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   Read the Article: The Enduring Point of Pointless Corp

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The Enduring Point of Pointless Corp

The Enduring Point of Pointless Corp

   [22]Brian Williams

   [23]Brian Williams, Co-Founder & CEO

   Article Categories: [24]#News & Culture, [25]#Employee Engagement

   Posted on March 24, 2023
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   Pointless Corp. is the innovation lab at Viget, where we step away from
   client work to make fun and useful things for everyone

   “Neither pointless, nor a corporation” is how we describe Pointless
   Corp. here at Viget. We founded Viget – an actual company – in 1999
   during the original dot com bubble to build web products for clients.
   Serving clients has always been our purpose or … point, if you will.
   Over the decades, we’ve done just that, completing thousands of
   projects for hundreds of clients. Never forgetting that we exist to
   serve our clients has been key in our longevity.

   About a decade in, we felt the urge to build and launch our own
   projects. [26]Pointless Corp became the internal [27]brand we adopted
   to remind ourselves that these projects can be fun and useful but don’t
   replace the primary point of Viget. A line from Harry Nilsson’s The
   Point! referencing the Pointless Man serves as inspiration: “a point in
   every direction is the same as no point at all.” We wanted the freedom
   to experiment in every direction.

   So we did. Ideas and teams formed fairly randomly, and Pointless
   Projects began to fill the gaps between our client work. Projects like
   [28]HeyCraig (2009), which sent you an email alert based on your
   Craigslist search (before Craigslist shut us down and added the
   feature). Or [29]Tincan’d (2011), a simple video call platform before
   Zoom or Google Meet. Or [30]BabyBookie, the baby due date office pool
   app over 500,000 people have used since launch in 2012.

   These projects allow our teams to work without the input (including,
   ahem, revenue) of clients, so we’re more free to experiment, wear
   different hats, and learn … a lot. We apply what we learn back into our
   client work. Along the way, we get to know each other better, scratch
   our entrepreneurial itches, and hopefully put some fun and/or useful
   things out in the world for others to enjoy.

   For many years, we organized an annual optional Pointless Weekend. We’d
   kick off hackathon-style on a Thursday evening and wrap on a Saturday
   evening with a functional product out in the wild, as I described
   [31]back in 2012. It’s [32]always been an intense, enjoyable, but
   rather exhausting 48 hours. Photos from [33]2011, [34]2014, and
   [35]2016 bring back some great memories.
   Photos of Pointless Weekend 2014
   Pointless Weekend 2014 spanned three Viget offices

   A couple of years ago, we shifted the schedule to start on Wednesday
   and wrap on Friday. This made participation easier, allowing parents
   and others with weekend commitments to join. It also allowed projects
   to wrap up just in time for our Friday staff meeting. We awkwardly
   called it “Pointless Week” even though it was still only two days.

   New for 2023: Pointless Palooza

   Two things I like: alliteration and lollapalooza (specifically circa
   1992, but that’s a story for another day). So Pointless Palooza was an
   obvious choice for what to call our little two day adventure. In
   addition to a new name, we’re trying a few other changes this year:

   Pointless Executives. Nothing injects new energy like new leadership.
   We handed over the Pointless reins to two trusty execs: [36]Andrew (day
   job: developer) is our Pointless CEO and [37]Aimee (day job: project
   manager) is our Pointless COO. They’ve done a phenomenal job setting a
   vision, planning, and leading the activities. Their enthusiasm helped
   inspire more than half the company to participate with a record number
   of projects and great results.

   Pitching & Team Formation. Previously, project ideas were “pitched”
   with a single slide and a tight 1-2 minute segment at a staff meeting.
   These were fun and lighthearted, but didn’t always capture the full
   vision, and teams often formed and morphed during the kickoff night.
   This year, project ideas were shared more gradually via collaboration
   in Slack and Notion. Project teams formed with more structure in
   advance, and team members had some time before the kickoff to marinate
   on the idea and get excited to build.

   Even More Remote Friendly. There’s something magical about
   kickoff-pizza, launch day donuts, and [38]in-person collaboration. But
   there’s something even more magical about collaborating with dozens of
   teammates around the country (especially when it’s supplemented by
   [39]sweet swag boxes and Divvy credits for remote treats). Hybrid teams
   work. We still had fun in-office connections, but most of our Pointless
   Projects this year are being worked on with distributed teams, much
   like our client work.
   Photo of Pointless Branded Stuff 2023
   Pointless Branded Stuff 2023 including a t-shirt and sticker pack --
   very corporate

   Some things haven’t changed from prior years. Team members are still
   swapping roles – PMs writing code, designers running projects, the list
   goes on – which means steep and rapid [40]learning curves. We’re still
   trying out new technologies and approaches to our work, which means
   unexpected blockers and great insights to share. New connections are
   being formed, especially since more than half of this year’s
   participants are in their first year at Viget and experiencing their
   first Pointless event. Forming authentic co-worker connections isn’t
   easy, and our culture is stronger today than it was at the start of the
   week.

   So what projects will launch? I won’t steal their thunder, but we just
   wrapped the presentation portion of six Pointless Project teams at our
   weekly staff meeting and it was the most we’ve laughed, cheered, and
   been inspired in a long time. I expect articles will be written and
   shared in the days and weeks ahead outlining the thrills (and mishaps)
   of the teams this year.
   Photos of Pointless Palooza 2023
   Pointless Palooza 2023 was a blast!

   Pointless Corp. is more than an annual palooza. We work on projects
   throughout the year in the gaps between client work, weaving the
   teamwork, learning, and teaching values of Viget into all that we do.

   If this is the kind of work and culture you might enjoy, learn more
   about [41]our culture and job openings – perhaps you’ll be able to join
   next year’s Pointless Palooza. After all, inspiring people to join us
   is unapologetically part of the point.

   [42]Brian Williams

   [43]Brian is Viget's co-founder and CEO. He does everything from
   advising our clients to building our conference tables with his bare
   hands in our Falls Church, VA, HQ.
   [44]More articles by Brian

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