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 return 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 stage they might carry. So long as you had been prepared to roll up your sleeves, construct one thing, and contribute in any method, you’d be very welcome.
The main focus 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 rapidly with determination making. As soon as the groups had been shaped, you’d get to work and begin doing analysis, constructing, and advertising (typically all in parallel) to maneuver as quick as attainable in constructing a minimal viable product and reaching a stage of validation.
On the finish of the weekend, groups would current what they achieved, what they validated, and what they realized.
By way of these occasions, I met individuals, shaped sturdy bonds, and stayed involved for years with them afterward. Some groups even turned startups. It felt like extremely accelerated studying, and it was intense however enjoyable, very energizing and provoking.
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 every week at Buffer the place we’ll kind groups, work with individuals we don’t usually work with, and work collectively on an concept we really feel referred to as in direction of.
The best stage targets of Construct Week are to inject into the corporate and workforce a spirit of transport, creativity, and innovation, making progress and selections quickly, consolation with uncertainty, and finally going from concept to usable worth out on the planet within the area of every week.
With regards to the kind of initiatives we’ll work on and the ability units required to perform them, the aim is for these to be far-reaching. Whereas it might appear to be Construct Week can be extra suited to engineers particularly, our aim is to attain the end 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 brief interval of every week. Everybody on the workforce has one thing to carry to this aim, and I am excited by the assorted initiatives that will likely 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 carry this idea to life and make it occur.
The very first thing we did was kind 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 classes.
Our last design for Construct Week consisted of three key levels: Concept Gathering, Workforce Formation and Construct Week.
For the Concept Gathering stage, we created a Trello board the place anybody within the workforce might contribute an concept. We used voting and commenting on the playing cards, which helped slim the concepts to those who can be labored on throughout Construct Week. We gave individuals a couple of days to submit concepts and obtained 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 Workforce Formation stage was a trickier downside to resolve and decide the method for. Initially, we had hoped that this could possibly be completely natural, with individuals gravitating in direction of an concept 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 might possible battle with our aim of getting individuals work with of us 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 Kind for individuals to submit their prime 3 selections of concepts they’d wish to work on. With that info, 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 shaped, and we created a Slack channel for every workforce to begin organizing themselves. We’re offering some very light-weight steering, and we could have a couple of required deliverables, however apart from that, we’re leaving it to every workforce to find out one of the best ways to work collectively to create worth throughout the week.
For those who’re a Buffer buyer, one small be aware that as we embrace this company-wide occasion and time collectively, we will likely be shifting our focus barely away from the assist inbox. We are going to nonetheless be responding to your questions and issues with Buffer; nonetheless, we could also be barely slower than traditional. 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 numerous initiatives of worth will finally profit all Buffer prospects.
Why proper now’s the time for Construct Week at Buffer
2020 has been a distinct 12 months for Buffer. We’re ready of flatter to declining income, and we’ve been working laborious to seek out our path again to wholesome, sustainable development. One key factor of this effort has been actively embracing being a smaller firm. We’re nonetheless a small firm, and we serve small companies. Until 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 throughout the pandemic the place we’ve not been capable of have these occasions. Construct Week is a chance for us to try this with an entire new idea and occasion quite than making an attempt to do it with one thing like a digital retreat which might possible by no means have the ability to reside 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 shaped. My dream can be that after Construct Week, individuals inside their groups hit one another up in Slack and soar on a spontaneous catch-up name now and again as a result of they’ve change into shut throughout the week.
We’ve had engineering hack weeks for a very long time now. These have been superior of their method, however they’ve been very contained to engineering. And whereas these occasions created loads of worth, they typically lacked views that might have enhanced the work, reminiscent of buyer advocacy, design, tradition, or operational views.
As an organization, we need to problem a number of the processes now we have constructed up over the previous few years. Construct Week is sort of a clean canvas – we filter out an entire week after which diligently resolve what we’d like when it comes to construction and course of to make this idea thrive and no extra. This will act as inspiration for us going ahead, the place we are able to 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 the moment striving to problem ourselves by shifting at a quicker tempo with out over-working. I feel that is attainable, and the utterly completely different nature of how we work collectively in Construct Week might give us concepts for what we are able to regulate to work extra successfully and productively collectively in our common circulation of labor.
The chance for worth creation inside Construct Week goes far past product options or enhancements. Construct Week will likely 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 will stretch ourselves within the prospects – there could possibly be a advertising marketing campaign, a knowledge report, bettering an current course of within the firm, rethinking our instruments, creating a brand new factor of transparency, bringing our prospects collectively, and so forth.
Want us luck!
I consider Construct Week will be some of the enjoyable, high-energy weeks we’ve had in years. I count on we are able to come out of the week on a excessive that may gasoline us with motivation and delight of our work for months. That may be a worthy aim and one thing I feel we are able to obtain with slightly 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 the whole lot we’ll be taught as an organization by doing this. It could possibly be chaotic, there could possibly be challenges, and there’ll undoubtedly be many insights, however we will likely be higher off for having gone by way of the method.
Please want us all luck as we head into subsequent week. There’s loads 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 put up 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.
