#dynamic vision

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DV Core Value #10: Try Until You Fail

Written by Barbara Essien “Beware of the safe zone! The word "try" implies a level of uncertainty in the plausibility of the outcome. A fish doesn't try to swim, it just does! The only way to know the limits to what you can accomplish is to continually try to reach the next level.” - Michael Gill Creative Director

The past few months at Dynamic Vision has brought on the gradual adoption of Agile-Scrum. With that, the team adheres to empiricism which, “asserts that knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is known.”  It’s a great way to make gains via trial and error. The different DV teams don’t decline an idea or effort unless it’s been given a shot and proves itself to be ineffective. However, this is only one of the many ways DV exemplifies the value, Try Until You Fail. “To me it is all about testing yourself beyond your comfort zone. It's about pushing yourself to find your limits and even then working towards extending your limits. Try until you fail means to try doing something new even if you know you aren't good at it. Then work towards getting good at it. Once you’re comfortable move on to the next endeavor. I think it goes in-line with one of my favorite quotes. ‘Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?’  - Robert Browning In many ways I've lived by that quote, and in a way always trying until I fail.” - Eduardo Quiroz Software Engineer & Mobile App Developer

Success credits shortcomings and the many aims that never lead to a bullseye. Therefore, it’s to be expected that each time team DV tries, and every time they fail, a product is becoming that much better. “There is no failure except in no longer trying.” - Chris Bradford Previous post: Embrace a Vision, Then See it Through

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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

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DV Core Value #7: 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

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DV Core Value #6: 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

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DV Core Value #5: Work Until You’re Proud

Written by Barbara Essien

“We all want to be proud of what we've done. In order to get there, we have to first do something that we can be proud of. The satisfaction of doing your best work translates into confidence that is contagious amongst your team and our customers.”

- Michael Gill DV Founder and Creative Director

The word “work”, at times, can have a negative connotation. However, team members at Dynamic Vision fall upon the positive side of work. This is due to the engagement in their efforts. Pride is brewed from their passion which is displayed via their achievements. 

The case where a goal has be reached is one that sheds light on the addition made by the responder to the original request. To work until you’re proud is the following: 

“It means that you can only get the true satisfaction of your work when you know that you’ve gone the extra mile to do the best you could, even if it was not necessary.”

- Sergey Kravchenko DV Software Engineer

However daunting that extra mile is, to arrive at a destination beyond the initial checkpoint is to welcome a new sense of fulfillment. The gratification soon turns into the motivation to reach yet another goal. It’s the nature of team DV, and it’s showcased in the team’s ever-progressing products. Previous post: Take Ownership

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DV Core Value #4: Take Ownership

Written by Barbara Essien

“DV expects everyone on the team to take pride and ownership in their role within the company. You are a member of this team for a reason. You bring a variety of skills and potential to this team that empower you to reach that next goal. This is your company, this is your team, these are your goals. See something that needs to be done? Do it! See something you don't like? Change it!” - Michael Gill DV Founder & Creative Director

Team members at Dynamic Vision have personal and professional goals. However, the collection of the lot of those desired achievements can be regarded as DV’s mission in its entirety. It has been proven that each team member brings something unique to the table. 

When one contribution is put into a melting pot of others, incredible results follow. These outcomes tend to be solidified when an individual holds close to their commitments, yet share their passion for the work that went into a task.

“To me, take ownership is about allowing your passion (who you are) to combine with your work (what you do). Everyone at DV puts a piece of themselves into what they are working on, and can have that ownership when they look at that project and see their talents in its reflection.”

- Austin Harris DV Software Engineer

There happens to be wonder in the work done by team DV. A myriad of skills, ideas, conversations, contributions, support systems, tasks, shoutouts, meetings, pushes, pulls, jokes, gifs, resources, emojis, challenges, breaks, breakthroughs and triumphs bring products to life. Their existence comes from the team players who own up to what’s novel about them, who then supply the work with something extraordinary shared by the team. Previous post: Create Something Great, but Never Call it Great

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DV Core Value #2: Work Hard, Work Happy

Written by Barbara Essien

“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.

Previous post: Stay Humble

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DV Core Value #1: Stay Humble

Written by Barbara Essien

“It's said that humility isn't thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. Focus more of your time on how you can help others on your team. Had a recent success? That's great! Now share with others on your team how you achieved that success and help empower them to achieve a success of their own. 

Once you've begun focusing on others, there is less pressure to present yourself in a certain way and you free yourself up to take risks. You'll have more courage to try new things, because you're not paralyzed with a fear of failure.”

- Michael Gill DV Founder & Creative Director

In the office, words expressed by each team member have never come together in a boast, they don’t sum up to self-declared announcements of awesomeness; actions don’t even come off too proud. Instead colleagues smile at one another when they recognize greatness. 

Small show-and-tell sessions of the path to success take place; heads nod, light bulbs go off and high-fives go around. At Dynamic Vision, the first core value - Stay Humble - is naturally displayed by each individual.

“I think humility is important because it means putting others' needs above your own; it means admitting when you make mistakes and not pretending to have all of the answers. It creates an open and collaborative work environment where people aren’t afraid of failure.”

- Caleb Naess DV Software Engineer

One developer will happily mentor another. That mentee will still offer up to the team an idea, resource or helping hand, because humility overrules ego everyday at DV. It’s just as important to a team member to acknowledge the achievement of another person as it would be for someone to recognize them. It is second nature for the team to exchange experiences so as to excel together. Cycles like these exist in the work environment as Dynamic Vision’s own circles of life. It’s with the modesty of each team member that brings a great product to fruition.