2018 marked the true growth of our team, our project and our responsibilities.
We started off as a team of one, while our founder was doing all the work on his own and we rapidly grew to a team of 12. We now have not only 8 amazing developers, but also a magician designer, a HR and a content creator.
Team growth: +1200 %
We have also increased not only the quality of our work, but also the number of projects we are involved in. We started the year with one project and are now working on 7 projects in total.
Project number growth: +700 %
Code commits: ~4k
Our work has been used and loved by millions of people worldwide. Apple named our main project PlantSnap number 5 top paid app for 2018. We have also worked closely with a team at Apple to bring some major updates such as auto-detect in our camera, and AR. We now also have a dedicated team of android developers, who are bringing our projects to the Google Play store. We are also working on free apps on the Android platform, which helps bring our work to even more people.
iOS downloads: +800 % (~ 1 million total)
Android downloads: +∞ % (~ 7 million total)
We are improving our team spirit and communication efficiency. We started with one seat on a shared table with another company and are now in a cozy closed office for 15:
Slack messages sent: ~50k
Office space changes: 3
Team buildings: 2 (one spa weekend and one escape room contest)
Hackathons: 1
We have made our weekly cooldowns a tradition and are now having fun over something sweet (or salty) every Friday around 15:00. Some have even considered this such a good idea that they started doing it in their teams as well. We finished off the year with a major gift giveaway, where everyone received a shiny new gadget, a secret Santa and a gift treasure hunt for our CEO.
2018 was a great year for all of us, but the more important thing is that during all the changes that happened and all the challenges we faced, we became not only colleagues, but a family. So much was different a year ago, it now seems like another lifetime.
Our main goal for next year is to both grow bigger and to be a better team. We will better plan and organize our work. We will keep learning and push our limits to new frontiers. We will do a better job at understanding our customers and the users of our products. We will be better communicators, more compassionate colleagues. We will look for more ways in which our work can make the lives of those around us that much easier and happier. We will be better leaders, both personally and in our work, because what we do matters and we shouldn’t waste any time doing something, which is not meaningful to us.
If for some reason you didn’t accomplish the things you wanted this past year, cut yourself some slack. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Like we’ve said before – figure out the bottom line and work your way up. Put in more than your usual effort. Think about how your achievements will make not only yours, but the lives of those around you better and more fulfilling. Keep moving forward and you’ll be surprised what can happen in just 12 months!
And one more thing we need to remind ourselves – don’t forget to work on your downtime as well. And we truly understand that this is not something that comes easy. Especially if you’re doing something, you deem important. It’s the end of the holiday season, so try to find time to relax and be around those that are close to you, if you haven’t already. Try to step back and enjoy those precious moments, as they are what gives meaning to what we do professionally.
Goodbye to a lovely 2018 and hello to an even greater 2019! Happy New Year!