VeriConf is our annual offsite when we get the whole crew together for some of that blue sky thinking, sharing stories, casual convos and nice food and drink.
This year’s VeriConf was a bit different. It was hybrid. The Finland crew got together in beautiful Lohja, the Swedish crew were in downtown Lund, and we hooked up over the interweb. Why so? In all honesty, we’re still recovering from a bruising 12 months or so due to a very subdued market. So we need to postpone a bigger get together for more financially stable times.
Retrospective#
Jacob and Andreas kicked off with their reflections on the year so far. As a company, we’re very open and honest. We all knew that it had been a painful year, but there’s also been learnings, silver linings and clarity.
Bad things#
- We had to let some of our awesome crew go at the beginning of 2024.
- We had to give up VeriFridays* and allocate 100% time on customer work.
- We started to loose the Verifa spirit of community and creativity.
Good things (lots of seafaring analogies coming up)#
- The ship is getting back on an even keel and no-one is on the bench.
- The crew pulled together, steering Verifa out of the storm into calmer waters.
- Metrics* came into their own, guiding our decision-making and acting as an early warning system.
*VeriFridays - 20% of working time dedicated to professional development and working together as a crew.
*Metrics - our continuously improving in-house metrics dashboard measuring Verifa’s financial health and crew wellbeing.
Aligning on company culture#
Jacob kicked off the session with an analogy: Verifa is like a small child, and we're all its caretakers and have a say in guiding Verifa's growth. We decided that Jacob was the "papa," while the rest of us were its aunts and uncles. After all, it takes a village to raise a child—or in this case, a company.
Friday banter generated some of our best ideas to help customers.
What followed was an open and frank conversation about Verifa's future. We discussed what we want the company to be, our goals, and—crucially—how to achieve them. It became crystal clear how vital VeriFridays are. That 20% of time invested in the company and crew is priceless. It sparks creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, while also strengthening our bonds as a team. So we decided to restore the balance by working towards reinstating VeriFridays.
Redefining our offering#
This session was all about pinpointing the key value we can offer our customers in achieving their goals. The discussions took us on a journey through the evolution of software development, from Agile to DevOps and now Platform Engineering, and how it affects developers' day-to-day work.
We talked about what Developer Experience and Platform Engineering means to us, our passions and core competencies. In the end, we agreed that our greatest value lies in creating user-centric internal developer platforms, something that we’ve got pretty good at over the years. To help other teams do the same, we started brainstorming a framework to guide them in creating platforms that make developers’ lives easier.
In summary#
Despite not having all the crew together in one place, this VeriConf was one of the most productive in terms of company goals and crew wellbeing. We had loads of fun hanging out together. Karaoke, PitchCar, dinner and beers in Lund. Mölkky, firing up the BBQ, and card games in Lohja. Props to Thierry for the best note-taking we’ve ever seen, complete with Pokemon characters! This document is serving as a blueprint for Verifa’s future.
Thanks to the whole crew for once again making VeriConf awesome. Looking forward to us all getting together very soon!
