Terakeet Innovation, Technology & Agility

What practices does your team employ to foster innovation, and how have these practices led to more creative, out-of-the-box thinking?

I think the data team at Terakeet helps foster innovation in two main ways: team collaboration and dedicated learning time. When we work on projects, it is heavily encouraged that we collaborate with the team to gather diverse perspectives. Collaboration includes sprint reveal meetings with data engineers, data scientists and business intelligence analysts. During these meetings, we present our work and seek feedback that includes suggestions for betterment. Doing this also provides team members with new ideas and better ways for them to work or solve problems.

Each week we have a dedicated amount of time for learning and progressing our skills in different areas. This time gives a low-pressure environment to develop skills and improve strategies at developing useful tools for Terakeet. 

How has a focus on innovation increased the quality of your team’s work?

Innovation improves work at Terakeet because it increases exposure to different ideas from colleagues. It is beneficial to get feedback from managers, but I feel it really benefits me to get peer feedback while I am working on my projects. Their ideas and suggestions allow me to explore new and different ideas and help me better understand my own work. This in-depth understanding leads to more fulfillment in work, more confidence to take on projects I wouldn’t in the past and better team camaraderie when we all can see the cool projects that are being worked on. 

How has a focus on innovation bolstered your team’s culture?

Recognizing the cool and amazing work that the cross-discipline team produces allows us to foster respect for our colleagues. I think the baseline for culture is respect, and when you respect your colleagues and peers, you can build deeper relationships. We also make sure to dedicate time to water-cooler conversation that does not involve work projects to replicate what in-office communication and relationship-building would be. I think that time is very valuable to the team.