2023 has been incredibly busy at Hatch, and, as often happens, non-essential tasks took a back seat. For example, the first draft of this blog began with: 'Wow, I can’t believe it’s 2023 already! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones and are excited for the year ahead.' While that message might be a bit dated now, the sentiment remains just as heartfelt."
As is our tradition, we kicked off the new year with a team session reflecting on our Company Values, and this year was no different. In this article, I’d like to offer you a glimpse into our process, our mindset, and the culture that drives us. Happy reading!
Kicking things off
We kicked off this year’s session with an insightful talk from Jeff Lawson, who does an excellent job of explaining the true value of company values—a concept that, in my experience, doesn’t always resonate naturally with most engineering teams. He takes what can feel like a 'fluffy' idea and makes it practical and tangible. I recommend watching it now, as there are spoilers ahead!
"That video set the tone perfectly: 'Your company already has a culture and values—it's best to document them so you can have (more) control over shaping them.'"
Crowd Source
"Three key concepts from Jeff's talk guided our approach to understanding company values:
Your company values reflect your People, your Products, and your Process.
You don’t create company values—they already exist. You simply articulate them.
Not everyone has to embody every value all the time, but everyone should be capable of living them.
With these ideas in mind, we invited all Hatchlings to a blitz session. The prompt was simple: 'Quickly jot down any concepts, words, or phrases that come to mind when you think about Hatch.' The time pressure was intentional—it helped bring out the most honest, unfiltered responses.
The first round of post-its was diverse yet relatable. Some described how we collaborate (process), others focused on our work practices (product), and many highlighted common traits they observe in their colleagues (people). Each person presented their ideas, and we repeated this cycle four times.
As the post-its piled up, we had everyone dot-vote on the ones that resonated most and reflected what we wanted to reinforce. At the same time, we filtered out the less inspiring or recognizable ideas—good material for future retrospectives, but not for this values exercise.
Out of this process, clear clusters of values emerged. Focusing on each cluster, we identified the words that tied them together: 'Partner, Challenge, Empower, Flexible, Down-to-Earth, Knowledge, Ownership, Fun.' At first glance, these words might seem ordinary, but to our team, they had already begun to take on a deeper, more personal meaning."
Give them time to Hatch
"We then moved all the post-its to a central whiteboard in our office, putting them on full display. Over the next few days, we invited every Hatchling to decorate the board with power phrases (mantras?) that best captured the essence of each cluster. By the end of the third week, the whiteboard was filled with one-liners.
It took just one more group discussion to narrow the list down to eight core values. We feel this set strikes a strong balance between people, product, and process. Together, they effectively convey what we seek in our colleagues and how we want to work, both with each other and our clients.
Dive In - Try new things, challenge yourself
Be Real - Genuine, trustworthy and down-to-earth
Share the load - Lean on and support one another
Fill the Gap - Add what is missing
Embrace Change - See opportunity not adversity
Own It - Take charge, lean in
Bring the sunshine - Brighten each other's day
Stay Hungry - Stay curious, never stop learning
These values speak for themselves, and we've tried to express them in a way that offers enough scope without being too generic or high-level. So far, they’ve served as excellent guiding principles for our teams, as well as a great introduction tool for new Hatchlings and clients.
With plans to double our flock this year (Hatchlings, you get it?), I’m excited for our 2024 values check-in!"
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