March 30, 2023
We recently introduced something new at 9to5: the 9to5 improvement sessions. We already had iOS, Android, web and backend improvement sessions, where we discuss what can be improved in each area. However, we felt we could gain a lot by doing this company-wide as well. That is why we started these sessions at the beginning of the year, every other month on Tuesdays!
During these sessions, we talk with the whole team about all kinds of different things we can improve within 9to5. To do this in a fun and structured way, we use Parabol. This is a handy tool for facilitating sessions like these. To ensure variety, the questions we use are slightly different each session. Last time, for instance, the questions were as follows:
- Wins: What did we do well, that we should discuss so we don’t forget?
- Learnings: What did we learn?
- Improvements: What should we do differently next time?
- Questions: What still puzzles us?
Everyone prepares the sessions so that we can get the most out of them, leaving more time to discuss the different topics. The nice thing about the platform is that questions can be answered anonymously. This creates a place where everyone feels free to say everything. After everyone fills in answers to the questions, these answers are grouped together and we vote on the topics we want to discuss this session.
Valuable discussions on how to improve processes in our company follow from the sessions, but also appointing who will plan our next team outing and a lot of compliments are handed out. So far, the 9to5 improvement sessions ensure that we go into a new month feeling good. Compliments have been handed out and the first steps towards new improvements have been taken!
