#296 – Parabol at the Big Easy

Grab your passport. Pack your bags. Passengers aboard. And just like that, I was in New Orleans.

Last week Parabol’s leadership team flew to New Orleans. And as the company’s resident Tech Recruiter, I joined them. It was the first time I would meet any of these people–although I joined the company in November; a pandemic-induced pilot shortage prevented me from joining them at last quarter’s retreat. As a chronic over-worrier, to say that I was nervous would be an understatement. What if I got COVID? What if my plane crashed? What if I suddenly developed a seafood allergy and died eating a bowl of gumbo? 

And more importantly, what if things didn’t go well with the rest of the leadership team? My impostor syndrome reared its ugly head. I was certain that during our week together these people would realize that I was a big fraud.

But as I arrived at the gorgeous converted firehouse where we would be staying, the team immediately put me at ease. Really, I shouldn’t have worried. These people were the same ones I had been working with for months. They were every bit as kind, warm, and welcoming in person as they were during our weekly check-in meetings.

What followed was a week of rigorous work with a group of creative, passionate, and opinionated people. We discussed everything from the process that we’d use to level and promote members of the company to whether we should give away merit badges (More controversial than you think!).

But there was also time for fun. Whether we were sampling the delicious local food–we tried it all, from the Po-boys to the oysters– chatting over breakfast, playing pool, getting tipsy during an informative Ghost & Cocktails tour, or strolling through the beautiful French Quarter, the team had the chance to get to know each other outside of work.

All in all, visiting New Orleans with the leadership team was a great experience. I can’t wait for our next retreat!

Monthly Web Sessions and Weekly Meetings had a slight decrease, while Monthly Web New Users and Total Registered Users continued to steadily increase. Our Retro tool continues to be our most popular feature.

…shipped version 6.55.0.  This new version introduces improvements to our sprint poker tool and to our Jira integration.

…built our growth model. We connected it to our data warehouse and built out much of the expense side of the model.

…updated our invite modal design. We added new illustrations that will show up when folks click ‘invite’ during meetings.

…propose a strategy for Q3 to the leadership team. We’ll formally propose a plan that will dictate our strategy for the coming quarter.