Team time together - pasta

We’re a hybrid company, we generally work from home, but get together once a week in an office space in Farringdon.

This works well for everyone, it seems - people get to work around their personal life in a way that suits them best, but also get the chance to spend time with their colleagues and discuss those things that are best discussed together, in person.

However, I think it’s really important to take proper time out together, away from a whiteboard or laptop.

When we were smaller, we’ve just kept it simple, had a retrospective in the morning, then a big lunch out and beers in the evening. Sorted.

In the past(a) couple of years though, I’ve started to add in an activity of some sort. We made pottery for Christmas 2023 and the results were surprisingly good!

This September, as a late Summer get together we went to a great Italian restaurant Franzina Trattoria, in Brixton. I’ve been there a few times and Sere, our Product Director is good friends with the owners.

What a great afternoon.

We learnt how to make pasta the Sicilian way, we made sauces and puddings and all sorts, then as the restaurant opened for the evening, Pietro cooked everything up for us and there were doggy-bags galore, we were all eating fresh pasta for days.

An activity is so good at removing the temptation to talk shop, it provides the mind with a totally different focus to the one you’d normally have with your colleagues, and you learn something about each other.