One of the cultural principles we have adopted is to periodically re-examine our assumptions and the purposes and reasons behind our choices. So naturally, we have taken the time to think about what exactly we want to achieve from this fairly significant allocation of our shared effort.
The investment time afternoons allow our team members opportunities to develop their skills, and scratch “technical itches” by exploring interesting topics, learning about new technologies and potentially building or improving Katalyst internal tools. Junior developers or “new to Katalyst” seniors can pair with more experienced peers to help bring themselves up to speed with the tooling, processes and expectations that comprise the “way of working” within our organisation.
Essentially, it helps our diverse group to learn practical skills from each other, spread the culture of excellence, and get to know each other. And the improvements that we have observed in team cohesion and the ease with which we all work together have been clear and obvious.