Infobip Conference “Multi-factor authentication”

As part of the ICT ISTRA Association, we participated in the Conference held at Infobip Quantum Campus. It's a newly renovated cultural and historical building, a silk factory from the 19th century. At the beginning of 2020, Infobip revived it for educational purposes. It was a pleasure to listen to presentations by colleagues, in the special atmosphere of this charming building, but also the city itself.

You can feel that Vodnjan is a place with a very interesting history. Once upon a time, it was the center of avant-garde production, whose inhabitants used technical innovations to work on the land. Back in 1899, thanks to the industrialist and visionary Pietro Marchesi, the streets of Vodnjan were the first streets in Istria to be lit by public electric lighting. It was the moment when the citizens no longer had to carry a small hand lamp "feralito" in the dark.

Quantum thus became a place that not only preserved the place from decay and oblivion but also continues to be a factory of ideas that will continue to change the city of fascinating charm and possibilities. Thanks for the great event!

How to return to work stress-free after vacation?

If we are looking for an answer to this question, we are offered many guidelines that should help. Try to complete your assignments before your vacation to start fresh. Prepare to return before you leave. Very important: plan the first morning so that it is calm, without distractions, so that you can dedicate yourself to the warm-up. Have lunch at an interesting place or bring a travel souvenir to the office (it should cheer you up, not make you cry). And there is a whole range of others.

What helps us in Sprend the most?

There are few people to whom you like to ask questions because their answers make an ordinary situation extraordinary, a big problem insignificant and everyday life more valuable. That’s Tanja Evertsson, CEO of Sprend in Croatia.

• Knowing that we are going back to work with people from whom you can learn a lot. In every new situation.

• Freedom to plan our work schedule. It inspires and helps to maintain a balance between private and business life.

• We care for each other but do not cross the line by asking questions about private things. We only share what we want with each other and that is always respected.

• Although responsible, it does not mean that we are constantly serious. Some of us are very successful at this. Our CEO for example. We are happy that he pulls the biggest pranks because he can't be fired.

Arne Evertsson, the creator of Sprend

To successfully send large files, it is important to have a clear vision.

Photo by Teodor Korodi

American writer, publisher, artist, and businessman Elbert Hubbard wisely said: "No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one." So there are countless solutions.

Codex Bar Hack in Circolo or building bridges that connect people 💻 🥂

Every Wednesday in Circolo in Pula from 7 - 9 p.m. gatherings of ICT enthusiasts are held with the following words of welcome:

"Codex Bar Hack is back! Bring your computer, write code, talk code, debug your greeting phrases, unit test your listening skills, refactor your sitting position, bootstrap your mingling, deploy two deciliters of red wine, commit to a great evening, and finish off with a pull request of brilliant ideas for next time. A codex is an ancient piece of IT equipment that is still going strong. The word comes from the Latin caudex which means tree trunk, block of wood, or simply book."

This meetup is not an event organized or owned by one company, but an attempt to meet and bring people with similar interests together. Arne Evertsson is the self-proclaimed Pontifex Maximus or the one who unites people since the term pontifex means "bridge-builder". He says it's very simple: Karlo knows Ognjen. And Ognjen knows Luka. Finally, Karlo and Luka get to meet. That's the intention.

Inspired by a meetup he attended in Stockholm called STHLM Lounge Hackers, in a hotel bar where non-guests were welcome to enter and use. The intention was to create an atmosphere of a place where everyone is welcome. Arne would like it if such a place existed in Pula as well. For the venue in Pula, he chose Circolo, located where there are the oldest ancient gates and the best domestic wine in the city.

A lot of new ideas, cooperation, and laughter arose there. We look forward to their realization or simply to the memories that are created. Nothing would be possible if it weren't for the hearty enthusiasts who respond to these meetups. Thank you all for that!

Join us at Codex in Circolo.

Photo by Vlad Hilitanu

Let’sGrow 2023. - the largest ICT conference in Istria

The second ICT conference Let'sGrow, the largest in Istria, took place this year as well. We exchanged ideas, hung out, made new contacts, and had fun. Organized by the ICT Association with the assistance of the “Libra” marketing agency from Rijeka, everything went great.

The program included lectures, workshops, and business Speed Dating. It was a day of direct communication with students, visitors interested in the services of the exhibiting companies, and the creation of ideas at the moment. Once again, we were reminded of the power of live meetings.

Some of the topics of the panel were: "From school desks to unicorns", and "Behind the Screens. "Dispelling myths about work in ICT", "Do we need skills in the world of artificial intelligence?". In the role of ICT Supergirls, we heard the experiences of women in the ICT sector and their experiences in work but also in the search for a private balance. How did their companies support them in this, is it simple to pack a backpack and go to the other side of the world for a year? Mirta Štefanec from Infosit did it. Her company supported her and they succeeded regardless of the time differences. Iva Horvat from Mijena says that the flexible way of working was her salvation at the moment she became a mother.

We are very proud of our CEO Tanja and her presentation. She spoke about the Sprend manifesto - our six foundations, which create prerequisites for satisfied employees: tolerance, responsibility, fearlessness, pride, respect, and leadership.

We share some of Tanja's interesting thoughts:
"Mistakes are OK and they happen to everyone. The one who isn't wrong usually hasn't done much.

Do you believe that there is anyone in the world who goes to work with the goal of creating something catastrophic? Of course not! I deeply believe that the situation is exactly the opposite. We all want to achieve great results that he can be proud of.

And when great results are achieved, recognize, highlight, and reward those who are truly deserving of them, which are usually not managers.

One thing I try to think about, before reacting to someone's actions and attitudes, is that almost every one of us has an invisible backpack on our back: illness, family situation, some ugly experience, or trauma. Sometimes we don't fully understand someone's attitudes or behavior, but the reason is probably in that backpack.

Whether the employee will explain to us what is in the backpack is his or her choice. Respect."

The lecture concluded with Tanja's favorite character Dr. Max Goodwin, from the TV series "New Amsterdam".

"He is the director of New Amsterdam Hospital in New York that faces many different problems in each episode, which he solves together with his colleagues and the hospital staff. If there's one thing I'd like you to take away from this presentation, it's the question he initially asks his colleagues, no matter what the problem is:

How can I help you?"

Thanks to everyone who made this day more interesting! We look forward to Let'sGrow 2024.

How did 2022 SprEnd?

December for us at Sprend, as well as for everyone else, was a month in which things happened at an incredible speed. 

The Swedish part of the team thus joined us at the end of 2022 in Pula. This means joint work on current tasks, new ideas, and space for those random and unplanned events. One such was a business trip to Zagreb. A trip where we jumped from the sea to the snow, made a plan, and worked for two days in a new city. Two colleagues who previously only knew each other through online meetings have now become companions in sharing business tasks and living space for a short time.

Apart from being the capital and largest city in Croatia, Zagreb is always interesting and offers an infinite amount of space to realize your plans. From the architecture, the width of the streets, the multitude of street events, business opportunities, or simply the irreplaceable atmosphere. In two short days, almost without respite, we accomplished the planned plans and visited various places where we made new acquaintances and hope for future cooperation. We were especially delighted by the professionalism and friendliness of the team from Algebra, where we were hosted by Marko Drenovački. Cities always remind us of the people we met there, he is certainly one of those responsible for our fond memories.

The "Zicer" incubator was a real surprise and a small miracle for us. A small, unusual elevator from which you enter directly from the parking lot into a space where quite a few start-ups are concentrated, a colorful place with a special energy. The first person you meet there is an extremely professional and charismatic gentleman at the reception, the soul of this place. The first impression is the most important and that great feeling was confirmed by those we met there afterward.

But after returning, it was necessary to conclude the year, to say goodbye to colleagues at the office Christmas party. Toast, exchange gifts, and summarize the year behind us.

Events can be planned and ultimately successful. The results are very easily measurable in everything. But what can never be planned are emotions. The ones deserved, gathered throughout the year, working on things even when it wasn't easy. The picture I always carry is a projection of our lives over some years. We are retired, we meet our former colleagues at the green market, and exactly what will determine mutual reactions is the way we colored each other's days. Every company has goals and a mission. But they are made by people.

We concluded 2022 with the potential to greet each other warmly when we meet at the green market for many years. Now we just have to wait 20 years or more to see if we were right. And try to keep it in 2023 for starters.

Sprend Meetup - our aims & games

Before the summer holidays, we held our first joint Sprend Meetup of this kind, taking as a guiding thought what Adrian Ruiz said: "There is a difference between a group of people accomplishing goals together. Teams are rare."

With the right plan and program, it wasn't difficult to get started. What initially moved us away from the usual, or from what we automatically expected, were team challenges. Tanja Evertsson is a person who leads a team of people very successfully, directly, but also with a lot of care. This time she had raw spaghetti, duct tape, and marshmallows in her hands. Something that the four developers in that same room were surely not expecting. She surprised us all. But just as she always manages to say the right thing at the right moment, she also turned this game or Spaghetti challenge into a real representation of the work process, achieving results and competition.

Divided into two teams, the task with a few rules was to build the highest tower possible. In this fun and tense process, you quickly realize that strategy in any task does not fall from the sky. As with all the efforts, your perfect plan, in theory, does not have to be equally perfect in practice. There are things we couldn't know in advance. But now we've learned. What we always consider most important at Sprend is how we treat each other along the way. Although one team lost, both gained a lot.

After this, we already achieved an open atmosphere and the strength to continue. By proposing new future ideas and adopting them, a picture of Sprend and the direction it could go in the future began to be created. We did not neglect our experiences in past jobs either, presenting them as instructive and with the aim of understanding each other. Open and regular communication is something that will save us from obstacles becoming problems, we concluded. Listening and hearing the other person can give us answers to questions that may arise in the future. In this way, possible solutions will not be so far away. As we always keep in mind the Sprend manifesto, which consists of tolerance, responsibility, fearlessness, pride, leadership, and respect.

When setting goals, we didn't skip "fika", a custom unknown to us in Croatia. Resetting with coffee and cakes, we managed to see even the future of Sprend in fifty years:

“More wanted than Normabel, Apaurin, Praxiten or Xanax.”

“The future is known, the past is unpredictable.”

The expectation from the beginning, that we would be successful in a busy day, turned into satisfaction. To be successful in business, you need to be successful in play too. The honest, benevolent and childlike one.

Different views with the same goal

Since the Sprend team has grown, new functionalities are being worked on at high speed. Our customers can expect them soon, and one of them will make them especially happy. More on that soon. Three developers in coastal Pula work with our founder in Stockholm every day. In the morning meetings, we discuss daily tasks, plans, and ideas. And then we continue, each in his own space and world. Through our windows, we see the same thing every day, only the weather changes. I forget that my colleagues see scenes differently than mine. It is good to see with other people's eyes sometimes. Then we realize that there are as many ways as there are people and more ideas than ourselves.

Since the Sprend team grew, our horizons have widened.

Stockholm, Sweden

Pula, Croatia

Pula, Croatia

Sprend is getting stronger - new developers have joined our team

We're happy to announce that new forces joined Sprend. Two new developers, Saša and Doroteo, will work on improving the service for sending large files with an existing team. Change is really the only thing that is constant and if it is absent, it starts to seem like we are standing still. We influence each other, thus gaining breadth and the opportunity to upgrade our opinions.

The process of searching for our new colleagues was repeated for the second time. The first time gave us hope that our way was good. We were lucky to find Ratomir, the first Pula great developer and a unique person. This is what you always hope for. That everything can be more than ordinary, even ourselves.

We continued this time with the same idea and hope. But you wonder at one point, will we be so lucky again? Then you remind yourself that there is no reason to worry. Unfounded fears seem to be repeated throughout life. Once upon a time, it was the first day in kindergarten, a roller coaster in an amusement park, and so on. With increasing responsibilities, we thought fears would increase too, but it is actually true that they are diminishing. We know it today.

Two excellent developers joined our team. What are we planning next? To provide them with everything in our power to make them feel welcome, stable, and stimulating for what they aim to achieve through their work. At Sprend, we are guided by certain principles that we consider the key to success. Tolerance, responsibility, fearlessness, proudness, leadership, respect. And above all, common sense as Tanja loves to say.

How will we know if we have succeeded? It is not up to us to say it. Time and others will tell us. As we will need to upgrade, change and adapt along the way. Only in this way can we believe that it is possible for our colleagues to tell us in a few years: it’s a pleasure to work with you. Nothing is more important than that.

Welcome guys!

Working together in the same office for the first time

Once Sprend's Pula office was ready, in time of coronavirus, it wasn’t easy to make it a visited place. It would be nice if we could organize an opening party, but there's still hope since we never lack new reasons to celebrate.

So this pleasant place, decorated exactly as we wished, remained quiet. Until last week, when Tanja, our Croatian Sprend CEO managed to arrive from Stockholm despite all obstacles.

For the first time, we worked together in the same space. And there were no surprises. Except for the pleasant ones. The next thing may seem like something ordinary but really, not everyone does it. Tanja's knocking before entering the office is a very pleasant thing. It probably also depends on who you expect behind it, but the act itself has created a feeling which reminds me of masters of ceremonies. Pleasant intro in expectation of performance.

Our performance is our work. The week is behind us with an atmosphere of flexibility, a productive and inspirational way of working with frequent laughter. And the most important conclusion: we’ll share our desserts next week. We found the perfect balance.

I will conclude with the words of Dr. Rob Gilbert: "Working together works".

My Professional Scrum Training

This week it was time for education. As we are using the Scrum framework in Sprend, so first I had an opportunity to learn about it in real practice. It was interesting to find out that the term "Scrum" was first used by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka in their ground-breaking 1986. paper “The New New Product Development Game“. They borrowed the name from the game of rugby to stress the importance of teams in complex product development.

This online course was organised by Agilist IT & Scrum.org with a great trainer Ana Roje Ivančić. For two whole days, we learned, practiced and overcoming obstacles. In a team from several countries: Slovenia, Romania, Argentina and Croatia. It's nice to know that Scrum is not something like a set of rules, it's a philosophy that allows us freedom. When I started to read the guide, one sentence of Ken Schwaber & Jeff Sutherland stuck in my head: "We are humbled to see Scrum being adopted in many domains holding essentially complex work, beyond software product development where Scrum has its roots." To use word "humble" shows us what should be a part of us. How we should respect, feel and listen to the other people around us. When we talk about the team of people, they'll never become a real team if we can't achieve more than usual.

It is necessary to see in people what they may not even see sometimes. Praise them for their qualities. Not to react sharply to their failures but as an opportunity to learn. All of this may already sound worn out or simple, but in fact, it is still unattainable often. If we have that base to which we apply Scrum, we are on the side of success. In every sense, business and human.

After six unknown people from different parts of the world collaborated for two days, we said goodbye. There was no opportunity or time for more than a greeting, but at the last minute, as if it was hard for us to disconnect. And that’s when I first realized what online means. One button makes you leave. I walked out of the building, looked around, people were ordering food at a nearby fast food, children were entering the music school, cars were sliding down the street, and I felt like it's hard to disconnect for a real. With much more knowledge and a sense that learning needs to continue.

A new sprint is starting.

Days & Weekends

There is a lot on Fridays. Happiness, hope, expectations, high spirits. Perhaps we should make the most important decisions on that very day when we have the most optimism. In the case of absence, it will easily happen that we take it from others around us.

Mondays are hated by the whole world. It's not easy to be the first day in a week. But to be honest, it's not easy to be first in anything. Recently I've heard a great theory about Tuesday. My colleague claims that Tuesdays are even worst. They're not Mondays, so there's no simple reason to hate them. It's not the beginning of the week but we're not in the middle yet. It's a day you’re just waiting for to pass. We have no opinion about Wednesdays. Except that according to them, we measure how the first part of the week is over and the one we prefer follows.

Even if you love your job, you are not immune to those world's feelings. However, it's Saturday tomorrow, a day you decide for yourself.

Sprend wishes you a great weekend!

This is how our Pula office looks like

We had empty walls. Our space for making an office. The place in which we'll work, have new ideas, make our lives better and I always imagine, in some forty years this will be a building that retired me will pass on the way to the green market, thinking: it was one of the best jobs I ever had. But before future carrots, broccoli, fish, or salad, this is a short video about how it was and how it is today:

Our online Christmas party and how we beat 2020.

At the end of the strange year of 2020. we had an idea of how to steal the fun and make an online party. The initial thought was to gather a few of us to make a toast. "Why not bigger?" it was a magical touch of Tanja. Very soon we had a plan for how to invite all the ones who helped us in a process of starting with the Sprend office in Pula.

The first thing I saw when I joined was Karin's Christmas dress and a glass of wine. I haven't seen that image in a while since bars and restaurants are shut down in Croatia. My sister Petra was there, she helped us with her advice, support and sharing her brilliant analog photos with us. My brother Andrej who made a great job with the survey amongst the students at his university and my father, who was something like a great keeper of Sprend from the beginning, on the way of founding. A retired banker who still adores his job and credit rates are still one of his favorite topics.

It may seem that I gathered my whole family here, but I didn't. That's just half of it.

Tanja and Arne, masterminds of Sprend. Ratomir, our new member in the role of a developer in the Croatian office. Amir as the character who assembled all the IKEA furniture, and at the end of this task, he was sitting in the office and thinking about what would be like to become a carpenter instead of teaching and writing books. You can not say that Sprend doesn’t change lives. Not to forget our special guest: cinnamon rolls representing Swedish spirit in Croatia. The first time I tasted them was last summer made by chef Dennis, a 15-year-old, already great person.

Everything went so natural during our online party, small talks, laugh (especially at Arne’s stories; there is a rumor you can hear that laugh even today in some parts of Pula) and a very important part: Tanja's presentation, mentioning and thanking the ones who were on this path with us. Very emotional, showing how people who don't even know each other can make unity and make things bigger.

I lived again through those beautiful two days with Tanja and her friend Johanna when they came to Pula in October for a firm founding. After they traveled for an enormous number of hours and the hardest rain in the recent history of Pula was not welcoming them, they were bright and positive. Johanna is the person you meet and from the first second, you know there'll be pleasant and interesting talks. I felt I'll miss them on my walks when they'll go back home. Johanna was the only person who was charmed by the old facades of buildings in a center of Pula. That can describe her approach to everything.

So I'm writing this down, not to bother a reader with the things that maybe are not so interesting for the ones outside of this group. My intention was to say how we have never missed other people like today. With no enough social life, we intensify activities within our homes or in nature. But in the end, we need interaction, parties and fun. So we made it. Even online, even with all the things happening around us, we were happy, entertained and it was for real, not only to satisfy the form. It was a good year for Sprend and it ended in the same spirit.

I hope that very soon it'll be possible to gather people for real. To hug without a fear, to travel, or to stay at home because it’ll be our decision and no obligation. We expect simple happiness.

In that spirit, Sprend team wishes you all the best in 2021!

What students want from their first job

In preparation for hiring our first developer, Sprend cooperated with Andrej Gardijan on a survey of computer science students' expectations on their first regular job. The participants are students of University of Rijeka Faculty of Engineering.

The method and full result is available on Andrej’s GitHub page, Student Poll. Being the geek he is, all charts were created by code written in Python. 💻😎🐍📊

The purpose of the survey was to make sure our job offer exceeded expectations. I was most curious about the preferred salary level, on the office, and if there were any surprising needs or wishes.

Sprend’s plans for the office was to find a city center location, because that’s where I would like to work myself. Pula isn’t Zagreb so the traffic situation is different. Also, I highly recommend walking or cycling to work which makes you immune to traffic jams anyway. The survey says that 4 out of 5 students prefer a downtown location. Our address in Pula is Mletačka ulica 12 which certainly qualifies as downtown.

When it comes to the office itself almost two thirds prefer an open area workspace instead of private office. The best way is probably to give each person a choice. If you prefer an open area you also sometimes need a private workspace, and vice versa. An exciting development in Pula is the planned co-working building. Co-working can give the advantages of working for small company while also providing the social context of a bigger company.

The salary is obviously an important so we made our salary formula public (or should we call it a public beta).

When it comes to surprises in the survey results there isn’t much to talk about. Rather unsurprisingly, the students want flexible work hours, ability to work from home, the opportunity to learn and improve, decision-making power, and respect from colleagues.

A shocking disappointment is that students do not want free pie. I’ll eat it myself then. Here is the chart of the progress I’ve made so far.

The sprend.com server is powered exclusively by lemon pie. Illustration by Vikki Claflin.

The foundation of everything

The picture was taken in Brijuni National Park. Here we can talk about foundations…

We can talk about project management methodologies and development processes, but we must not forget that those are made for people and used by people. 

Any methodology's success depends on its clarity, but it depends on people using it even more. I believe that a group of people who respect each other and commit to the same goal can succeed with any methodology.

So before discussing the optimal ways of working, let us talk about values.

Many years ago, I worked for a Swedish retailer where I was in charge of the IT software department. For almost two years, we didn't lose any single employee. I got curious why, so we gathered for a workshop, where I asked everybody a few questions: Why do you like to work here? What are we doing right? 

Usually, you get invited to this kind of workshop where things are going wrong, but I like to do things differently.

The meeting resulted in something we called "department framework" - a very concrete set of values that we recognised in our organisation. We were not just talking; we were living according to those things. They are still my big inspiration, and I often return to them.

So, now when we were about to start a company in Croatia, these ideas were a big inspiration for us when we compiled our foundation of values, which we call The Sprend Manifesto.

Here is what we at Sprend believe is needed for people to achieve miracles:

Tolerance - Treat each other with respect and tolerance. People are different, and nobody is perfect.

Responsibility - Take responsibility for the consequences of your actions, choices, and commitments.

Fearlessness - Dare to discuss problems instead of pretending that problems don't exist.

Proudness - Believe that your colleagues go to work every day with the intention to produce great stuff that they can be proud of.

Leadership - Realise that it is not possible to require great results from people, but it is possible to motivate them to achieve miracles.

Respect - Respect yours colleague's private life and family life. They choose how much and what they want to share.  

And to all of you guys that worked with me for a big Swedish retailer, thank you for helping me to become a better leader and a better human being. You know who you are.

The power of common sense

During my years in the world of software project management, I've been thinking a lot about how come that we so often believe that different methodologies and processes will save us and provide us with a path to eternal happiness and success. History is repeating itself, again and again. You probably remember all these (expensive) RUP, PRINCE2, PROPS, Agile, SAFE evangelists from the numerous (expensive) training sessions telling you just that.

The answer is probably that we are humans, and we like simple solutions. A methodology, described in books and diagrams might look complex, but compared to life, it is simple. It is humans who do software development; it is supposed to model life, which makes it far more complex. When I present a project plan, the only prediction that I would dare to put my life on is that things will not be like I've just explained. My audience usually laughs when I say that, but I'm deadly serious.

You will always meet surprises and challenges, and you need to deal with those. How? I propose "common sense" project management.

The term "common sense" was first defined by Aristotle. He said that humans were the only animals on the planet equipped with a sense of logic and that everyone is born with the potential to think logically, ie, the logical sense is common sense.

When I think about common sense, I think of three things:

1. Facts first

2. A refusal of a single and only truth

3. Always practical and workable

Get the facts. Respect the complexity

Common sense is about dealing with the world as it really is, not how you feel it should be. Don't try to squeeze the reality into the methodology diagrams; try to adjust the diagrams to fit your world. 

Get facts, check your sources, and think with your own head. The point is to solve the problem, not to become a methodology slave.

Refuse a single and only truth

I can't stop thinking that the creators of many software development methodologies are often called evangelists. I guess that is because they often want us to believe in their truth, the one and only.

I remember the SCRUM training that I attended many years ago. The teacher, one of the founders of SCRUM, spent quite a lot of time during the course to neglect and make fun of RUP and waterfall project methods that were popular some time ago. The thing was that one of the participants on the course was the son of one of the RUP founders. The poor guy didn't dare to say his name loudly; he just whispered it when he was asked to present himself, hoping that nobody will hear it properly. He was ashamed because of his father's heritage and work.

I don't want to go there. We need to show respect for our predecessors. Of course, they did many things right. There is no only one truth. Actually, having only one truth is a dangerous thing. The secret is in cherrypicking the best parts, based on facts, logic, and experience, do it the scientific way.

Make it practical and workable

Common sense is factual and practical. It is scientific and pragmatic. Project management, based on common sense, is about creating and using practical and workable ways of work. Don't overdo it just because the method is telling you to do so.

It doesn't seem so hard, does it? But sometimes, the simplest things are the hardest. Let me try to explain my "common sense" way in some future posts.

When you find a story in a cup of coffee

“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” T.S. Eliot

Some days are passing highly inspired, in some of them, we're in search of it. Brilliant ideas, practical solutions, something effective to be satisfied with ourselves and our work. Small things can always help in that process. Coffee could be one of the solutions. If the intention is to go out of the office, to take a walk and get one of the best cups in town, who knows on which corner the inspiration could find you. That's the main concept of our brilliant idea maker, Arne. So, exactly from Stockholm, he discovered Calm Wins Coffee & Cocktails in the center of Pula.

If you ask me, and I live there, I wouldn't know that the place exists. High quality, great tasting coffee. And here's the story about it: "Coopedota was founded in 1960. in Costa Rica. Currently has 900 farmers with families and it's an integral part of the development of a community of more than 8000 people".

Sometimes the magic is in Arne's code, sometimes in Tanja's remarkable skills of leading or Karin's brightness and humor. And some days it can be just in a cup of coffee. Wish you the best of luck with finding yours.

The developers I want to work with

The amazing Shinkansen train at Shin-Osaka station in June 2015.

I want to work with developers who care about what they make. Developers make software, and software is a tool. A tool needs to be sharp, not break, easy to use, and bring a smile to the face of the user. A new feature is not finished before the user gives a thumbs-up.

The user perspective is equally valid within the system itself. Developers write code to be read by fellow developers; they are the users of that code. Usability for the fellow coder is just as important as usability for the end-user. And that fellow coder is probably yourself in the future when you return to make changes.

I want to work with developers that solve a problem for good, not with people who solve it once for themselves and then forget about the solution. Make the problem go away for ever, or if that is not possible share the way to solve it the next time. Developers must continuously improve the process of development and their own tools. And with tool I am also referring to their brains. Be curious, be interested, and keep learning more.

Making a product

To return to the topic of the end product and the end users, I want to maximize the value that my software brings into the world. If it is used by more people it is more useful than having just a few users. This thinking naturally takes me into product development. I want to work with developers that share that drive, and understand that even the slightest improvement becomes a huge deal just because many people experience that improvement.

In the world of product development the difference becomes muddled between new features and enhancements to user friendliness. Is it a new feature to be able to transfer many files at a time, or is it just a friendlier user interface? Really, it doesn’t matter, because it improves usability.

I want to work in a team where we create joy and business benefits for ourselves, our community, and our customers.

Sprend has an office in Pula

If you have an idea and a vision, how long will take you to make it possible? The catch is that you can never know it. The starting point is sometimes hard, but mostly exciting and challenging, keeping you to aim higher.

That’s what we tried. After just a month of searching, Sprend has a new office in Pula, Croatia. The homeland of the best and the worst car in history, Yugo 45. Not to be the worst, but expecting the best, we applied for the office in the Istrian Development Agency. Its primary role lies in the stimulation of the development of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship in the region of Istria.

We’re so happy to become a part of the Entrepreneurial Incubator “Challenge” Pula. Established in 2005. there are ten office rooms and more than 40 start-up entrepreneurs have been incubated with steady growth rates. Sprend is one of ten now.

Do you know what else is Yugo 45? Most adored car in the history of this region. Still, after so many years, seeing it on the streets of Pula will not leave anyone indifferent. That’s our next goal.

Easy as one-two-three

This is a step-by-step instruction on how to make software:

10 Select one thing to do

20 Build it together

30 Confirm that users are happy

40 Go to 10

This method also, incidentally, summarizes Agile development.

I’ve been developing software for 25 years. The craft is hard enough as it is. You don’t want to make it harder with difficult processes.

Select one thing and build it together. Why only one? Because, in a team, you don’t want to let anyone skip testing. There can be no cherry-picking of fun tasks and letting someone else do the boring stuff. We also don’t want to have unfinished work pile up.

Build the feature together, learn from each other, help each other. You will share the fun and the boring tasks.

Release it and watch users use the new feature. Learn. Adjust.

What about time estimations? Let the person interested in time also create the estimations. Let the rest of us focus on what really matters: happy users and happy team members.