We’ve devoted the week of August twenty second to a model new inner initiative referred to as Construct Week. We’ll all be placing apart our common work for a single week to come back collectively in small teams and work on concepts that may profit prospects or us as an organization, ideally with one thing of worth shipped or in place by the tip.
The inspiration for Construct Week
Earlier than constructing Buffer, I had a number of formative experiences attending “construct a startup in a weekend”-type occasions.
Two I attended had been run by Launch48, and one other was Startup Weekend. Anybody might signal as much as attend it doesn’t matter what ability set or expertise degree they’d convey. So long as you had been prepared to roll up your sleeves, construct one thing, and contribute in any manner, you’d be very welcome.
The main target was on constructing one thing quickly from finish to finish, inside the area of a weekend. Groups can be capped to a small quantity, round three to 5 individuals per workforce, so the teams might transfer shortly with resolution making. As soon as the groups had been fashioned, you’d get to work and begin doing analysis, constructing, and advertising (usually all in parallel) to maneuver as quick as potential in constructing a minimal viable product and attaining a degree of validation.
On the finish of the weekend, groups would current what they achieved, what they validated, and what they discovered.
By means of these occasions, I met individuals, fashioned sturdy bonds, and stayed in touch for years with them afterward. Some groups even grew to become startups. It felt like extremely accelerated studying, and it was intense however enjoyable, very energizing and galvanizing.
I’ve been desirous about how this might translate to Buffer and why it will be so highly effective for us in our present season, which is the place Construct Week is available in.
What’s Construct Week?
Construct Week is per week at Buffer the place we’ll type groups, work with individuals we don’t sometimes work with, and work collectively on an thought we really feel referred to as in direction of.
The very best degree targets of Construct Week are to inject into the corporate and workforce a spirit of delivery, creativity, and innovation, making progress and selections quickly, consolation with uncertainty, and in the end going from thought to usable worth out on the planet within the area of per week.
In relation to the kind of tasks we’ll work on and the ability units required to perform them, the aim is for these to be far-reaching. Whereas it might look like Construct Week can be extra suited to engineers particularly, our aim is to attain the result that everybody realizes they’re and generally is a Builder.
Finally, being a Builder in Buffer Construct Week will imply that you’re a part of a workforce that efficiently makes a change that brings worth, and it occurs within the quick interval of per week. Everybody on the workforce has one thing to convey to this aim, and I am excited by the varied tasks that will probably be labored on.
How we’re approaching Construct Week
With our high-level imaginative and prescient and concepts for Construct Week, a number of months in the past we set to work to convey this idea to life and make it occur.
The very first thing we did was type a workforce to plan and design Construct Week itself. Staying true to our imaginative and prescient for Construct Week itself, the place we need to have small groups of people that don’t usually work collectively, that is additionally how we approached forming the Construct Week Planning workforce. With this workforce in place, we began assembly weekly. Total, it has been a small time dedication of 45 minutes per week to plan and design Construct Week. As we acquired nearer to the precise week, we began assembly for longer and having actual working periods.
Our closing design for Construct Week consisted of three key phases: Concept Gathering, Crew Formation and Construct Week.
For the Concept Gathering stage, we created a Trello board the place anybody within the workforce might contribute an thought. We used voting and commenting on the playing cards, which helped slender the concepts to those who can be labored on throughout Construct Week. We gave individuals just a few days to submit concepts and acquired 78 whole contributions. This was an enormous win and a transparent indication of an enormous urge for food for Construct Week inside the firm.
The Crew Formation stage was a trickier downside to resolve and decide the method for. Initially, we had hoped that this may very well be fully natural, with individuals gravitating in direction of an thought and becoming a member of up with people who find themselves additionally excited to work on that concept. Finally, we realized that if we approached it this fashion, we’d possible wrestle with our aim of getting individuals work with people they don’t usually work with, and we wouldn’t have sufficient management over different features, such because the time zones inside every workforce. All of this might jeopardize the success of Construct Week itself. So we arrived at a hybrid, the place we created a Google Type for individuals to submit their high 3 decisions of concepts they’d prefer to work on. With that data, we decided the groups and made each effort to place individuals in a workforce they’d put down as a selection.
And the ultimate stage is, after all, Construct Week itself! The groups have now been fashioned, and we created a Slack channel for every workforce to start out organizing themselves. We’re offering some very light-weight steerage, and we may have just a few required deliverables, however aside from that, we’re leaving it to every workforce to find out one of the simplest ways to work collectively to create worth through the week.
Should you’re a Buffer buyer, one small word that as we embrace this company-wide occasion and time collectively, we will probably be shifting our focus barely away from the help inbox. We’ll nonetheless be responding to your questions and issues with Buffer; nevertheless, we could also be barely slower than typical. We additionally will not be publishing any new content material on the weblog. We’re assured that this time for the workforce to bond and construct varied tasks of worth will in the end profit all Buffer prospects.
Why proper now’s the time for Construct Week at Buffer
2020 has been a unique yr for Buffer. We’re able of flatter to declining income, and we’ve been working onerous to search out our path again to wholesome, sustainable development. One key aspect of this effort has been actively embracing being a smaller firm. We’re nonetheless a small firm, and we serve small companies. Except we lean into this, we are going to lose a lot of our benefits.
We need to drive extra connection throughout the workforce in a time the place we’ve felt it missing for the previous couple of years. Whereas we’ve been distant for many of our 11+ years of existence, we’ve all the time discovered a ton of worth from firm retreats the place all of us meet in individual, and we’ve suffered through the pandemic the place we’ve not been capable of have these occasions. Construct Week is a chance for us to try this with a complete new idea and occasion somewhat than attempting to do it with one thing like a digital retreat which might possible by no means be capable of dwell as much as our earlier retreat experiences.
There’s an enormous alternative for exchanging context and concepts of present Buffer challenges inside groups the place the groups are cross-functional and with individuals who don’t usually work collectively. This might assist us for months afterward.
Construct Week may also be a time the place sturdy bonds, each in work and personally, are fashioned. My dream can be that after Construct Week, individuals inside their groups hit one another up in Slack and leap on a spontaneous catch-up name from time to time as a result of they’ve turn out to be shut through the week.
We’ve had engineering hack weeks for a very long time now. These have been superior of their manner, however they’ve been very contained to engineering. And whereas these occasions created plenty of worth, they usually lacked views that might have enhanced the work, corresponding to buyer advocacy, design, tradition, or operational views.
As an organization, we need to problem a few of the processes we’ve constructed up over the previous few years. Construct Week is sort of a clean canvas – we filter out a complete week after which diligently resolve what we want by way of construction and course of to make this idea thrive and no extra. This may act as inspiration for us going ahead, the place we will use the week for instance of rethinking course of and questioning the methods we do issues.
The chance that comes with Construct Week
If we’re profitable with Construct Week, I’m assured that we’ll shock ourselves with simply how a lot worth is created by the entire firm in that one week alone. In embracing being a small firm, we’re at present striving to problem ourselves by shifting at a sooner tempo with out over-working. I believe that is potential, and the utterly totally different nature of how we work collectively in Construct Week might give us concepts for what we will alter to work extra successfully and productively collectively in our common move of labor.
The chance for worth creation inside Construct Week goes far past product options or enhancements. Construct Week will probably be a time for us to construct something that serves both prospects or the workforce in pursuit of our imaginative and prescient and mission, or strengthens and upholds our values. We are able to stretch ourselves within the potentialities – there may very well be a advertising marketing campaign, a knowledge report, bettering an present course of within the firm, rethinking our instruments, creating a brand new aspect of transparency, bringing our prospects collectively, and so forth.
Want us luck!
I imagine Construct Week might be one of the enjoyable, high-energy weeks we’ve had in years. I anticipate we will come out of the week on a excessive that may gas us with motivation and delight of our work for months. That could be a worthy aim and one thing I believe we will obtain with just a little creativity and the suitable group of individuals designing and planning the occasion.
After all, a part of the great thing about Construct Week itself is that identical to all of the concepts and the liberty to decide on how you’re employed in a workforce, we don’t know all the pieces we’ll be taught as an organization by doing this. It may very well be chaotic, there may very well be challenges, and there’ll undoubtedly be many insights, however we will probably be higher off for having gone via the method.
Please want us all luck as we head into subsequent week. There’s plenty of pleasure within the firm to create worth. We hope to have new options to share with you within the coming weeks, and we’ll be again quickly with a submit sharing the way it went.
Have you ever tried one thing like Construct Week earlier than? In that case, how did it go? I’d love to listen to from you on Twitter.
