Learning New Techniques
As part of our annual personal development plans, we gather feedback from the DriveWorks team about skills they would like to learn or courses they would like to take part in.
This year, a few of the team mentioned that they would like to attend a project management training course. Glen and Maria felt that a course like that would benefit everyone here, not only to help us to manage our own work projects but also to provide good documentation about how best to manage a DriveWorks project.
So, back in November, the whole DriveWorks team took part in a project management training course. We all learnt a lot and came up with examples of how we would put the techniques learnt to good use in our day to day roles here at DriveWorks.
Christmas Celebrations, DriveWorks Style!
To put the skills we had learnt to the ultimate test, we decided to organise our entire Christmas party.
In previous years we have been to a local hotel and joined a shared Christmas party, all organised by the hotel. All we had to do is dress up, show up, eat good food, drink beer and dance.
This year though, we hired some rural cottages for the weekend. We had an entire weekend away to organise, from Thursday evening to Sunday morning. To do that well we split into 5 different teams:
- Food
- Bar
- Decorations
- Entertainment
- Logistics
Everyone chose which team they wanted to be part of. The company was mixed up and we all got a chance to work alongside different people doing tasks that were very different to our ordinary roles.
Logistics were planning how the team and the equipment would get to the venue, as well as creating rotas for throughout our stay.
The food team calculated quantities and cooking times and gathered preferences and dietary requirements.
The entertainment team came up with quiz questions and awards, gathered props and games and created playlists.
The decorations team got creative, painting a sign, 3D printing keyrings and creating personalised coasters for everyone.
The bar team had the most important job, and they even brewed their own beer, Automation IPA! Each team had thought of every little detail and the weekend was a huge success.
On Thursday evening we arrived at the snowy estate, unpacked, enjoyed a giant lasagne together and had a pretty competitive quiz!
The main event each team was planning for was the Christmas party on Friday evening. After a full day of preparations, we all gathered in the party room to enjoy a delicious meal together, have fun in the photobooth, sing karaoke (some better than others!) and dance until the very early hours of Saturday morning.
It was lots of fun and so rewarding to see all of our planning come together into a brilliant celebration!
We hope you are enjoying the festive season too and we’re looking forward to putting our project management skills to good use again throughout 2018!
Happy holidays everyone, from the DriveWorks team!
