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A New Look for a New Chapter: The Livingdocs Office Upgrade
At Livingdocs, we believe in conscious growth. We take an approach of intentional expansion – keeping pace with the rapid digitalisation of the news publishing industry which we serve while remaining deliberate and thoughtful about how we develop both our product and our team. Slow and steady wins the race, after all. This perspective also extends to our working space.
Since the spring of 2017, our office in Kreis 4 has been a place for our team to come together and brainstorm how to make Livingdocs the best product it can be, as well as enjoy each others’ company. As time passed and our team grew, however, we realised that our space needed, well, more space. It needed an upgrade in order to accommodate our larger team, concurrent calls and 1:1 meetings, as well as allow for the possibility of hosting events for our customers and colleagues. Moreover, despite many companies having seen their office life shift as of late due to the prevalence of remote work, we wanted to keep our office dynamic lively and inviting to support inspired dialogues, collaboration and action.
All smiles in the new office after our Q2 quarterly meeting!
In an assertive move, we took over the entire floor of our building, adding two new rooms to complement the large working space some of you may be familiar with. In the spirit of believing that just because something works it doesn’t mean it can’t be improved, the team then embarked on the “office beautification” initiative, happily getting our hands dirty and tapping into our inner interior designers. We literally broke down walls, added new furniture – including standing desks and our new elegant, locally- and sustainably-made walnut conference table from Reseda – expanded our plant family and even set up a mini cocktail bar. We got a new fridge so we can better host guests and added acoustic panelling so we can better hear our customers and partners during calls. We built a special working nook – aptly named the cosy corner – for those who may feel a bit stiff working exclusively at a desk.
Spotlight and...
With the potential of the office now being maximised, we wanted to invite others to enjoy it alongside us. One of the first major things we did in the office was host an in-house livestream event to showcase how Livingdocs customers are leveraging the potential of our product to facilitate their editorial workflows. In this Spotlight event, we invited a select group of customers and partners to our space to hear first-hand what Livingdocs has done for our customer Süddeutsche Zeitung and their newsroom, with a special focus on page management and their premium news product, the Digital Edition. We then enjoyed an apéro riche as we continued our thought-provoking conversations inspired by our speakers’ informative talks. We were so pleased by the outcome of this event, that it inspired us to take full advantage of our new and improved space.
Céline Tykve, Head of Business Livingdocs, moderating our first Spotlight event.
Judith Gerber, Team Lead Editorial Systems at Süddeutsche Zeitung, answering the questions posed by the audience during the Q&A sessions.
Hannes Vollmuth, Senior Editor for Digital Strategy and Innovation at Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Fabian Heckenberger, Managing Editor at Süddeutsche Zeitung, presenting their talk on how Livingdocs supports SZ in the area of Page Management.
... Disco lights!
On that note, the next thing we decided to do was host a proper party for our colleagues, family and friends to celebrate our success and, frankly, to have some fun. So following our recent Q2 quarterly meeting, our office was transformed, complete with a disco ball and a full bar. We had our nearest and dearest join us for a night of great tunes, delicious local pizza and ice cream from the neighbourhood gelateria. We happily danced until the late hours with smiles all around.
It's party time in the Livingdocs office!
The next generation of Livingdocs at play.
At the bar and on the dance floor!
As we continue to fine-tune our space with artwork and other charming details, we look forward to using the office in new ways and creating more opportunities to host our team and trusted network. And while, indeed, all of these efforts were aimed at providing a more pleasing atmosphere to welcome visitors, they also were done in order to create a more comfortable environment for our team. Because we believe a happy team creates better products, and like we see our product, we believe continuous, conscious evolution is the way to offer the best experience possible. And as we enter this new chapter of Livingdocs marked by the move to go beyond being “just” a CMS and Editor into a more broad offering complete with finite products and a planning system, we believe a refreshed environment is the perfect way to reflect this exciting turning point in our story.