Getting Meshy: The ConsenSys Retreat in Portugal

How do you bring people together, align, learn, and build deeper connectivity?

At ConsenSys, we call ourselves the Mesh. We like to think of the Mesh not only as the collection of individual nodes (people, teams, and projects) that makes up our company, but the connections between those nodes — the entire graph. The Mesh also encompasses our culture. When someone is transparent about their actions, inclusive in their decision-making, or flexible and responsive to criticism, we call that being meshy.

The Mesh — Our People

This year, the Mesh has grown exponentially. We’re now at more than 600 human nodes — at this time last year there were less than 100. 600 humans means 360,000 connections. That’s a lot of Mesh.

From February 5th to February 9th, we dropped all 600 of those humans in Portugal to talk about the future of crypto, the future of Ethereum, the future of ConsenSys — and to nourish our connections. The feedback has been that the retreat was amazing.

“My favorite part about the retreat was the non-stop togetherness that my team experienced. We pulled all-nighters, ate breakfast together every morning and had many late night soul searching discussions over wine. I haven’t bonded like that since college.” — Mesh Member

So how did we do it? Why was it successful?

In our official project review we took a look at what we did well and what we can improve. We wanted to share 4 things that stood out as the key drivers of our success with the retreat.

1. Listen

We designed a survey that captured the needs of our organization. We analyzed the data and identified 7 key things we needed to deliver on.

“Survey Says!”

Data Driven Goals: We took the time to design a survey that captured the needs of the Mesh. The team reviewed the data gathered and formed the retreat goals. Survey data drove everything. Including over 90 “unconference” style sessions and even the choice of the location.

We took the time to design a survey that captured the needs of the Mesh. The team reviewed the data gathered and formed the retreat goals. Survey data drove everything. Including over 90 “unconference” style sessions and even the choice of the location. Continuous Communications: We checked in via email updates, screen recorded videos called “Mesh Radios”, a dedicated Slack channel and with several surveys throughout the event. We communicated frequently and concisely.

We checked in via email updates, screen recorded videos called “Mesh Radios”, a dedicated Slack channel and with several surveys throughout the event. We communicated frequently and concisely. Face-to-Face Time: We held “office hours” every week for a month leading up the retreat — listening to people’s questions and needs.

2. Use Design Thinking Tools

Designing the flow of the programming required us to work closely together to weave the data we collected from the Mesh, with our training and development goals and with user-generated sessions.

Designing the Event Schedule

Card Sorting: For example using index cards and stickies before finalizing the program design. This allowed us to quickly and effectively move items around, discard items and discuss options.

For example using index cards and stickies before finalizing the program design. This allowed us to quickly and effectively move items around, discard items and discuss options. Empathy: We REALLY listened to our users, drafted an approach and re-confirmed it with them. We did that over and over again.

We REALLY listened to our users, drafted an approach and re-confirmed it with them. We did that over and over again. Iterations: We treated each sprint as an experiment and improved with every iteration.

3. Execute in Agile

To coordinate a large and diverse team of stakeholders we used 2 week sprints and worked together to “plan the work and work the plan.”

Sprint Planning

Planning Together: Instead of having longer meetings every day to talk about what we needed to do we used 3–4 hour “Sprint Planning” sessions every 2 weeks.

Instead of having longer meetings every day to talk about what we needed to do we used 3–4 hour “Sprint Planning” sessions every 2 weeks. Short but Frequent Check-Ins: We scheduled 30 minute online stand ups every other day.

We scheduled 30 minute online stand ups every other day. Self-Management: Each team member self-selected to be on the team, choose what they were focused on based on our needs and defined their own tasks.

4. Empower Experience Designers

Physical space, activities, information design, and storytelling were all interwoven to activate connectivity and deliver on our goals.

Closing Party and Conference Design

Creating the Space: We had an incredible event experience team on the ground designing our meeting and celebration space. We had a design inspired by adventure. We also created space for down time and relaxation — the “zen zone” was a getaway from the hubbub of conference-style sessions and activities.

We had an incredible event experience team on the ground designing our meeting and celebration space. We had a design inspired by adventure. We also created space for down time and relaxation — the “zen zone” was a getaway from the hubbub of conference-style sessions and activities. Activities: The outdoor spaces, session, and activities were designed to meet what the mesh said they wanted, to catalyze organic connections, and get people thinking and moving. We used 5 types: 1. Sessions given by Mesh members. 2. Training Programs. 3. Cultural and outdoor activities 4. Celebrations 5. Organic conversations (with facilitators available to dynamically jump in as needed). Not to mention the “Main Event” when all 600 of us gathered in a hall to review our Mission and Vision.

The outdoor spaces, session, and activities were designed to meet what the mesh said they wanted, to catalyze organic connections, and get people thinking and moving. We used 5 types: (with facilitators available to dynamically jump in as needed). Not to mention the “Main Event” when all 600 of us gathered in a hall to review our Mission and Vision. Information Design: Design was inspired by adventure. Going through a detailed design process to give the event a cohesive feel as early as possible — wayfinding, signs, keynote presentations were all critical. We worked to cover all our bases, online schedule, printed schedule, digital screens, posting on slack, emails, screen recorded videos (Mesh Radio) etc.

BONUS: Create an Integrated Narrative

So how did we bring people together, align, learn, and build deeper connectivity?

For our Portugal Retreat we did it by combining Data Analysis, User Experience, Design Thinking and Agile principles to create a fully “Integrated Narrative” that delivered on our 7 key goals. An Integrated Narrative is driven by clear user needs, driven by your brand and is produced in an Agile and adaptive fashion.

Conclusion:

Bottom line — we listened, we worked closely together in Agile, focused time-boxed iterations, and we had fun. How the retreat team worked is a testament to facilitated collaboration, creative leadership and a model for the future of work in a decentralized organization! Joe Lubin our founder said it best; “This is an example of emergent team behaviour. No one mandated anyone to do this retreat. People self-organized and executed perfectly.”

We encourage you to give some of these things a try and tell us how they work for you!

Thank you to: Carolyn Reckhow, Elise Ransom, Sarah Durlacher and John Packel for their contribution to this post.

Feel free to ask question in the comments or on Twitter:

@josecaballer @creckhow