DV Core Value #9: Embrace a Vision, Then See it Through
By Barbara Essien
“Visualize where you want to go, and what you want to accomplish. Then identify what it will take for you to get there, and stick to it until you make it. The steps required to get there may change as you go, so stay flexible. But never lose sight of where you're going and what you're striving towards.”
- Michael Gill
Creative Director
DV’s visionary sets the tone for everyone else in the company. Almost ten years ago he attained an incredible goal. These days he strives to meet new marks with the help of the entire team. To do so, everyone welcomes the vision warmly, then holds close to it as each day brings on new endeavors.
“To embrace a vision one must truly embody the vision in a personal and public way. If you don’t believe in the vision, it will fail. If you don’t show your colleagues/team that you believe in the vision, it will fail.
Embracing a vision means sharing the vision with the team and getting team buy-in so the entire team has a stake of ownership in the vision (no one can accomplish something entirely on their own). So to see a vision through there must be clarity, task specifics, and inclusion of the team.”
- Ryan Greenwald
DV Product Manager
With technology’s ever-growing nature, it’s a must for teams like Dynamic Vision to keep up, and stay up. It’s with drive such a challenge is overcome. It’s with passion the necessary motivation is maintained.
Most of all, it’s with the shared view of a target that encourages high aim that the success of DV is met.
Previous post: Display Passion
“In order to work hard at something, take ownership of it, or have fun doing it, you have to be passionate about it. But having passion is only half of the equation, you have to display it! Show others what you're passionate about and how that impacts you.
Are you an avid bird watcher? Then spam the #random channel in Slack with pictures from your weekend bird-watching excursion. Do you live for musicals? Then cast some to a TV in the office and sing along. Passion is contagious.”
- Michael Gill
Founder & Creative Director
One could wonder if Dynamic Vision always featured certain pastimes. Take ping pong for example. It’s played on a daily basis and it’s not because making it available to the team was a given. It was requested. There are a couple of pro players who happen to also program.
What about yoga? Plenty of articles have surfaced describing the deep breathing, light stretching endeavor being beneficial for office-folk. However, if it wasn’t for one team member expressing her love for it and how much she wanted to share it with the team, there wouldn’t be Namaste Wednesdays in the workspace.
Then there’s music. Walk by the picnic room these days and a mic, speakers and keyboard can be found within because one dev is just that devoted to music.
"Each one of us is truly passionate and invested in the work that we do here. But that passion isn’t simply limited to the work that's required of us in our particular roles at DV. We all have hobbies, talents, or interests that we are invested in away from the office as well.
Display passion is a constant reminder that not only are we allowed to share these interests at work with the team, but we are encouraged to do so. It's great to see joy and passion so proudly displayed around the office each day. It all makes for a very inspiring and creative work environment."
- Aaron Gill
Brand Manager at DV
Games of Rocket League, Call of Duty, Magic the Gathering and even chess take place at DV HQ. All introduced by one team member, and all welcomed by the entire group.
Music, books, movies, breweries, sports or other, if someone has a passion for it, there’s a good chance it will be displayed to then be adopted by the team. It tends to be how the creative juices continue to flow.
Previous post: Make Time For Fun
Written by Barbara Essien
“Work is hard, but it doesn't have to be boring! A big part of working happy is taking time to clear your head and have fun. At DV this is often accomplished through a rousing game of ping-pong, a nostalgic dive into YouTube clips of a TV show from yesteryear, or even a gif-driven tangent on Slack.
We embrace this! Building software is a creative process, and creative processes are not switch-driven linear 4-hour segments of the work day.”
- Michael Gill
Founder & Creative Director
The work environment at Dynamic Vision is a space of many sounds. There is of course the harmony of fingertips dancing atop keyboards. Apart from that, there is the melody of a ping pong ball bouncing from paddle to table to paddle and back. The sonance of the yoga instructor’s voice guiding a developer through sun salutations can be heard at a distance.
Music doesn’t only ring out from the Sonos speakers placed throughout the office, but also in the picnic room where jam sessions are held. And though the vibrations of the PS4 controllers cannot be as easily heard, the good vibes of the players are usually sensed by those around.
“Here at DV we take pride in our work and believe strongly in the “work hard, play hard” motto. After hours of developing application features I enjoy challenging my fellow co-workers to a friendly competition of ping pong, which I am not too shabby in.”
- Victor Cortez
DV Software Engineer
At DV whether a team member has hit a wall, accomplished a task or has been ask to be a friendly opponent, that’s their cue to take the time to have fun. Because all work and no play makes a dev re-read lines of code.
Previous post: Support Your Team
By Barbara Essien
“DV is not a collection of freelancers. We are one team moving in the same direction towards the same goals. We are competing against complacency and division, not each other. If someone asks for help, help them. See someone who's not asking for help? Go ask if you can help them! You may be surprised at the results.”
-Michael Gill
Founder & Creative Director
Teams are not exclusive to athletes. Teamwork appears in various forms. A group of individuals whose efforts are combined so as to reach one goal can perform on a court, in an arena, or at an office.
The office of Dynamic Vision is a place to witness the type of fast break that involves a Technical Lead charging towards a task with a set of skills he shares with a team of developers. They weave together the code. They layup a finished product. There’s another group that will receive a request from a customer who punts it their way. A catch is made and they take off! The team’s Scrum Master - like the good defense he is - doesn’t let anyone get near the programmers, allowing them a “touchdown” come the end of their Sprint.
“Support Your Team means lending a helping hand, offering encouragement, providing a space for others to discover their skill strengths and passions, and celebrating and respecting various personalities and work styles.
At DV, we thrive when we support one another. That realization that together we stand and divided we fall, is what compels us to rely on each other to reach our goals day in and day out. Believing that everyone has something of value to contribute to the team is part of who we are as a company.”
- Kianna Gill
Logistics Coordinator at DV
Even when an endeavor doesn’t involve the entire team, a member can rest assured there’s a lineup cheering them on from the sidelines. As Kianna states, there are many ways to Support Your Team, and with the array of individuals at DV, the varieties are endless.
Previous post: Work Until You’re Proud
DV Core Value #3: Create Something Great, but Never Call it Great
Written by Barbara Essien
“Great is relative. At DV we believe the best approach is to do your best work, then let the customer decide whether it's great or not. If they say it's great, congrats! Now challenge yourself to make something for the harder-to-please customer. If they say it's not great, don't insist that it is. Use it as motivation to push yourself to making a better product.”
- Michael Gill
DV Founder & Creative Director
A part of Dynamic Vision’s mission is to, “make great software.” To the team, that’s a given. Albeit, the creative process comes with both success and failure.
What’s expressed when either outcome surfaces is a nod of acknowledgement, followed by the switch of a gear to continue to turn the wheels of great minds. While these minds may be great, it is left to the product to impress its user.
“Greatness should be found in every aspect of every part of everything we do. The tiniest pieces of a rocket are what allows us to reach Mars. Continuous observations about the rough seas around it add up to a ship that avoids the storm and makes its destination.
People aren't watching what we do at every moment, we're the only ones who know that we're always doing our best work. Be mindful, present, and aware of what you create. No need to tout your own greatness, that's a missed opportunity to be doing more great things. After all, if it's not great, what is it?”
- Brian Hubbell
Senior Software Engineer & Lead Architect at DV
The group of creatives that make up team DV enjoy building, revel in problem solving, and excel at learning from mistakes. What’s more is the team’s ability to tally greatness rather than talk about it. They happen to be too busy enjoying the work they do to stop and tell the next person just how awesome their work actually is.
Previous post: Work Hard, Work Happy
“Hard work is rewarding. The sense of accomplishment and self worth that come along with working hard can't be denied. DV focuses a lot of time and energy on creating an environment that makes even hard work fun, and surrounds you with people that can't help but enjoy what they do for a living.”
- Michael Gill
DV Founder & Creative Director
To work with like-minded individuals, is to work with friends, the kind of friends that are there to tell a joke so bad, it defaults to being funny. This is how Dynamic Vision operates.
Even when a task is daunting, tedious or just downright all-consuming, smiles happen to break loose, laughter creeps out between breaths, and on occasion a game of doubles ping-pong becomes an essential part of the process.
“What’s awesome about DV is that the idea of working hard can coexist with the idea of being happy at work. To begin with, our team is filled with some of the best people you’ll ever meet that have a passion to learn but also understand that learning takes some hard work. So naturally DV as a whole would embrace a work hard mentality.
Add on top of that, the free-spiritedness of our culture and environment and you have a unique vibe at DV that encourages you to tackle any obstacle that confronts you all while supporting one another and loving what you do. I believe this is what is meant by our core value: Work Hard, Work Happy.”
- Mike Cebrera
DV Software Engineer
At Dynamic Vision the method to the madness is really a making of the most. Team members make the best of their situations. With that, the most becomes of DV’s products.
The team is here with a purpose and an intention to do great work and reap the pleasures of play. As a result, team DV works hard all while working happily.
