Codurance Spain first Open Space in 2022

A few days ago we held the first face-to-face and post-pandemic Open Space. We were looking forward to meeting in person and spending a day together to share experiences, useful topics, interesting subjects to improve our skills and, above all, to see each other and enjoy a day in good company.

We are growing and these types of activities help us foster team cohesion and nurture the culture of professionalism and pragmatism that we aim to spread. Several new professionals have joined the team in Spain and help us to fulfil our mission: to raise the level of the industry through Software Craftsmanship and the values of collaboration and continuous learning. For this reason, we felt it was essential to have a quality time to meet, share ideas and build the kind of trust that will help our organisational culture grow and engage as a group.

The open space is a very unique event format, in which the content is created by all participants and you can choose the session you want to attend, depending on the topic you are interested in.

These are some of the topics discussed at the event: 

• How to start a development project to make it successful?
• Microservices vs. monolith
• Digital carbon footprint
• Ham and butter: techniques for memory training
• Debate: pyramid testing
• Hotkeys tricks
• Context switch
• Let's talk about DB
• Cloud for dummies
• Lighting talks
• Web security
• Block chain for dummies
• Craftsperson principles
• Speech building structure
• Codifying Codurancers's DNA

"It is a format that invites people to participate, there's very good vibe and a lot of knowledge, which is what we have in Codurance"

Rubén Recio - Principal Craftsperson

These were our three takeaways from the event: 

1. We like to address technical topics but also other subjects related to soft skills which we find equally interesting. Enriching our technical knowledge is as important to us as growing personally, learning keys to communicate, develop as a team and relate to each other through assertiveness, empathy, honesty and companionship.

2. Open Space methodology makes it possible for the tracks to be fluid, entertaining and enjoyable. It also promotes openness and respect for individual interests as it allows you to choose the session that best suits what you would like to learn or discuss and, if you don't find what you are looking for, you can propose a topic of your interest so that others can participate in the discussion with you. As its name suggests, it is an open space, where doubts, questions and advice are welcome. 

3. We need to see each other more often, because remote is great and it's the way we want to keep working, but we are growing a lot and it's important and necessary to have spaces where we can interact face-to-face to maintain cohesion and identity. We are social people, so sharing ideas face to face, discussing topics that interest us or simply sharing a hug is part of what helps us to feel united and gives us a sense of belonging. 

Before concluding the meeting, we shared values that are essential to us personally and as a team: transparency and honesty in our daily work, empathy and companionship based on continuous collaboration, and respect and professionalism to fulfil our tasks in pursuit of excellence.

As we will continue to grow, we are committed to hold the next Open Space in a few months after the summer. At that meeting we will share and reorder these values so that all of us, as a group, agree to work under principles that identify us. Maybe you can already participate in that session because you are part of the team. 😉