Changes and Adaptation of zu Part 3: Change Brings Change

In my last post, I talked about how we are challenging our staff to take more ownership in the projects they work on by letting them become owners of zu. With a combined profit sharing plan and an ownership stake in start-ups that become clients, our staff is stepping up to the challenge.

At the same time, we have lost some of our people for various reasons over the past few months. It’s always sad to see a valued colleague and friend move on, but many left to pursue great new opportunities — and in a few cases, their dreams — and that’s something to be happy about.

When we look back at things, the change in our production philosophy was a catalyst to a change in our people. We switched from a waterfall method of production to an agile method in January. We also created smaller teams, each with about eight to ten people, that were focused on different types of work. We currently have teams dedicated to mobile, web apps and website development, and we’re looking to create more teams soon.

Using smaller teams and agile production helped us become more efficient in our work, though it also created some staff turnover as roles changed and we focused on building the strongest team possible.

Currently we are 45 people strong, which is about 10 fewer than our peak. But, we are also in a position to hire and grow our team with complementary talent. We’ve already hired a new HR Director and right now we’re interviewing  developers (web and mobile) and designers. We plan on having about 65 people by the end of this year and close to 100 by the end of 2012. Keep an eye on our careers page for new job postings in the next few weeks.

While the team is changing, we truly feel we are in a much better position as a company than we were a year ago. And we will continue to make smart business decisions that have a positive impact on both our people and our clients.