For remote teams, there’s always pressure to make our rare, in-person time valuable. Spending an hour of a 2-day onsite on a silly game might seem like a waste, but I’ve found that a little competition and abstract problem solving is a great way to help people connect. Every year, I plan some kind of unique, team building game for Sprout Social’s meetups. I kept that streak alive at last week’s onsite and also tried something different: a hands-on empathy exercise that put our Publishing and Mobile teams through a simulated day in the life of the social media managers we build for.
More Guiding, Less Righting
That’s it. That’s the takeaway I’ve been trying to distill from my trip to Chicago last week. I was there for a Q4 onsite, working with and meeting new teammates from an additional product zone I’m now leading design for at Sprout Social.
Celebrating 3 Years at Sprout Social
It’s hard to believe it, but today is my 3-year anniversary at Sprout Social. Anyone who’s worked with me before knows that I’m passionate about design systems, and the role I originally applied for was to be a Product Design Manager on that team.
Challenge Coins & Cheesy Trophies
For me, the wheels started turning when we set the dates for our product zone’s Chicago HQ onsite and decided to make a hackathon the focus of our 2 days together. I wanted to make this meetup a memorable one and create some kind of tangible reminder of the occasion. I also knew that our hackathon teams would work hard on their self-selected projects and that everyone who participated would deserve a fun reward.
Vulnerable Visibility
This story was originally published on Design at Sprout Social. Our team is planning to share a new post every month, so if you enjoy…