Ever wonder what things are like (or were like) at Pyra HQ? Three QuickTime movies show Behind-the-Scenes at Pyra. Back in March, Beto was in town for FlashForward so he stopped by for some lunch, and he brought his camera along. I'd forgotten that he'd documented some stuff while he was here, now he's put it online. For those of you that don't speak Spanish, here's a rough translation of what he's written to accompany the three short films (to view each, click on the box with the arrow and QuickTime image):
Primer Encuentro (First Encounter): "The first thing I did with the Pyra folks was accompany them to lunch at Pier 40, a restaurant near their offices. From left to right, pb, Ev, Meg, Ev's hand."
Ingreso al cuartel general (Return to HQ): "Next, I decided to film the return to the labyrinth, which until a few short weeks ago, housed all Pyra's equipment (this was before Derek Powazek and Matt Haughey joined the company). And there, the famous brick walls."
Una nueva casa para los bitacoreros (A new home for the webloggers): "Coincidentally, this same day, the new Blogger IBM NetInfinity server arrived. The moment the server was inaugurated, and the reaction of those present, has been captured for posterity."
I think the third one is my favorite because he films Ev's desk, and zooms in on the boxes that were running everything at the point in time. It's a neat slice of start-up life. Of course, the second one is cool too, walking through the maze that is our office…they're all so good!
I'm really glad that Beto filmed this stuff. At the time, it seemed silly. In retrospect, it's wonderful to have this documented. It's hard to believe how much things have changed since that sunny afternoon in March: we're twice as big now, our servers are all collocated, we've received funding. It feels more like a "real" company these days, which is good. I can't imagine being where we are today without the help of Matt Haughey, Jack, and Derek. But seeing something in those films sparked a twinge of nostalgia in me, reminded me of the "old" days, when we'd stay at work so late that we'd turn all giggly, when Blogger ran on my and Ev's desktops, when implementing a new feature consisted of someone saying, "hey, it should do this!" then telling others not to open the file, bam, and it was done.
As companies, even small ones grow, an amazing amount of structure and procedure becomes required. A team of three or four is a different beast than even a team of seven. Features are now projects, and not everyone works on everything anymore. And I've felt the growing pains, and still feel them. It's hard to remove oneself from areas where one's no longer needed, to adjust to new team members and different working styles. But we wouldn't be where we are today, on the verge of something great, without the growth, and I am beholden to every person on our team for all their contributions which have gotten us to this point. But part of me wonders if, somewhere along the way, some of the fun has been lost.