In the fast-paced world of start-ups, finding a moment to hit the pause button and recharge can be a challenge. That's why we all work so hard to put time aside for Week 13 - a time when we focus on working on the team and the business we are building. We reflect on our company culture as we grow and share both new learnings and new experiences with each other.
We kicked things off on Tuesday morning with a strategy update from Richard Johanson, our CEO. The highlight of the meeting was the Tim Tams he brought back from a recent trip to Australia – closely followed by the interesting discussion on where we are heading next! Over the course of the day, we discussed how we could use ChatGPT best in our work and how we could improve our delivery sprint planning. After lunch, Alessandro Tringali, Control Systems Engineer, led us through a session on defining the values which are most important to our team and the culture we are building together.
On Wednesday, we attended the SpaceComm conference in Farnborough together. It was amazing to discuss innovation in the Space industry with our industry peers and partners. We left feeling even more enthusiastic about the work we are doing, and sure about the impact our TERRA-M will have on optical communications!
On Thursday, our Lead Systems Engineer, Robin Davies, led our engineers through a workshop on Model-Based Systems Engineering. The team split into small groups and went through background theory before applying their knowledge to a hands-on problem. Meanwhile, our Operations team, CEO Richard Johanson and CCO Paul Davey went back to SpaceComm for a second round of industry discussions with connections new and old.
On Friday, the team was reunited in our Osney Mead office and looking their best for some team photos. We made sure the TERRA-M model was looking beautiful for her big day! We had Karl Ramwell, our Project Manager, run us through a bottom-up planning review to make sure that we are all aligned on the detailed delivery plan for the next period. To close the week, the team met for a barbeque where we faced our biggest challenge of the week: how to open a very stubborn piñata with tiniest of pre-provided bats!
Week 13 this year was a great chance to get to know our expanding team better, and to understand the future for Archangel Lightworks. If you want to keep in touch with us on our journey to reimagine space connectivity, you can follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter. If you’re interested in being part of that journey and our team, please let us know through applying here.