As a team we unfortunately don’t get to spend much time together in person – we’re a great unit but we work remotely with occasional office days every couple of weeks. Having something like this where we get to cook together, bond, work, play, and just do normal day to day stuff and being outside of our “home bubbles” is a great way to recharge and regroup. Here are a few thoughts and memories of the great time we had from some of our team members.

Iggi

It’s good to see what has been done on our products and to get a glimpse of where we’re heading in the future. It’s also important to see what everyone else in the team is doing which this gave us a chance to do.

Deon

I enjoyed getting an insight into what everyone else on the team is up to. Aside from the work, there may have been too many DJ on the retreat… At least there was an eclectic mix of music – a mirror of the eclectic combinations of a dynamic team!

Joe

Nice to see everyone’s specific skills come together for the work we’re doing on our internal projects. It was really great to collaborate with everyone and have a relaxing friendly environment where work was still happening. Party in the front business at the back… Or is that “business in the day, party in the night”?

Anton

The retreat started off with a great hike, although it was slightly delayed when we took a wrong turn past some beehives, and subsequently had a few WordPress developers suffering some beestings! Once we got onto the right path we found ourselves in a gorgeous forest clearing where we set up some hammocks and had a much needed lay back. 
We got good work done during the day, recapping on the work done on internal projects, filling in each other on client work we’re busy with, and recapping in general on what’s been going well and what we can improve on in the next months.
It was good to spend some quality time with the newest team members, Garth, our Project Manager, and Deon, our Graphic Designer.
The food was excellent, with continental breakfasts daily, an awesome poitjie by Ash, Deon made us some killer omelettes and I must say the pancakes I made on the last morning weren’t too bad either.
All in all an awesome 3 days. Pity we lost the first of the ODI’s against England though…

Barbs

We’re not just colleagues, we’re good mates too and it’s nice to feel part of the team and enjoy yourself with the people you work with – everyone gets on really well.

Garth

The house is amazing, the view, the furniture, the natural surroundings all combine for an awesome experience.
Seeing what the rest of the team are up to, especially our two Brazilian developers (Fernando Tessman and Fernando Dalpiaz), was really nice.
I’m looking forward to the lsdev.biz website redesign, it was good to see the style guides which Ash walked us through to get a glimpse of what’s in store. 
I enjoyed seeing people pairing off and chatting, teaching each other and collaborating.
It was good to chat to everyone and see their processes, work ethic and methods in person rather than over chat rooms and Skype calls.

Ash

I’m glad we outlined what we’ve been working on for last 8 months in terms of our products, demonstrating to entire process from starting designs to code. It gave us the chance to hear questions and input from the team who may have only been seeing it for he first time.
Importantly, we came up with a roadmap for the next 3-6 months – pretty much til year end, setting clear goals.
We did our quarterly KPA reviews with the team where they presented their own review of themselves and helped define their next review period which aligned with everything we discussed while on the retreat. 
It was good to see our processes, and revise them as a team and unit to unify us as a team, as well as to solidify a plan for each team member going forward.

In closing

We spent a great 3 nights together in a gorgeous location, reaffirmed old connections, strengthened new connections, and mustered some inspiration for the coming months. We’re excited for the road ahead, and of course for the next team retreat!