Today’s demo was exciting.

At BigDoor, the developers (myself included) demo to the entire company everything we worked on during last week’s sprint. 

Honestly it’s one of my favorite parts of the job. We move so fast that the demo has become a greatest hits list of killer features that makes our platform so great.

With so many awesome things coming down the pipe weekly, we set the bar pretty high. So to demo something truly impressive it’s got to break the mold of normal awesome and become uber awesome.

Today, Harley Holt gave us that opportunity.

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One of the things I really like about working at BigDoor is just how right on our culture can feel at times.

Last week’s development sprint was a good one. The team cranked out a ton of quality code in a short period of time.

As we reflected back on the body of work the team decided I should wear “the horns” - some stupid hat that’s recently become a badge of honor.

No one told us that we needed a badge of honor. The team created the idea organically, because it just felt like the the right thing to do.

In other words, we celebrate our wins.

In terms of culture, it doesn’t get much more right than that.

Ultimately that dinky little hat means very little. It’s hard to wear headphones around it and it itches. But for the team it signals a job well done and the camaraderie the goes with it.

Do the right thing, and celebrate your wins!*

*hat optional

As someone who doesn’t blog constantly and who typically keep ideas as close to his chest as possible, I’m going to try something fairly bold.

Transparency. (Cue the dramatic music) 

Back when I was a working journalist, Steve Smith, Editor-in-Chief of The Spokesman-Review at the time, pushed transparency hard. The newsroom even had a live webcam for anyone to spy in on our meetings.

Likewise at BigDoor transparency is key once again. Every document created is accessible by anyone in the company. Numbers, facts and figures flow throughout the office for anyone to take advantage. 

It’s a breath of fresh honest air.

But the simple truth is I adore transparency, but never practice it myself.

Then a few weeks ago Brad Feld, one of BigDoor’s investors, came by the office. He dished out wisdom like he was chewing bubble gum.

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Just days ago Matt Shobe, BigDoor’s Chief Design Officer, myself and an ad hoc team of talented individuals were knee deep in code developing a new mobile music app in one weekend.

This was the challenge Startup Weekend proposed to developers, designers, marketers and project managers alike – build and demo a product in less than 54 hours.

It was the pace of a startup, times two, then condensed into one weekend. Sleep was a luxury, and time was our greatest enemy.

The goal was to get something working ASAP. Each team was aiming to build a prototype fast, then iterate on their idea.

In an environment like this you reach for your bag of tricks. Whatever your background you’ll enviably go with what you know will get the job done fast.

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