I’ve been lucky that we have closed down for the final week of the 12 months for the final seven years that I’ve been at Buffer. We kicked off this on the finish of 2016 and have stored up yearly since then.
Closing down for the final week of the 12 months is a chance to pause and recharge. It’s like a reset, besides throughout the entire firm. I really like telling folks about this apply at Buffer as a result of they’ve so many questions on how we proceed to function whereas closing down for every week.
As we work with many small companies and creators who can typically wrestle with working over the vacations, it feels particularly essential to share how we’re going about this.
So on this publish, I’ll cowl what it means to shut down for every week as a enterprise whose prospects are at all times utilizing it, why we do it, and particularly how our largest groups handle this day off whereas nonetheless caring for our product and our prospects.
Let’s dive in!
What does it imply to shut down for every week?
On the finish of yearly, we shut down for the 12 months’s closing week. The precise definition of “closed down” varies from firm to firm – some companies will fully shut down operations whereas others will solely shut specific sections of their enterprise.
This offers everybody on the firm some additional time to relaxation, and it creates an surroundings the place nobody is apprehensive about lacking out on tasks or updates whereas they’re offline as a result of we’re all offline. We’ve performed this form of factor earlier than, closing down for an additional lengthy weekend in the summertime, and it’s at all times been refreshing for our group.
Once I say that we’re closed, that implies that many of the firm is off (I’ll elaborate within the subsequent part), we aren’t releasing new options or altering our product in any respect, we aren’t publishing new weblog posts, and it’s deliberately a time of relaxation.
In our enterprise, creating instruments for small companies and creators constructing a model on-line, this time of 12 months can be reliably gradual. So in contrast to another industries that will choose up over the vacations, we will lean into relaxation by closing the corporate throughout a naturally slower interval.
What does this seem like in apply?
For many groups at Buffer, closing for the vacations means a full disconnect. Our two largest groups, Engineering and Buyer Advocacy should create techniques the place we will nonetheless serve our prospects and guarantee Buffer is operational whereas additionally making house for added relaxation. So right here’s how Engineering and Advocacy deal with the week off.
How our Advocacy group handles every week closed
Our Advocacy group is a gaggle of absolute execs who’re taking good care of our prospects. This 12 months, they’ve helped clear up over 60,000 buyer assist requests with a mean first response time of simply three hours.
Over time that we’ve been closing, they’ve found out the proper stability to make sure we will nonetheless assist prospects whereas additionally giving our Advocates that additional relaxation.
To begin, we take steps to make this era seen to our prospects. They publish a transparent message stating that we’re shut down for the vacations in all the principle channels the place we talk with prospects. These embrace a banner for people who find themselves in Buffer, an auto-reply to buyer assist e mail, a pinned tweet on our account, and several other different locations.
This 12 months, the message reads:
The Buffer group is observing an organization shut down between December 24 and January 1.
We’re nonetheless responding to buyer assist emails and messages however will take longer than common to answer. We’ll get again to you as shortly as we will. Blissful Holidays!
For Advocates, we ask that every particular person on the group works one full day or two half days in that interval. We have now 21 folks on the Advocacy group, and we’ll have two or extra folks on-line most days. We don’t at all times have folks on December twenty fourth or twenty fifth, or January 1st, and we’re okay with that.
The group has in place a transparent schedule, expectations when individuals are on-line with easy methods to prioritize their work and get again to prospects, and tips for emergencies. (We have now these tips in place on a regular basis, but it surely’s at all times good to evaluation forward of the vacations.)
How our Engineering group handles every week closed
Much like Advocacy, for our engineers, we have to have some protection of engineers who’re on name in case one thing occurs.
For Engineering, their break appears to be like totally different as a result of they’re on name, which means they’re obtainable if one thing breaks, moderately than totally on-line throughout this time. That implies that the load of being on name will be unfold amongst fewer folks as a result of the probability of them needing to be on-line is decrease.
The best way that the on-call schedule works is that there are a number of specialised or senior members of the group who’re instantly positioned in all the on-call spots. Then we ask for volunteers from the remainder of the engineering group to be on-call all through the week.
Along with having people on name, we additionally do a code freeze earlier than the tip of the 12 months. This merely means we cease delivery new code and making adjustments to Buffer. The aim of that is to extend our confidence that issues will go easily for the engineers on-call and our Advocacy group.
A couple of questions from our neighborhood about closing down for every week
We reached out on social media to see what questions folks had about closing down for every week, and we bought just a few good questions. Right here’s our response:
Do shoppers discover this irritating or ever complain?
We haven’t heard main complaints or frustration about this previously, and if ever issues haven’t gone as deliberate, we’ve adjusted our plan for the next 12 months. We make certain to be very clear that we’re taking this day off throughout our communication channels. We nonetheless have our Advocacy group spending a while on-line and may reply to something pressing.
Did this influence your backside line in any respect?
No, we deliberately select a gradual time for us to be closed. So it’s the proper time to take a break with none main influence. As well as, because the Advocacy group remains to be monitoring for pressing buyer requests and the Engineering group is on name, we will nonetheless soar on any points that pop up, and our prospects nonetheless have assist.
I’d like to learn about the advantages your organization has seen and the way it positively impacts staff!
The most important profit we’ve seen from closing down for the vacations is that our group is extra rested and refreshed. It’s a novel alternative for everybody at Buffer to take a break, moderately than it taking place in spots all year long. It means the power ranges within the first few weeks of the 12 months are at all times actually excessive for us. Taking this week off for all of us without delay additionally offers us a larger alternative to calm down as a result of nobody wants to consider tasks which are transferring ahead with out them or lacking out on group communication. In any case, we’re all offline. That is nice for us as a group, which interprets into being nice for our product and our prospects.
Do you’re taking breaks from work or your enterprise, and in that case, what’s your method? We’d love to listen to from you on Twitter or Discord.
