Hookdeck's First Team Retreat

This year, Hookdeck decided to do a team retreat and focus on one thing: getting to know each other and bonding as coworkers. We believe in remote-first work and all of the advantages and freedom it brings, but part of being a distributed team means we rarely spend in-person time together. So we piled into our cars and met up to enjoy some activities that just hit different IRL. Yes, we also did our business visions and team workshops too, but let's focus on the getting-to-know-each-other bit.🙂

Follow me through a recap of Hookdeck’s first retreat!

How did we spend our time?

We rented a cottage on the recommendation of a friend, and it ended up being a bit big for a team of 6 but how could we complain? There was a jacuzzi, a spa, a river we could swim in, darts and a pool table — basically, amenities on amenities.

Over the next 3 days (which flew by too fast), the team did quite a few things!

Cooking

We divided our group into teams of 2, and each team was responsible for taking care of the food for a day. Something we all have in common is our love of good food, and cooking together was also a great way to get to know each other better.

Alex and I managed the morning brunch and grocery haul, Felix and Val treated us with raclette and sous-vide salmon, and Troy and Maurice prepared steak and the coolest dessert I’ve ever had.

Dessert recipe

I know this isn’t a food blog, but if you need an idea to surprise friends or significant others, **we have one.** All you need is fondue chocolate, fruit, honey (we were spoiled by Troy’s homemade), whipped cream, and wax paper.

On a long piece of wax paper, let your inner artist come out and express yourself by drizzling a fun pattern of melted chocolate. Add the cream, fruit, honey, and whatever else you want (pretzels, nuts, etc.), and enjoy the sweetness overload!

Group activities

Mountain biking

The team got on electric mountain bikes and ripped a few trails to let out some energy. As you can see, we got caught in the rain but that only made the experience more memorable.

Thank you to Bikeskills and Rocky Mountain for organizing an wonderful adventure.

Games

We had a few friendly games throughout the week (definitely took advantage of the amenities). We played around with board games, pool, VR, even troubleshooting the vinyl machine (engineers…). I very meticulously counted points for the overall ranking (just a bit), so let’s shout out Val, Troy, and Felix for their ducky trophies.🦆

Chilling

At the end of it all, what’s better than taking the time to relax and chat? By the fire, in the jacuzzi, or (even especially) in the freezing river were all prime chilling spots, and it was fun to enjoy our down time together.

Conclusion

We came in with the intention of connecting more with the team, and we left more bonded and eager to tackle the challenges ahead together (I told you we still did our vision and team workshops!).

I’m truly grateful and lucky to be part of a team that’s interesting, curious, mindful, honest, and most of all authentic. I’m looking forward to our next retreat.

Next year, our retreat will be bigger as we are currently expanding the team! Want to help us build a future where devs are free of the needless complexities of asynchronous event-based communication? Well what are you waiting for — join us! Check out our open positions here.