Fnality’s ways of working, based on the agile methodology, mean that we are constantly iterating, feeding back and learning. For our team members, in a practical sense that means that we encourage open and honest feedback, and encourage everyone to develop not just themselves, but also others; introspect and be empowered to make suggestions based on your findings. One way we do this is through our fortnightly sprint retrospectives, where, as part of a cross-functional team, we each discuss what went well and what could have gone better in the previous two-week sprint. This can range from talking about a piece of work not going according to plan, deadlines not being reached, morale being low, or not knowing what steps to take next - or indeed the opposite if we are talking about what went well! In another sense, this is encouraged in our quarterly peer reviews, where those who have worked closest with you will feed back their opinions on your skills and knowledge, and give you positive suggestions for reaching your career goals.
Another way in which we encourage open communication was spurred on by the recent pandemic. As a company we were fearful of the increasingly talked about ‘burnout’ affecting our teammates. While we appreciate everyone working hard, and know that some people cope by throwing themselves into their jobs during difficult times, we actively encourage people to take time off, in particular by introducing ‘wellbeing days.’ Once a quarter, everyone can take a day off without notice if they are feeling overwhelmed or just fancy a break, or this can be booked in advance along with your standard annual leave. We now also have 2 qualified Mental Health First Aiders along with other volunteers who take it upon themselves to have monthly catch-up calls with everyone in the company, giving us all a chance to check in, air problems, discuss anything playing on your mind - anything that can be helped by just having someone to listen.
As we are agile in nature, we have adapted to working from home and have switched to being a remote-first company. That being said, we wanted to continue where we left off back in March 2020 when it comes to socialising as a team and as a company, so in addition to online events (and a lot of quizzes!) we have introduced quarterly company days. These company days - which we call ‘Olympus Day’ - is a chance for everyone to meet in person, sometimes for the first time now that it is deemed safer to do so. That being said, we have accommodated teammates who have chosen to move further afield, so those days are still partly online to make it an even playing field for all. We hope that in the future travel will be much easier and we can at least meet up in person every now and then to create more 3D memories!
