www-viget-com-97ckk4.txt (14026B)
1 [1] Skip to Main Content 2 [2] Viget 3 4 • [3] Work 5 • [4] Services 6 • [5] Articles 7 • [6] Careers 8 • [7] Contact 9 • Open Menu 10 11 Navigation 12 13 [9] Viget Close 14 15 • Practice 16 • [11] Work 17 • [12] Services 18 • [13] Articles 19 20 We’re a full-service digital agency that’s been helping clients make lasting 21 change since 1999. 22 23 [14] Contact Us 24 25 People 26 27 • [15]Company 28 • [16]Careers 29 • [17]Code of Ethics 30 • [18]Diversity & Inclusion 31 32 More 33 34 • [19]Pointless Corp. 35 • [20]Explorations 36 • [21]Code at Viget 37 38 Featured 39 40 [22] 41 Read the Article: Revolutionizing the Web 42 43 Newsletter 44 45 Revolutionizing the Web 46 47 [23] 48 Read the Article: The Reflection Before Christmas 49 50 Article 51 52 The Reflection Before Christmas 53 54 The Enduring Point of Pointless Corp. 55 56 [pointless-sticker-bear-article] 57 [24] Brian Williams 58 59 [25]Brian Williams, Co-Founder & CEO 60 61 Article Categories: [26] #News & Culture, [27] #Employee Engagement 62 63 Posted on March 24, 2023 64 65 • [28] 66 Share 67 • [29] 68 Share 69 • [30] 70 Post 71 72 Pointless Corp. is the innovation lab at Viget, where we step away from client 73 work to make fun and useful things for everyone 74 75 P o i n t l e s s C o r p . i s t h e i n n o v a t i o n l a b a t V i g e t , 76 w h e r e w e s t e p a w a y f r o m c l i e n t w o r k t o m a k e f u n a n 77 d u s e f u l t h i n g s f o r e v e r y o n e 78 79 “Neither pointless, nor a corporation” is how we describe Pointless Corp. here 80 at Viget. We founded Viget – an actual company – in 1999 during the original 81 dot com bubble to build web products for clients. Serving clients has always 82 been our purpose or … point, if you will. Over the decades, we’ve done just 83 that, completing thousands of projects for hundreds of clients. Never 84 forgetting that we exist to serve our clients has been key in our longevity. 85 86 About a decade in, we felt the urge to build and launch our own projects. [31] 87 Pointless Corp. became the internal [32]brand we adopted to remind ourselves 88 that these projects can be fun and useful but don’t replace the primary point 89 of Viget. A line from Harry Nilsson’s The Point! referencing the Pointless Man 90 serves as inspiration: “a point in every direction is the same as no point at 91 all.” We wanted the freedom to experiment in every direction. 92 93 So we did. Ideas and teams formed fairly randomly, and Pointless Projects began 94 to fill the gaps between our client work. Projects like [33]HeyCraig (2009), 95 which sent you an email alert based on your Craigslist search (before 96 Craigslist shut us down and added the feature). Or [34]Tincan’d (2011), a 97 simple video call platform before Zoom or Google Meet. Or [35]BabyBookie, the 98 baby due date office pool app over 500,000 people have used since launch in 99 2012. 100 101 These projects allow our teams to work without the input (including, ahem, 102 revenue) of clients, so we’re more free to experiment, wear different hats, and 103 learn … a lot. We apply what we learn back into our client work. Along the way, 104 we get to know each other better, scratch our entrepreneurial itches, and 105 hopefully put some fun and/or useful things out in the world for others to 106 enjoy. 107 108 For many years, we organized an annual optional Pointless Weekend. We’d kick 109 off hackathon-style on a Thursday evening and wrap on a Saturday evening with a 110 functional product out in the wild, as I described [36]back in 2012. It’s [37] 111 always been an intense, enjoyable, but rather exhausting 48 hours. Photos from 112 [38]2011, [39]2014, and [40]2016 bring back some great memories. 113 114 [pointless-old] 115 Pointless Weekend 2014 spanned three Viget offices 116 117 A couple of years ago, we shifted the schedule to start on Wednesday and wrap 118 on Friday. This made participation easier, allowing parents and others with 119 weekend commitments to join. It also allowed projects to wrap up just in time 120 for our Friday staff meeting. We awkwardly called it “Pointless Week” even 121 though it was still only two days. 122 123 New for 2023: Pointless Palooza 124 125 Two things I like: alliteration and lollapalooza (specifically circa 1992, but 126 that’s a story for another day). So Pointless Palooza was an obvious choice for 127 what to call our little two day adventure. In addition to a new name, we’re 128 trying a few other changes this year: 129 130 Pointless Executives. Nothing injects new energy like new leadership. We handed 131 over the Pointless reins to two trusty execs: [41]Andrew (day job: developer) 132 is our Pointless CEO and [42]Aimee (day job: project manager) is our Pointless 133 COO. They’ve done a phenomenal job setting a vision, planning, and leading the 134 activities. Their enthusiasm helped inspire more than half the company to 135 participate with a record number of projects and great results. 136 137 Pitching & Team Formation. Previously, project ideas were “pitched” with a 138 single slide and a tight 1-2 minute segment at a staff meeting. These were fun 139 and lighthearted, but didn’t always capture the full vision, and teams often 140 formed and morphed during the kickoff night. This year, project ideas were 141 shared more gradually via collaboration in Slack and Notion. Project teams 142 formed with more structure in advance, and team members had some time before 143 the kickoff to marinate on the idea and get excited to build. 144 145 Even More Remote Friendly. There’s something magical about kickoff-pizza, 146 launch day donuts, and [43]in-person collaboration. But there’s something even 147 more magical about collaborating with dozens of teammates around the country 148 (especially when it’s supplemented by [44]sweet swag boxes and Divvy credits 149 for remote treats). Hybrid teams work. We still had fun in-office connections, 150 but most of our Pointless Projects this year are being worked on with 151 distributed teams, much like our client work. 152 153 [23-pointless] 154 Pointless Branded Stuff 2023 including a t-shirt and sticker pack -- very 155 corporate 156 157 Some things haven’t changed from prior years. Team members are still swapping 158 roles – PMs writing code, designers running projects, the list goes on – which 159 means steep and rapid [45]learning curves. We’re still trying out new 160 technologies and approaches to our work, which means unexpected blockers and 161 great insights to share. New connections are being formed, especially since 162 more than half of this year’s participants are in their first year at Viget and 163 experiencing their first Pointless event. Forming authentic co-worker 164 connections isn’t easy, and our culture is stronger today than it was at the 165 start of the week. 166 167 So what projects will launch? I won’t steal their thunder, but we just wrapped 168 the presentation portion of six Pointless Project teams at our weekly staff 169 meeting and it was the most we’ve laughed, cheered, and been inspired in a long 170 time. I expect articles will be written and shared in the days and weeks ahead 171 outlining the thrills (and mishaps) of the teams this year. 172 173 [PointlessPalooza2023] 174 Pointless Palooza 2023 was a blast! 175 176 Pointless Corp. is more than an annual palooza. We work on projects throughout 177 the year in the gaps between client work, weaving the teamwork, learning, and 178 teaching values of Viget into all that we do. 179 180 If this is the kind of work and culture you might enjoy, learn more about [46] 181 our culture and job openings – perhaps you’ll be able to join next year’s 182 Pointless Palooza. After all, inspiring people to join us is unapologetically 183 part of the point. 184 185 [47] Brian Williams 186 187 [48]Brian is Viget's co-founder and CEO. He does everything from advising our 188 clients to building our conference tables with his bare hands in our Falls 189 Church, VA, HQ. 190 191 [49]More articles by Brian 192 193 Related Articles 194 195 • [50] 196 197 Article 198 199 Our Pointless Logo 200 201 Brian Williams 202 203 • [51] 204 205 Article 206 207 Introducing Pointless Corp. 208 209 Brian Williams 210 211 • [52] 212 What’s the Point of Pointless Weekend? 213 214 Article 215 216 What’s the Point of Pointless Weekend? 217 218 Brian Williams 219 220 The Viget Newsletter 221 222 Nobody likes popups, so we waited until now to recommend our newsletter, 223 featuring thoughts, opinions, and tools for building a better digital world. 224 [53]Read the current issue. 225 226 [54]Subscribe Here (opens in new window) 227 228 Site Footer 229 230 Have an unsolvable problem or audacious idea? 231 232 Let’s get to work 233 234 [55] Contact Us [56] [email protected] [57] 703.891.0670 235 236 • Practice 237 • [58]Work 238 • [59]Services 239 • [60]Articles 240 241 • People 242 • [61]Company 243 • [62]Careers 244 • [63]Code of Ethics 245 • [64]Diversity & Inclusion 246 247 • More 248 • [65]Pointless Corp. 249 • [66]Explorations 250 • [67]Code at Viget 251 252 Sign Up For Our Newsletter 253 254 A curated periodical featuring thoughts, opinions, and tools for building a 255 better digital world. 256 257 [68] Check it out 258 259 Social Links 260 261 [69] Viget 262 263 • [70] 264 • [71] 265 • [72] 266 • [73] 267 • [74] 268 • [75] 269 270 Office Locations 271 272 • [76]Washington DC Metro 273 • [77]Durham, NC 274 • [78]Boulder, CO 275 • [79]Chattanooga, TN 276 277 © 1999 – 2024 Viget Labs, LLC. 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