How We’re Creating Intentional Moments

One of the realities of working at Springbach is that we don't all work in the same office. In fact, most of us don't even work in the same state, and some not even in the same country.

Our team is fully remote, and many of our consultants spend their days embedded with client teams. While that flexibility allows us to work with incredible organizations across the globe, it also means that connection doesn't happen by accident.

If we want to build relationships, celebrate wins, and create memorable experiences, we have to be intentional about it. Over the past year, we've been reminded that some of the most meaningful moments happen when people make the effort to come together.

Bringing the Team Together

Earlier this year, Mike, one of our Scrum Master consultants, traveled to Boston to spend time with his client team in person. While almost all of their work happens virtually, there is something valuable about sharing the same space that don't always fit neatly into a video call. Those face-to-face moments help strengthen the trust that makes great teamwork possible long after everyone returns home.

Around the same time, Holly traveled to New York for another Program Increment (PI) Planning event with her team. PI Planning is an important opportunity to align teams around priorities and commitments, but it's also a chance to reconnect with colleagues, build new relationships, and reinforce the partnerships that make successful execution possible.

Our Annual Team Offsite

While our client teams may get opportunities to connect in person throughout the year, there is one intentional moment we make sure happens for our entire Springbach team: our annual team offsite.

Once a year, we step away from our day-to-day work and come together in person. It's a chance to reflect on the year behind us, talk about where we're headed, learn together, and spend time with teammates we may otherwise only see on a screen. Our offsites aren't just about strategy and workshops, either. Some of the most valuable moments happen between the agenda items—over meals, during activities, in conversations that continue after a meeting has ended, or simply laughing together.

For a fully remote team, those moments help turn coworkers who may live thousands of miles apart into people who know, trust, and genuinely enjoy working with one another.

Celebrating Outside of Work

Intentional moments aren't only about client work. Sometimes, they're about knowing when it's time to stop working.

Our teams can be very busy, so Mike (clearly a master of bringing people together!) decided to build in a little incentive to pause. His message to his team was simple: if they finished their feature on time, they were all stepping away and having some fun.

Which is exactly what they did.

Their reward was The Ultimate Virtual Murder Mystery Team Challenge, bringing together their team members that were spread across five different time zones. For a team that spends most of its time focused on features, priorities, and deadlines, it was a chance to step away from the work, laugh together, and connect in a completely different way.

Holiday Surprise

Sometimes connection comes in much smaller ways—and begins with our Springbach team, not just our client teams.

One of our favorite traditions each year is Christmas Elfing. A few of our team members get together, despite the distance between them, to prepare Christmas gifts for each team member from Shelley.

Sending out packages during one Elfing session!

It's simple, but it's one of those traditions everyone looks forward to. It creates moments of joy for the people involved and reminds everyone that someone is thinking about them during the holiday season—even from hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Connection Doesn't Just Happen

Whether it's traveling across the country for PI Planning, spending time with a client team in person, gathering for our annual offsite, hosting a virtual pizza party, or "elfing" for our home team, these moments all have one thing in common: they're intentional.

It's easy to think culture is something that just exists. But we've learned that great cultures are built one conversation, one celebration, and one shared experience at a time.

As a remote company, we know we can’t rely on watercooler conversations or chance encounters to create connection. We have to make space for it.

And when we do, the relationships we build become just as valuable as the work we deliver.