee. While waiting for it, Liam inquired of me, asking me how long I’d been in Warsaw and how I found the country and its people. 2 other colleagues joined the conversation. One topic leading to another, there we were, as Liam shared pictures of a previous trip to the Maldives he had been to with one of his team. 

While talking about camping, the question was  - what’s the nastiest animal you’d be concerned about in the wild in Poland? Which led to ticks and lime disease and a blunt reference of how it would be an escaped defect gone too far if while removing the ticks after a day in the forest, you’d miss the one that got away and led to lime disease. 

We talked about how outdoor trips and activities like fishing, sitting by the campfire, roasting marshmallows, and grilling a meal together greatly contribute to building meaningful relationships among the members - a common thread that has been seen with all the Big guns here who come visit us. 

Moving back into memory a few hours earlier, while the leads were sharing some of their outstanding and/or challenging work or new projects, we witnessed Liam carefully and patiently listening and taking down notes, asking direct questions to those presenting. Not just the high-level stuff you’d imagine. But with genuine interest in what they were working on.

What is it that makes this organisation so, one might wonder? 

Is it their passion to fine-tune engineering through continuous improvement? Do they genuinely like working with people and building strong relationships across geographical borders in this fast-moving remote-work-loving world? 

It’s definitely its leadership setting a great example of how to interact with people. 

They’re not just interested in increasing the bottom line. When you lay the groundwork with a strong foundation for building genuine relationships, it empowers one to passionately cotribute towards meeting the common goal. In working together, sharing ideas and overcoming challenges through dialogue. And what is more Agile than that!!

It creates a spirit of  - Let’s go the extra mile, together we can achieve great results! 

And the culture goes local. The head of operations in Poland reflects this same mindset to a great extent. The colleagues are kind and genuine. Humour runs high in this office. And after 48 hours of considering  - what shall I bring for these people to celebrate a year of working here - 48 hours ago it was - Do I really want to spend my time, effort and money to prepare a meal for them? It would be really a lot of time in preparing it from start to finish!

Hell Yeah !!

They contribute to my intricate well-being every single day in ordinary ways yet extraordinarily make my work life complete.