Category: Life in Happiness

2020 has been a year of challenges. But it’s also been a year for visionaries. 

One of the highly valued perks of being an Automattician (A11N) is being able to travel, often somewhere fabulous, with your teammates for an annual in-person team meetup. 

In light of the current state of world health, these oft looked forward to gatherings haven’t been possible. 

As a diverse and dynamic global family, you may be wondering “so how did they fare in the face of such adversity?”

The answer is: rather well!

Enter stage: Visionaries.

Automatticians (A12S) are a varied group of individuals with a wide array of skills and creativity. So, it’s really no surprise that the eagerness to hang on to the value of team meetups was quickly shifted into virtual meetups. 

Team after team worked together to research and organize their own versions of virtual meetups. 

Using Zoom to host group hangouts, shared meals, collaborative learn-ups, and team building experiences, teams were able to enjoy some of the social perks of meetups without the travel itself. 

Let’s take my team – Cerberus – as an example.

We allocated three days for our virtual team meetup and worked together to create a schedule of various activities. It was a collaborative process leading up to the meetup dates, with polls to narrow down the final selections from a list created out of a few brainstorming sessions.

In the team building department, we had a virtual tour of a team member’s farm. Not only did it allow us to get to know each other better (the goats and pigs were clearly the highlights), but we also unanimously agreed that it was enlightening to see how a new farm is established. The community spirit surrounding their little farming area was encouraging to see and provided inspiration for some of the struggles so many have been facing in 2020.

We also engaged in the team activity of a virtual escape room. None of us knew what to expect on this one and we were all fairly concerned about getting permanently locked inside the virtual room if we weren’t able to figure out the clues! But amazing teamwork was on our side and by working together, we were able to make it safely out to enjoy the rest of our meetup.

If this is unknown territory for you, I highly recommend it – for work or family. It was downright fun. It’s very similar to a live escape room where you’re each able to explore the virtual room, look for clues, share and discuss your findings and work together to solve the puzzles. It’s an excellent exercise in teamwork.

On a more formal learning front, our team opted for WooCommerce and GitHub learn-ups. Since our team focuses on supporting WordPress.com, we often find ourselves up against WooCommerce and GitHub matters that can leave us scratching our heads for a moment. So these were coveted sessions that connected us with experts in these areas, again via Zoom, allowing us to ask questions and really personalize the learn-ups to our own needs.

They were both great sessions of cross-team collaboration that were just as beneficial as an in-person meetup.

We got an insider view of how the WooCommerce support team approaches troubleshooting, what to look for, where to look for it, and when to escalate the issue or ask for help. This was invaluable information!

For GitHub, so much was demystified! Most Happiness Engineers aren’t developers and the world of GitHub can feel daunting and overwhelming. In this learn-up, the terminology and processes were clarified, providing better insight on how to find, research, and get more information on various issues that are being worked on.

While just a small portion of the many activities that formed the Team Cerberus virtual meetup, it’s not hard to see how much meaning and value were packed into the virtual alternative for a team meetup.

During our wrap-up meeting we were all hard pressed to pick any one particular activity as having been our favorite, as it was a delightful mix of learning and team building.

Alas, teams may not have had the honor of travelling to a new place to embrace our comrades, (a day we do covet for the future) but a virtual meetup was a workable alternative. It covered the core functionality of a team meetup and created an opportunity for a deeper virtual connection. 

Team bonds were formed and strengthened; new skills developed; existing skills enhanced; and no one got lost en route! (Except for Richard’s lunch during our meetup!)

There’s no question that A12S rose to the challenge to pivot and adjust; find enjoyment and value; persist and thrive. 

Thus is life within Automattic!

In a traditional office, you’re in the same place 48 weeks out of the year, and you might have 3 or 4 weeks where you’re not together. We try to flip that. So we come together in short intense bursts. The primary goal is connecting people. We want to make sure everyone is aligned and on the same page, and that they have a deeper connection with their colleagues. So that when they work together for the rest of the year, they can bring together that understanding and empathy.

Matt Mullenweg, Founder & CEO, Automattic

Have you ever wondered what a team meetup at Automattic is like? If you’ve been following us for a while, surely you’ve stumbled across a post or two showcasing photos of us working from various & exotic locations! If not, well, I’d like to say that one of the greatest perks of working at Automattic is paid company travel!

We cover all costs of company travel, so dust off that passport! Your team will get together one to three times per year in locations around the globe.

Automattic.com/Work With Us

The team meetup allows you to connect with the members of your team on a deeper level. Meetups are typically a week in length and I just got back from our last team meetup, which was held in Seoul, and it was amazing!

Fun Fact: Our last meetup was in Japan, and was even covered by Yahoo Japan News 🙂

For our Seoul meetup, we of course planned various work-related projects — we discussed best support practices, advanced troubleshooting, as well as refine our skills by directly watching other members do their work. Each day, we would have a different work-related task or activity, and we would learn from each other through discussion and group work.

But meetups aren’t all work with no play!

Our team made very sure we had other activities planned that weren’t work-related, such as trekking around Myeong-dong (Korea’s best known shopping district), visiting Changdeokgung Palace (a UNESCO World Heritage location), exploring Insa-dong (a street showcasing traditional Korean culture with antique art, book stores, teahouses, and crafts), as well as stopping by Hongdae (an area known for its urban vibes which has been influenced with the tastes of the trendy youths who gather there) — just to mention a few.

However, if you were to ask my team what our main non-work-related priority is on any given day, it would, of course have to be FOOD 😀

During our meetup in Seoul, we made doubly sure our restaurant and eating spots were on point! We ate so many yummy dishes, here’s just a short list of some of the things we ate:

• Bibimbap – Steamed rice mixed with a variety of ingredients and red pepper paste, this is the most famous Korean dish and it is also very healthy
• Bulgogi – Grilled beef marinated in soy sauce
• Kimchi – Korea’s most popular fermented food, which is served as a side dish at every Korean meal
• Samgyeopsalgui – Pork belly roasted over a hot grill
• Chi-maek – Korea’s version of fried chicken and beer
• Galbi – Grilled ribs marinated in sauce

In short, meetups are a blast! The team meetup is one of my favorite weeks of the year (with of course the Grand Meetup being the other.) 🙂

We often hear about the benefits of remote/distributed work as being able to travel the world and work from anywhere with an internet connection. Something I feel that needs prominence would be how this can help when you have a “caretaker” type role – for me, this is as a parent, but it isn’t limited to just that.

My journey to working at Automattic accelerated due to wanting to work from home and allow me to spend the most amount of time with my family and friends. When I applied, my son was just under a year and a half old. I had been working partly from home for six months and could feel the benefit already.

I’ve briefly written about this before on my own blog but not having a commute of any sort is incredibly freeing. In a normal week I take my children to school and nursery, I make the dinner, do household chores, and am able to see friends during the day. Often it is even the menial things like hanging up a washing during the day when the sun is out which really help overall.

We schedule our own work day and this allows us to fit in non-work events. I know what my schedule is in general so I can plan my work shifts to match that. I have a shared family calendar – I put in my work shifts, and my wife and I put in everything that is happening. That isn’t specific to remote work, that is just sensible in my view. We can see what is happening each week. Aside from my “general availability” at work, I can move things around week-to-week if I need. Dental appointment, parent/teacher meeting, catch up with a friend, these are all things that working in an office on a fixed 9-5 is extremely frustrating to plan in. Now, I don’t need to think “Do I have to put in for a full day holiday in five weeks on Thursday so I can make this 30-minute appointment?!”, I can have that follow up with my dentist because they have a slot at 2.30pm and that helps because I’m picking up the kid from school anyway.

This ability to set my schedule within reasonable hours that work for me really has made a difference, I’m able to be around for my family more. I worked in a shop when my son was born until he was about four months old, I luckily didn’t miss out on any milestones but I am now around to see them when my office door isn’t closed. I can catch those fun interactions with my almost-four-year-old son like when he doesn’t understand a street sign.

Now two and a half years on from starting full time, I still stop and think “What would I do if my wife and I worked 9-5 typical jobs? We wouldn’t be able to do this.”.
I’m able to take them to school and nursery, pick them up, share their days, spend time with them during the day when they’re at home. When I worked in the shop, I was out of the door for just after 8am, five days a week and not home until after 6pm. Young kids mean you want to have the evening meal at a sensible time, you can’t just make something at 8pm. I’m able to start dinner during the day, do most of the household duties like washing and dishes, and still work. This means more time in the evening to spend with my wife, more time on the weekends not doing a frenzied cleaning spree, being able to eat dinner and put the kids to bed at a sensible time.

This tweet by Dan Kim really sums it up:

https://twitter.com/dankim/status/935219056201928706

I haven’t had 2.5 hours a day commute but rough math makes my total about 20 days. Over three work weeks of time saved every year because I can work from home when I want to. Nevermind the time saving, the cost factor is huge as well.

Plus, when I choose to do Live Chat at 6am, I get to do work when everyone is still asleep and I haven’t had to travel far. Literally get out bed, make coffee, then go into my home office wearing a t-shirt and pajama bottoms because that is how I work best in the morning.

I’m so thankful that doing great work supporting customers around the world doesn’t mean I have to put on a suit and go into an office – been there, done that, not for me.