We doubled in size last year. So 2x the people; 2x the costs; 2x the gross revenue; 2x the complexity of problems.

In order to maintain the growth, we recognize that  professional development is now part of our culture.

One thing we did poorly last year was not structure professional development for people who want to move up the company. People who stayed with us for a few years were starting to ask  “How do I advance here?” or “What’s the next step for me to move up the ever-lengthening corporate ladder ?” We were so busy hiring and *GSD’ing that we neglected that people want a career path. Such an obvious mistake, looking back.

• At the end of last year/early this year we gathered goals from all the employees and are creating career paths for our people.
• We’re creating Hackathons for our teams to collaborate with each other, especially people they normally wouldn’t work with.
• We’re creating a D&T library and forming groups to read through management books, leadership books, and other company-fostering books.

It’s hopefully the bedrock of the next phase in D&T culture – one where we all now collaborate to become a better, more-professional, organization. It’s a step away from the old days, where we’d go out as a team to the local pub after a hard day’s work. Now we’re trying to improve each other materially.

If anyone has ideas on new initiatives we should include @ D&T feel free to contact me via the comments, or in my email tom@domandtom.com

*GSD’ing means “getting stuff done”