Staying connected is important. Especially within a growing organization. Globally across geographies, between different entities and connected within a team; it's not always easy to connect. Especially if everyone is also spread across different clients and assignments. COVID-19 showed how normal it is for us to stay in touch, share knowledge and keep an interest in each other, since the pandemic made the sudden lack of all those things extremely tangible. Sure, we started doing our meetings online. But those tended to be ‘strictly business’.
Some time ago, during one of the lockdowns, Xebia introduced a bot on the Xebia Slack: the ‘Donut’. Donut is friendly, always awake and in a good mood. Subscribing to the Donut randomly connects you to a co-worker periodically.
Regardless of team, organization, or role. This is a really easy way to get in touch with someone new, or someone you haven't talked to for a while, and engage in a virtual coffee (15 minutes, 30 minutes). Just to have a casual chat. Whaddayaknow, a virtual meeting without any agenda; just a chat! Numerous examples exist where this led to a nice deal for a customer, future collaboration in new projects or the discovery of mutual interests.
Nowadays, Covid offers less and less restrictions. We can meet up in person again, just like in the good old days! Does that mean subscribing to the Donut is no longer necessary or wanted? We certainly think not, since working from home has become ‘the new normal' and loads of people take a lot of comfort and effectiveness from that. Donut really gives them the opportunity to stay connected and meet new people more often, while being less physically present. And maybe more important: Xebia is growing at an astounding rate, and our global ambition is starting to manifest itself. Especially on the international stage, Donut could even help to get in touch with Xebians across the globe that you would otherwise have no or little chance to meet face to face. Imagine what unexpected things you could learn in this way! All we need to do is get them on slack and have them embrace the Donut.
In summary
Xebians are primarily very social mammals; we have come to learn our friend Donut as a catalyst to fuel that. Donut offers a randomized peer-to-peer connection between people from units and companies, that could otherwise be hard to connect. Donut helps to create new connections and create new friends in a growing organization. And it especially gives the work-from-home professionals an easy way to stay in touch with the Xebia community.
The threshold is low: you know that everyone who is subscribed to the Donut, likes to get connected in this way. This is a guarantee for a nice chat! Give it a try, see you on Slack’s #virtual-coffee channel!
Viktor Clerc and Carlo Klerk
How does it work?
When enrolled on a designated Slack channel to which the bot is linked, you will be randomly matched with someone else in Xebia who is also enrolled in that channel. At the Xebia Slack, this is the #virtual-coffee channel. Once very week, the Donut bot randomly matches two members of the channel, proposes some ice-breaker introductions, and leaves it up to the members to individually connect. After some time, the bot verifies whether a meeting actually took place and whether there are some nice words to exchange. Neat, right?