We’re not going back to the studio!

Planning for life after the studio…

Just last week, we announced to the team we would not be renewing our studio lease. This came as a shock to…absolutely no one!

This year has been really inspiring from a business point of view. We have completed our best work and launched KOTA into the next phase of our journey. Just last week we became retained by one of the most exciting startups in AI (more to follow!) 😁

Having already experimented with remote working with our ‘Work from anywhere Wednesday’ initiative in 2019. When the crisis hit in early March, we were ready to continue without any downtime.

Since March, we have started and completed projects on a global scale working with clients in the UAE, Monaco, Luxembourg and California.

 

Remote working at KOTA

Separating our team permanently fills us with a lot of anxiety but it really shouldn’t. Here’s why:

• Our communication is better than ever amongst both team members but also with clients.
• Every week begins with a full brief so everyone is aware of the company, project and team goals for the week.
• We meet every morning for a stand up to discuss our challenge ahead for the day.
• Weekly, our individual teams within design, dev and management meet for project updates.

Overwhelmingly, our team are favouring a flexible approach to the week. Longer-term, we have not ruled out returning to a studio in a hybrid approach but for now, we are very much embracing life after the studio and this being the new normal.

The rent we save is going to be put into a FUNd and it will be our team’s decision on how we spend it. This could be a longer period of time abroad together or split into smaller trips, it could be meeting quarterly or maybe even more often. The focus will be on team building and having fun.

Most of the team remain commutable to London, so where a Zoom call won’t be sufficient with clients, we will still be meeting face to face. Into next year, we will likely have a base out of a coworking space, although we have not reached a decision on that just yet.

Whatever happens in 2021, we’re lucky to say we survived this year without any major obstacles and kept ourselves busy with a range of new exciting projects, such as Matchroom Boxing and Martin Building Company (and a few more to come by the end of 2020). Of course, we eagerly await the vaccine in hopes of seeing our teammates and clients face to face again, yet ‘the new normal’ is here to stay at KOTA!