Reuniting And Strengthening Remote Team Relationships: The Story Behind Font Awesome's Biannual Snuggle

The Font Awesome Team has an event called the Snuggle, a biannual company Meetup. As the Font Awesome team lives in different locations and meets every other quarter, the name came about in an interesting way. Choosing a funny name was an attempt to lighten up the serious business of remote work. As a way to foster positive vibes and to keep the team connected, the Snuggle is based on the idea that the best remote work comes from in-person relationships and sharing nerdy interests. Listen to host Matt Johnson, Dave Gandy, Travis Chase, Rob Madole, and Mike Wilkerson chat about remote work and building a healthy company culture. 

Timestamps

0:00:09
Exploring the Origin and Purpose of Font Awesome's Biannual Company Meetup — The Snuggle

0:02:31
The Benefits and Trade-Offs of Remote Work: A Conversation with Principal Software Engineer Rob Madole

0:05:23
The Power of Humor: Exploring the Benefits of Fun Team Meetings at Font Awesome

0:08:00
Investing in Relationships: The Benefits of Snuggles 

0:11:50
Reuniting with Colleagues During the COVID-19 Pandemic

0:13:36
Late Night Hangouts and A Reflection on Brian's Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies 

0:15:15
Making Up for Water Cooler Experiences 

0:16:52
Font Awesome: Balancing Remote and In-Office Work for Maximum Productivity

Highlights

“So clearly, the Snuggle is about as serious as its name, and yet the effect is that it helps build goodwill and trust among the Font Awesome team so we can work together better. While the remote work versus in office work debate will likely continue, Font Awesome has found a way to make the best of both worlds. And once you start working remote, you may never want to go back to the office again.”

“ So people come in on Sunday. So Sunday is a travel day, and then they fly back out on Friday. That's a travel day. So we've got four days in the middle there for the actual Snuggle. Two of the nights we have where we expect everybody to be there hanging out two of the nights, and we've got two nights that are in some ways, kind of like recovery nights.”

“We make up for a lot of the water cooler stuff that we miss. We make up for those shared experiences on a daily basis. We try to make up for that a lot of that here and compare it. I'm so excited that we got together, that we got to get together right now.”

“Sometimes we'll have a celebratory bottle of alcohol — of spirits and all these kind of little tiny things we do. We play DND games. We've had one that's been ongoing for, at this point, years. It only happens at the Snuggle. We each have DND characters that are special for just this Snuggle game. And, yeah, we do those things just purely fun. And it's just we're hanging out with friends at that point.”

Notes: 

• Remote Work: How We Snuggle Our Way to a Healthy Company Culture
• Ronnie Martin composed the Font Awesome theme song
• Zach Malm composed the 8-bit styled music segues 
• Audio mastering by Chris Enns and Lemon Productions 
• Meet the Font Awesome Team Through Our Nerd Show and Tell 

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