Four days in Switzerland: new perspectives on what we build

On Wednesday, June 10th, we at Opacity went on a team trip to Switzerland for 3 days. We flew to Zurich and drove from there to Iseltwald, a small town near Interlaken surrounded by mountains and water.

We ran. We hiked. We ate great food. We visited Thun. We worked. We coded new features. We built a new website. And we spent time getting to know each other better.

But the most important thing about the trip was not how much we achieved.

The most important thing was that we got away from everyday life and gained some different perspectives on what we are building.

Getting out of the daily routine

In a normal week, a lot of time is spent on customers, product, support, sales, meetings, and the many small decisions that constantly need to be made.

It is a natural part of building a business. But it also means that it is easy to end up seeing everything from the same angle.

Therefore, the trip had a value in itself.

When you sit by a lake in Switzerland, go for a walk in the mountains, or have dinner together without having to rush off to the next meeting, different conversations arise. Not necessarily big strategy sessions. Just the conversations that are hard to find room for in everyday life.

About the product. About the customers. About how we work together. About what we want to build. And about what we do not want to compromise on. It gave us a different space to think in.

It is not enough to write values down.

Values only become interesting when you can see them in practice. Not in a slide deck, but in the way you work.

During the trip, it became clear that culture is not just about work. It is also about how you make space, take responsibility, listen, and contribute to the community.

When you are together for several days, small things become more visible. Who takes the initiative. Who helps out. How you handle different levels of energy. How you talk to each other when you are tired after a long day. How you manage to bring together work, experiences, and peace of mind.

These are not things you can measure in a dashboard. But they matter if you want to build a healthy company.

New perspectives on the product

We also got work done along the way. New features were coded, and we continued building our new website. But the work felt different because the setting was different.

When you move physically, your thoughts often shift a bit too.

We stepped away from the usual routines and had more time to look at the product from the outside. This is important to us because Opacity handles an area that can quickly become complex: salary data, job architecture, salary bands, and salary transparency.

Our task is not to make the complexity greater. Our task is to make it more understandable.

This requires us to regularly stop and look at the product with fresh eyes. The trip gave us exactly that opportunity.

Balance is not about doing less

One of our values is balance. For us, balance is not about doing less or lowering ambitions. It is about creating a pace and a way of working that can be sustained over time.

On the trip, this meant that we worked, stayed active, ate well, and had time without a fixed schedule. There was room to be focused, but also to let conversations arise naturally.

This is how we want to build Opacity.

We want to be ambitious. We want to build fast. But we do not want to build in a way where the people behind it cannot keep up.

This also applies when we hire, develop product, and collaborate with customers. We believe that quality requires pace, but also thoughtfulness.

No egos in practice

“No egos” is easy to write. It is harder to live by.

For us, it does not mean that you are not allowed to have opinions. It means that you must be able to shelve your own idea if a better idea comes along.

During the trip, there were many small examples of this. In product discussions, in the work on the website, and in the more informal conversations.

The best argument should win. Not the loudest voice. Not the one who has been around the longest. Not the one who first came up with the idea.

This requires trust, and trust does not only arise through tasks. It also arises when you spend time together outside of the normal settings.

Integrity as core direction

We did not start Opacity to build something quickly and sell it off.

We started Opacity to build a company we actually want to be a part of. A company with a strong product, great customer relationships, and a way of working we can stand behind.

This requires integrity.

Integrity towards customers. Towards partners. Towards each other. And towards the way we make decisions.

What we took home with us

A stronger common understanding of what we are building. A better sense of each other as a team. And a reminder that culture is not only created through major decisions, but also in the frameworks you choose to set for the work.

For us, the trip to Switzerland was not a break from work.

It was a part of the work of building Opacity the right way.