A matter of trust

Photo by Caroline Hernandez (Unsplash)

Ever since we were kids and had our first friends, we’ve had that question: will you keep my secret? We shared our children's worlds and stories that are even more precious to us today when we remember how sincere, and therefore beautiful they were. But much bigger than the stories themselves, there was trust. It was important to have a person you trusted but also to be that person.

As in childhood, trust is the most important leading indicator in business. Even today, people in the business world seem to put it ahead of money, the desire for autonomy, and fun at work. There are 8 known pillars of trust according to David Horsager: clarity, compassion, character, competency, commitment, connection, contribution, consistency.

They form a framework for learning to build and overcoming the twelve barriers to trust: conflict of interest, the threat of litigation, lack of loyalty, increasing examples of others untrustworthiness, the threat of exposure, lack of control over technology, fear of the unknown, negative experiences, individualism, differences between people, desire for instant gratification, and a focus on the negative.

With knowledge, effort and caring for others, it is possible to achieve an environment in which people trust each other. Such a team will surely achieve great results and will inspire each other to progress. Every microworld we are a part of gives us the feeling that the rest of the world is just like that. In that pleasant deception of ourselves, we seek and achieve more.

“Lack of trust is the biggest expense you can have,” Horsager says. In childhood, it could have cost us the most. A friend.

How we encrypt your files for quickly and secure transfer

Encryption is one of the most important features that Sprend provides to its users. What exactly it means and how it is different to send your files when you use it, we tried to explain in an interview with the creator of the service and director of Sprend, Arne Evertsson. We hope it will help you better understand and use our service in the future.

How secure is Sprend service and is it one of your priorities?

Sprend is as secure as you want it to be. If you want to be safe, you actually need to encrypt files before you send them. I guess that's true for any kind of file transfer service. You could install something like WinZip or any other kind of software that provides encryption. After you encrypt the important file on your own computer, you can send it however you like. Sprend, of course, uses the regular encryption that you have for websites, so called SSL or TLS, also known as HTTPS, that encrypts everything that goes between your computer and our server. And when the files have arrived on our side, they are, for Sprend Free users, stored unchanged in the same format as you have them on your computer.

Sprend Pro offers encryption

In short, if they are not encrypted when you send them, they will actually not be encrypted on our service, unless you pay for our Pro version where you have the option to set a password. In that case, the files will be encrypted as soon as they arrive on the Sprend servers. The technology is called Advanced Encryption Standard, AES-256 with a salted password.

Can anyone see the content of a file after setting a password?

After setting a password, the file comes encrypted on our hard drives, so that not even anyone from Sprend can decrypt or see what the content is.

Who is using this service the most?

That's a good question. We have some customers who use Sprend just for the encryption feature for sending confidential documents. Maybe they have customers who require it or they have the laws that are making it necessary regarding GDPR. Some government agencies in Sweden are using our service. Very happy with it. Probably because it's safe as well as works really well for sending files.

Visualization of the AES round function

How would you describe the encryption to the average user?

I get that question sometimes from people, we are obviously not doing a good enough job explaining that directly on sprend.com.

Encryption is taking a file like a Word document, a PDF file, a music or video file, simply anything that anybody could easily watch or see on a computer or a phone, and then scramble the bits and the bytes that are stored on the hard drive into something that basically no program can actually read and display in any way. 

If you open that in a program for viewing text, you will see just random characters. If you open it in an application for viewing photographs, you would just see noise. And if you open it in a video player, it wouldn't be able to play it. And when you play it as music, it would just be something like a signal from space, like a complete noise. And only when you kind of run this program “backwards” with the password, you get back your file in the original format. But again, you need the password.

You're still answering the support calls, even after 15 years, could you explain what's the main reason?

I want feedback. Of course, I also want to hear if something is not working so we can improve it. I would like to hear that we’re doing good things as well. When I use a service online and I have some kind of trouble, I would like somebody to help me and take it seriously. Just try to provide the service to others that you would yourself wish for. Not that difficult to figure out, is it? We are available at +46101292910 or support@sprend.com.

Do you often get questions about encryption?

Users are generally confused by the encryption option. Seems like a good thing but they are not sure what it means and whether they should mark this option when sending something. It's important to emphasize that the files sent by Sprend are secure. However, if you want an additional level of security, where it is impossible for anyone but you and the recipient to see the content, then you need to choose the encryption option with a password of your choice.

What is the feature you’re the most proud of?

Well, we are trying to make file transfer simple, a lot easier than other services or other ways of transferring data. That has always been the main goal. And I think we have been successful in that. Even though we can still make improvements. I can go on about this topic for quite a long time. Maybe I should, and I have some ideas of how to make it. 

Photo by Deleece Cook (Unsplash)

My last question would be, what are the new features that your users can expect in the near future?

First of all, we are releasing the feature to send more than one file at a time. We haven't had that right now. Our users have to zip their files before they can send them as one big archive, and we will make it possible to drag and drop several files in folders, so that would be the most wanted new feature that we will deliver very soon.

After that, I think we have lots of options, but some of them deal with making it easier to log in and sign up for the service. So that won't be as tedious as it is right now. A lot of people could benefit from that. Not only those who want SSO (single sign-on) but also those single users who just have one account. 

But then I was talking about before; when you receive a file, I would like to make it possible to preview that file or to watch that film. Sometimes the user knows it's a video file, but cannot open it. So right now, there's nothing we can do about it, but tell them to ask the sender to send it again in a different format, or maybe to search on the Internet and see if there's some kind of software they need to install. But usually, that's not what the user wants to hear. That's a complex solution. They want to just play the file and be happy with it. We can make it possible to preview a file format that your computer does not know how to open or play. We can add that feature within Sprend, increasing the likelihood that you actually can view the document or see the movie or photo.

To summarize, during the development of a service, there is one common goal?

Yes, and that goal is always to remove annoying things and make things easier. Just go ahead and Send a file or check out our Plans & Prices.

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!

To the father of ZX Spectrum

Photo by Wikipedia

A few weeks ago, the charismatic inventor and entrepreneur Sir Clive Sinclair left the world; the creator of the ZX Spectrum which has made it affordable and usable to a large number of people. Born in 1940, in addition to being a pioneer of the British computer industry and video games, he also invented the first slimline electronic pocket calculator and the electric vehicle which failed in the end.

He was a member of the British Mensa and in his spare time, a fan of poetry, running marathons and poker. The most interesting part is that he did not use the internet and computers which he said interfered with his creative process, but used to write letters. This is what he said about sending emails: "Well I find them annoying. I'd much prefer someone would telephone me if they want to communicate. No, it's not sheer laziness - I just don't want to be distracted by the whole process. Nightmare."

It is comforting to know that he was a man whose work did not strictly determine his habits. I hope that his letter delighted many who received it, as the information I read about him remained saved in my mind so I remember it regularly ever since. Maybe because it gives hope that we can be much more than we do. If we choose it.

Infobip Shift Conference 2021.

I will definitely remember this event in Zadar, Croatia. For the last year and a half, I imagined my first public event with a lot of people will be a concert but in the end, it was a business gathering. One easily adapts to everything, including the fact that we should no longer be afraid. Not human but a virus. Since in this situation in general, one, unfortunately, does not exclude the other.

The lectures began and lasted. A lot of great ones. Not only because of the topics but also in different ways of presenting them. Reasons are often in people themselves. Part of the international development conference Infobip Shift was attended by about 60 speakers from various companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and others. In addition, great startups were presented. The program was held on a total of five stages. Three thousand participants from the world live and ten thousand participants online. Ivan Burazin and Marin Tomičić are young people who started organizing Shift six years ago in a cafe in Split. As of this year, their partner is the increasingly powerful Infobip company.

What is always the most interesting part is getting to know others. People who work hard in companies that we have heard about or may have been completely unknown until then. In the crowd, the easiest way to connect was the outdoor breakfast tables. Sometimes things are even simpler than we imagine. We met great people from distant countries, the ones from Pula who, despite not being a big city, we had never met before.

But the conference was not the only thing happening. I realized I hadn’t traveled completely alone in a long time. After the program, there were a few hours left to wander the streets of a completely unknown city. Last time, I was there when I was three. I remember only the ship we traveled with and the house of relatives who no longer live in Zadar. At one point, during my walk, I was left without a battery on my cell phone, so the only way to get the information was to ask strangers and hope for their kindness. Google cannot beat what locals know about their city and the most interesting hidden places.

Walking in silence allows us to notice things we would not otherwise. The last day, thinking I shouldn’t go home without visiting the famous sea organ, I sat along the shore like many travelers around me. We all did the same. And then I caught sight of an older man walking in great peace and quiet, carrying glowing children's balloons in his hand. In such a sublime way, belonging to some past times, he passed behind me. Then I reached for my cell phone to take a picture of a moment. And remembered that won't be possible. I felt tremendous relief. I wondered how many times I missed the full beauty of the moment in reality for trying to create a memory of it.

This conference and Zadar itself gave me a lot. Business trips do more work than we can plan and imagine in advance. There was no need to worry. As one of the lecturers said: don't solve the problem, eliminate it. So I did.

When people are our inspiration

Photo by Vale Zmeykov (Unsplash)

When we find inspiration in the people around us, we are saved. From boredom, monotony and lack of ideas. We find inspiration in others in quite ordinary situations, in other people's sentences that they themselves will not even remember later. These are the drivers of everything.

Without everyone else, we would be something like Palle alone in the world. A brilliant yet simple story written by child psychologist Jens Sigsgaard was based on numerous conversations with children. He thus revealed their greatest wish, to have everything. And the biggest fear is that they will be left alone.

One morning little Palle wakes up and realizes his parents aren't there. He goes to the streets of Copenhagen, but they are empty. That made him happy. Everything is available and he can do whatever he wants without anyone's permission. He embarks on a train ride, enters a bank where all the money is his, he can have any toy he wants. But he soon realizes that money is superfluous in this situation, toys are worthless if there is no one to play with and life is lonely if there is no one around.

After my colleagues came back from vacation, I stopped being Palle. I find inspiration in them in moments when they are not even aware of it. And Palle stopped being alone in the world after he woke up from sleep. It was at this point that he understood the definition of true happiness.

Vacation time

Photo by Scott Webb

Time for rest and relaxation, for adventure, for escape, for new memories, for the celebration of everything important that we did not arrive before. Time to reminisce all the good we have achieved.

The duration of the holiday varies from country to country, but what we all have in common - we all need a vacation. And we all love them. If we take into account that there is no "everyone" and "no one", we must emphasize that there are certainly exceptions. But today we will not talk about them. Although, it may be an even more interesting group. Those who hate vacation. Who are they? Maybe a topic for another blog post.

Tanja and Arne arrived in Istria, they somehow brightened the days for us who do not intend to travel far. But we will not miss camping or visiting some island. I am currently the only one working in the Company, but my annual starts in a few days. That gives me some new space to create new plans for the ideas which otherwise I might not even remember. Inspiration takes me to those little interesting alleys even though I miss the one I find in the random sentences of my colleagues.

But we did meet a few times, had lunch and dinner together, played ping-pong, had the honor of talking to the funniest 82-year-old I currently know, Tanja’s mom. And I have to say, this lady is full of great ideas and we should learn from her about work and effort.

And that’s not all the fun. We need to discover new places, to have a tour of Pula, to have a photo session with our lover of analog photography Petra & her Comrade Zorki. Arne should become Caesar and the rest of us, well, who knows. We need to catch all the memories we can, for those future dark winter days.

That’s why we need vacations, that’s why we need people and that’s why we need jobs. So we can leave and come back.

The beauty of Sprend is in its simplicity

Photo by Nick Jones

From the very beginning, Sprend was conceived as a simple service for sending large files. In just a few clicks, regardless of your IT knowledge, quickly and efficiently send all large files that should surely arrive at a new address. Without long-term storage, you can save everything for up to four weeks and after that, it automatically disappears. In life, it would be like someone cleaning the closets regularly instead of you and you don’t even have to plan a big cleaning. At this point, I wonder if the creator of Sprend was inspired by just that? Does he hate tidying up his closet in real life?

In order for everything to function well and progress, new steps are needed. Sprend has expanded, new employees are being hired, new ideas are emerging. But we all know that what will eventually happen requires a lot of effort, mutual cooperation, reflection, meetings and everything that will remain invisible but tangible through the result itself. How do we get there? With simple arrangements - we plan everything well enough in advance. We respect the work of our colleagues and always have patience if we need anything from them. Without stress, more space is given to inspiration. And so it all goes on. No drama, no complications, with support and cheering for every good new step.

When I think back to the past days, the first thing I remember is the ease of joint planning. And that makes me happy. For the future. I believe that is the way we can go far.

The beauty of Sprend really lies in its simplicity. File sent.

File transfers with Sprend

Photo by Ken Suarez

Each of us wakes up in the morning, preparing for the day - work and everything that besides makes everyday life. Our jobs are different, as are the lives and tasks we perform so that at the end of the workday we could be content with ourselves.

Some save lives, others beautify the world with art, those who prefer numbers, create wonders in that world, or simply keep us in balance. Office workers, manual workers, astronauts, acrobats, bus drivers, teachers, salesmen and the series continues. We are all different, but what do we all have in common? In order to perform successfully, in addition to knowledge and skills, everyone needs information and data. Some jobs are closely dependent on their availability and use. Where once information was transmitted verbally and in writing, today we use many other tools. Fast and efficient. Sprend is one of many. But how to become irreplaceable for those who trust you? Or what to say to those to whom you offer your service? That you are not the only one. That a service like yours is also offered by WeTransfer, Dropbox, Filemail ... That they are maybe bigger, stronger and that we have a long way to go if we want to surpass them?

It depends on how you measure success. Sprend's first aspiration has always been the highest quality and efficient service. At the same time, prices remain affordable. We can proudly say that we offer lower prices for the same service than all our competitors. We are able to dedicate ourselves to our customers when they need it. Professionally, humanely and friendly. You are the ones who gave us the trust. It is a treatment that Sprend guarantees you.

If you want to support this way of working, with this text, we do not want to persuade you to buy the service. We recommend that you try our free Sprend service for sending files up to 2 GB and make your own opinion. The process is very simple and sending is fast. We advise you to log in to the sprend.com website as this allows you more user benefits. Storage time is one week and you're enabled to send ten transfers per month where each file can be as large as 2000 MB.

You can also upgrade your free account to Sprend Pro for €6 per month, which lets you send files ten times larger, to more than a hundred recipients, encrypt the file, and be notified when it has reached each recipient.

If you need to send files that are too big for mail in your business, be friends with those who choose this way of working. You should too, whether it’s about sending large files, a new neighborhood cafe, a small shop, an artist starting their own business, or something third because the effort behind it all is greater than any result that will be visible in the future. 

Welcome to Daniel, our first intern

Sprend has the first intern. Since the establishment of the development center in Pula, in addition to improving the service, we want Sprend to also be a place where individuals will be able to gain insight into the practical side of the business.

What is our way of working? We are dislocated and work in two cities, Stockholm and Pula. While we may sometimes miss those live encounters in which we give each other random ideas or inspiration, our work doesn’t suffer because of it. Well-organized meetings three times a week (among others as needed) under the successful guidance of Tanja Evertsson, give us a clear picture and overview of what each of us is working on. A clear plan, organization and vision allow us to successfully reach the goal, no matter how many obstacles along the way we sometimes have. It certainly contributes to the fact that we are always there for each other if we need help or advice. What is even more important is our safe zone and trust. There has never been a reaction that could cause our mood or enthusiasm to decline. No question is ever stupid and deserves time to answer. It’s an environment where we’re not afraid to come up with new ideas, look for another way, and make mistakes to succeed next time. Getting praise because we dared to try even though the result was not expected, encourages us to practice Tanja's motto ourselves: only the sky is the limit. If she weren't the one who encourages us to do all this in practice, that sentence would surely only become funny to us over time. This is how we have already crossed all the borders and they no longer exist for us.

Why am I saying all this? Because through meeting our first practitioner, Daniel, I realize that to a 19-year-old who has just finished high school, things don’t seem that way. Or at least it is not assumed to be so. The boss is imagined as a serious man who will ask difficult questions and find our mistakes. Colleagues? They are a real enigma for a high school student. What to expect from us?

That is why we asked the founder of Sprend to answer the question. What should Daniel expect, a tough boss? And we got the joke from Arne: "Oooh! I need to “suit up” as they often say in the Marvel movies. White shirt and tie?"

Welcome Daniel and good luck during your internship at Sprend!

The brilliant mind of Hedy Lamarr

Who was Hedy Lamarr and what was she other than a famous Hollywood actress? She was born Hedwig Eva Kiesler in Austria on November 9th, 1914. Her father, as a bank manager and a very curious mind, inspired Hedy to look at the world with open eyes. He would often take her for long walks where he would discuss the inner workings of different machines, like the printing press or streetcars. These conversations guided Hedy’s thinking and at only 5 years of age, she could be found taking apart and reassembling her music box to understand how the machine operated. On the other hand, her mother, a concert pianist, passed on her love of art.

Hedy's story is one of a brilliant woman who was consistently underestimated. Although she achieved international fame as a Hollywood movie star, Lamarr was not satisfied by acting. In her trailer between takes, and staying up all night at home, she practiced her favorite hobby: inventing. In 1942., at the peak of her acting career, Hedy developed a “Secret Communications System” to help defeat the Nazis in World War II. By manipulating radio frequencies at irregular intervals between transmission and reception, the invention formed an unbreakable code to prevent classified messages from being intercepted by the enemy. Her patented idea later became the foundation for mobile phone technology. Its influence is visible in crucial 21st-century systems like Bluetooth and Wifi. She also helped improve aircraft aerodynamics for Howard Hughes while they dated during the war.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation jointly awarded Lamarr and Antheil with their Pioneer Award in 1997. She also became the first woman to receive the Invention Convention’s Bulbie Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award. Although she died in 2000., Lamarr was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for the development of her frequency hopping technology in 2014. 

Without the brilliant mind of Hedy Lamarr, it is possible that today the world would look much different. What the world, unfortunately, remains the same throughout history but even today is the fact that it is easier to accept someone's appearance than their mind. The late acknowledgments of Hedy Lamarr’s work are proof of this.

Ada Lovelace - Prophet of the computer age and Princess of Parallelograms

Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) was born Augusta Ada Byron, the only legitimate child of Annabella Milbanke and the poet Lord Byron. Her mother, Lady Byron, had mathematical training and insisted that Ada study mathematics too - an unusual education for a woman back then. At the age of 12, she conceptualized a flying machine. After studying the anatomy of birds and the suitability of various materials, she illustrated plans to construct a winged flying apparatus before moving on to think about powered flight.

At a party in 1833. when she was seventeen, Ada met the brilliant and eccentric British mathematician Charles Babbage who spoke excitedly of an invention he called the “Difference Machine,” a tower of numbered wheels that could make reliable calculations with the turn of a handle. The lifelong friendship that ensued between 18-year-old Lovelace and 45-year-old Babbage sparked an invaluable union of software and hardware to which we owe enormous swaths of modern life — including the very act of reading these words on this screen. Beginning in the 1840s, Ada began a gambling habit that contributed to her dwindling finances and forced her to secretly pawn the Lovelace family’s diamonds.

Although she didn’t know Lord Byron who called her his "Princess of Parallelograms", she maintained a life-long fascination with him and his works. After her death, at the age of 36, she was buried at her request in the Byron family vault.

During the 1970s, the U.S. Department of Defense developed a high-order computer programming language to supersede the hundreds of different ones then in use by the military. The suggestion of naming the new language “Ada” in honor of Lovelace in 1979. was unanimously approved. Ada is still used around the world today in the operation of real-time systems in the aviation, health care, transportation, financial, infrastructure and space industries.

Every year on the second Tuesday in October, the contributions of women to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are celebrated on Ada Lovelace Day.

Charles Babbage - Father of Computing

"Another age must be the judge", said the gentleman of science. And another age judged him, with great respect and gratitude for the legacy. As an extraordinarily talented scientist, mathematician, economist, and engineer, he's best known today (as he was in his lifetime) for inventing two types of cogwheel calculating machines. His Difference Engine Number 1 was the first device ever devised that could calculate and print mathematical tables. During the mid of the 1830s, Babbage developed plans for the Analytical Engine. Although it was never completed, the Analytical Engine would have had most of the basic elements of the present-day computer.

Science was not an established profession, and Babbage, like many of his contemporaries, was a “gentleman scientist”, an independently wealthy amateur well able to support his interests from his own means. He pioneered lighthouse signalling, invented the ophthalmoscope, proposed 'black box' recorders for monitoring the conditions preceding railway catastrophes, designed a cow-catcher for the front end of railway locomotives and the rest of the list is long.

When he wasn't busy inventing, Babbage engaged in cryptography, wrote books of social criticism, and he was very well known for his ability to criticize the scientific establishment without limits. The title of the first biography on his life was called "Irascible Genius: A Life of Charles Babbage, Inventor".

Babbage won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society “for his invention of an engine for calculating mathematical and astronomical tables” in 1824. He's also known for his collaboration with mathematician Ada Lovelace. She was inspired by the prototype of the Difference Engine and became Babbage's lifelong friend. Our next post will be dedicated to her.

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".

The X-files

The photo was taken by analog photography lover Petra Gardijan & her comrade Zorki 4K.

Although complicated, it is very easy to know what happens when we are not satisfied at work. Looking for the best solution is the only thing we do then. Winning the lottery also appears as possible salvation. I thought about it often but I never bought a lottery ticket. I don't think about it anymore. Which means everything is fine. And that I won't win the jackpot.

When we accomplish something we really wanted and work hard for, can we believe it ourselves? And when do we get used to it? At the moment, I have no answer to that question. I'll take a week to think about it. Or to believe.

But before I begin, I will quote the wise Homer Simpson: “Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They’re about to announce the lottery numbers.”

Happy International Workers’ Day!

Tomorrow is May 1st, having it on Saturday this year but wait, it gets even better, on Sunday next one. Joke aside, it's a day of great importance. A day that symbolizes the struggle for workers' rights and that is still going on. That's how it is with fights. You know how and when it started but usually, when it comes to the progress of society, it’s a never-ending story. At the same time, it tells us that we still haven't reached the desired level but there's something positive in that - we still fight for improvement.

In memory of the great workers ’protests held in Chicago on May 1st, 1886. that date is celebrated around the world as an international labor holiday. About 40,000 workers took to the streets with demands symbolized in three eights: 8 hours of work, 8 hours of rest, and 8 hours of cultural upliftment.

Sprend team wishes you a happy International Workers’ Day!

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!

Who's standing behind Sprend?

Arne Evertsson

If you would like to know who's the captain of Sprend, here is the answer. It's Arne Evertsson, a developer speaking Esperanto and Croatian (one of the hardest languages in the world). Since always, he had a wish, to make a business of his own. As they say: "Fortune favours the bold" and he made it. Today, Sprend is expanding, having a Stockholm and Pula office. 

Who is Arne? To know that, the best way it would be reaching in his childhood, but we'll skip that for now. In his early twenties, at the university, Arne made an educational game "Metris". He had his first job in 1995. and he was a freelancer in 1998. His first file-manager application called „UploadFolder“ was made in 2000.

But except for knowledge and talent, Arne likes to mention the ones who were together with him on the path of creating Sprend. Some of them working with him for shorter periods, others for longer but in the end, he managed to create Sprend - a company for sending large files with great business philosophy. Christoffer, Joakim and Stefan were those people, standing beside Arne at one point. Everyone who ever wanted to build something by himself knows how support is requisite. Tanja Evertsson was this strength all the way. 

Today, Sprend's team of five is working with motivating business philosophy, in a stimulating, stress-free surrounding with a lot of humor. The one who brings it is in most cases is Arne himself. 

“Metris” educational game Arne made in 1993.

T: Was it hard to let other people in Sprend?

A: No, not at all. I was searching for people for years. Sometimes I think that I spent too much time on that. Finding them, taking time to meet them, but in the end, very few were the right ones for Sprend. Maybe they didn't find the idea interesting enough (laughing).

T: Can we talk a little bit about leading people? I need to say, I noticed at our meetings that there are always much more things you have done than you are saying out loud. In general, people do the opposite.

A: Is that a question?

T: No, you're right, it's not. It's my noticing, and I know you would never say it for yourself. So I needed to. Do you find it easy for people to work with you?

A: Not at all. There were people who didn't like it. I'm very stubborn. And I'm a perfectionist. But also, I believe that in companies the hardest thing can be when the small problems became big problems. Like: "I'm the owner and I have a demand". Then you have classical "us" and "them", the owner and the employees.

T: What is your way then?

A: My golden rule is to behave toward others as you would like them to behave to you. Honesty is the quality I appreciate. Always stay honest. Things can be simple. When I speak with my customers on the phone, if they have some obstacle, I'm always trying to help and if that doesn't work, I offer them money back. You know, when someone is completely honest, people can feel it. In general, they never want their money back and in the end, we always find a great solution. You have many services when you get no reply emails, why? Is that polite? If you have a problem is it good to send a message: "Thanks for contacting us, but we don't want to speak about it now". We need to be available.

T: You're letting people make mistakes, not expecting perfection in every step of a working process, why is that?

A: By making mistakes people learn. It's very human to want to avoid pain, if you know there'll be punishment, you'll try to avoid it. But be able to talk to your boss, that's something.

T: How would you describe Sprend to someone who has never heard of it?

A: When you are feeling lost and lonely and a stranger turns to you, smiles, and says, would you like to join us? But in simple boring terms: Sprend helps you send files that are too large to fit in an email.