“We’re on a boat!” - unattributed quote…overheard by an incidentio in Barcelona.
Last month, the team gathered for our second company offsite in sunny, oceanside Barcelona.
It was a one-week trip full of pool games, paella, sightseeing, and boat rides. In other words, pretty uneventful.
No, but it’s not an exaggeration to say that this was truly one, if not the, most significant moment in the history of incident.io.
Not only did we celebrate growth and success, but we also set the tone for the future with our very first values session—an important milestone for the company. While we will always celebrate things like hiring and hitting goals, our values are what makes everything else possible. More on this in a bit.
Anyway, you may be wondering how exactly the Barcelona offsite played out. So here, I’m going to dive into each of the activities we did in Barcelona and give you a bit of a peek into our values session and what’s on the horizon.
But first, a little backstory.
How we got here
2023 isn’t over, but it’s been an absolute ride so far—in the best way.
We’ve grown quite a bit, sitting at over 50 incidentios, continued our expansion of the NY office, released a brand new Status Pages and Catalog product, and so much more.
Barcelona felt like the perfect venue to celebrate all of these.
“New York..New York” - Frank Sinatra
Back in late August 2022, and coming off the heels of our $34M fundraising round, we decided to open an office in NY.
It was a big deal for us because, up until that moment, our entire team was based in London. But we made a huge bet after realizing a few things, namely that a significant segment of our customer base is in the US.
Closing in on a year later, our NY office has blossomed from one employee to seven—including our CEO, Stephen, who decided to relocate to the US from London to join in on the fun.
And now, the NY office has become a little hub of its own, hosting regular dinners and team socials.
Fun fact: we actually outgrew the office space in the photo above. We now have a much bigger office one floor up.
incident.io all over the world
But our US growth hasn’t been exclusive to NY!
We’re also hired a few folks in San Francisco, Virginia, Boston, and now Denver. Because of this, it’s become that much more critical for us to hold spaces to ensure that everyone feels connected. So do we help facilitate this? Well, a few ways:
- All new joiners go to London for a week to meet the wider team. It’s an opportunity to create bonds with our engineering, customer support, and design folks.
- We have several Slack channels focused on specific interests like #music, #food, #photography, and more. This way, everyone can feel more connected with folks who have shared interests.
- While it’s essential for everyone to feel a part of something despite where they’re based, it’s just as important to make sure those in the same office feel connected. So we regularly hold team dinners and socials, picked by the team, to create spaces for spending time together outside the office.
Status Pages, Catalog, and…👀
On the product side, we released Status Pages and, more recently, Catalog to help truly revolutionize the way organizations manage their incidents.
Both of these releases were months in the making and required so much hard work to get over the finish line.
One thing that these two products highlighted was the growth and maturity of our team.
No two releases are the same, and each is an opportunity to iterate on the last. Status Pages was our first major product since Workflows in September 2022, and the strides we’ve made since then were apparent during the entire build.
From how we communicated cross-functionally to planning, working with design partners, and so much more.
Once Status Pages was out the door, we all collectively said, “that went as well as we could’ve imagined.” Based on how the Catalog launch went, we expect to say the same in a few weeks.
inicidentios take over Barcelona
But what good are accomplishments if you can’t spend a little time celebrating them?
Barcelona was an opportunity to do just that. So we all converged on the coast of Spain with two goals: to celebrate all the strides we’ve made and cement the future of incident.io.
First up, paella!
Day One: Paella competition
In a scene straight out of Iron Chef, the incidentios met at a local event space to throw down their best paella dishes. Split into 6 teams, the goal was simple: to make the best paella with a specific set of ingredients.
The competition was fierce. Teamwork was top-notch. And the stakes were high, with the winning group taking home…well, nothing.
But bragging rights do count for something.
Ultimately, the group voted on the best-tasting dish, and one team came out on top: Team Veggie Paella!
Day Two: Choose your adventure and flamenco
For the second day of the Barcelona offsite, the incidentios chose their adventure: a scenic bike ride around iconic locales, paddleboarding, or a walking tour. But the nighttime activity is when things really came alive.
Meeting at what looked like a castle situated at the top of a scenic hill right outside of downtown Barcelona, the team huddled into an event space with a stage. Before we knew it, three flamenco dancers came out and truly stole the night. There were more “oohs” and “ahhs” than I could possibly count. By the end of the 45-minute performance, everyone was left in awe.
It was a night to remember.
Day Three: Values session
Put bluntly, the final day of our Barcelona offsite was the most transformative day in the history of incident.io. Like many companies, we have a set of values that have existed since day one.
Some of these include working with pace, not taking ourselves too seriously, and a few others.
But some of the values that we had outlined in the early days just weren’t reflective of where we are today.
We’ve grown a lot and have a team spread all over the US and UK. In summary, things are just…different. So we wanted to meet to help codify, clarify and establish a new set of values.
And granted, some of the values we created early on do work in some regard. But they needed a refresh, so to speak.
So that’s what we set out to do. So that Thursday morning, we met in an event space, broke up into groups, and did a ton of activities that helped us get one step closer to incident.io Values 2.0. And while we’re still working on finalizing the new set of values that we decided on that day, we’re really excited to be able to share them with you in due time.
…and the catamaran
What better way to cap off an eventful offsite than by taking a boat around the coast of Bareclona for food, drinks, and good times?
Needless to say, it was a crowd favorite. Just take a look at this drone shot.
I mean..come on!
Celebrating growth, milestones, and us
As you can probably tell by now, Barcelona was nothing short of eventful. But it wasn’t just all fun, games, and tapas (lots of tapas).
We all came together to do some truly transformative work during our values session, and I’m really excited to look back on just how important this entire trip was for us.
And honestly, it’s our great camaraderie that allows us to deliver with pace, focus on our customers, and truly just put our best foot forward every day.
So if you want to join in on the fun and experience things like Bareclona with us, be sure to check out our careers page. We’re hiring for a ton of roles, so you’re bound to see something that piques your interest. And while I have no idea where our next offsite will be, I’m willing to bet that it’ll be a great time. Catamaran or not.
But hopefully catamaran.
