Mint Syr­up - A Year in Re­view: Look­ing Back at 2023

We described 2022 as the year of uncertainty, we expected 2023 to be another tough year. Well, it was. We turned our attention to international opportunities, we did our job, we were together and we persevered.

Focusing on resilience

The events that defined last year still go back to 2022. The market has changed, clients have become more cautious about development, and prices have started to rise dramatically. In a way, it was not a quiet year for us: we had a lot of problems to solve, which also tested the team. We had - and still have - the routine in effectively dealing with negative emotional states, but after a while people started to show signs of fatigue. The positive feeling that comes when overcoming a difficulty is not a longlasting state; we ourselves have also slipped back into anxiety and negative emotional states time after time. But by focusing on strengths, we can trigger a durable re-tuning that increases people's self-esteem and well-being through real positive reinforcements.

The community space shaped by the people can best be compared to homeostatic balance. It's like a well-functioning permaculture garden or a crystal clear water plant aquarium. Commonly formed habits provide the self-regulating function that maintains the balance. We have created a questionnaire to measure the well-being of our business community based on the Seligman mode. Alongside the areas of positive emotions, flow, relationships, meaningful work and performance, we also examined autonomy as part of the survey.

Andi has introduced quite a few changes in Integral Vision's life. She has played a major role in strengthening data-driven thinking within our company. She created our integrated spreadsheets providing a real-time view of our performance and projections for the future. Thanks to this, we have become more financially aware over the years, and this has helped us to maintain our community and preserve our democratic structure. Andi spent the first quarter of the year in Nazaré, where she reflected on her role in our community next to the 100 foot waves.

I've always dreamed of a company where people spend time together not just for the sake of work, but also because they love each other's company. Last year, I got to experience for myself in a new way what it's like when the workplace isn't just about work, but also about friendly connections.

The habits we have established in Integral Vision provide a safe and transparent framework for people to carry out their tasks in an autonomous way, without any need for micro-management. Everything works seamlessly, our metrics enables us to see things clearly, and regular reflections make space for continuous, iterative improvement. This sounds great but comes with disadvantages too.  - we have ingrained habits, a community inertia that sometimes - when it was much needed - makes it difficult to adapt quickly. At the same time, it is the strength of the community that can work a safety net. "Sometimes it feels like we're trudging upstream at the speed of a well-loaded barge while the speedboats pass us by, but I think at this point it's worth zooming in."

And that same community is what can create good things outside the office. That's how, for example, our colleagues started the boonshelf online marketplace where sellers and buyers can interact while supporting a cause they care about. The website was set up partly by IV staff outside the workplace, using their own resources.

Featured works

In 2023, 90% of our work was for existing clients. It was not just about support and improvements, there have also been a number of major enhancements, complete redesigns or launch of new project websites. Let's see some of the highlights

The Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) works to counter the risks and root causes of torture and ill-treatment.. We have redesigned and rebuilt their website to improve usability.

We are very proud of our long lasting cooperation with the Petőfi Literary Museum, and also of the fact that we once again had the opportunity to design and develop their new website. As part of this ear-long cooperation, the Digital Academy of Literature got their own website where we have made the entire text available in the DIA database searchable

Based on the guidance of Ákos Füzi, we redesigned and further developed the well-known platform for Reformed pastors, lelkesz.com.

We launched Euroexam's website in 2020. We are proud to work with such dedicated and innovative people. Here is a summary of what we really like about our cooperation.

We started working together more than three years ago, since then we have launched three websites. We love our achievements as much as the joint reflection that precedes them. It is inspiring to work together with such a constructive and innovative team as the ECNL.

Professional reflections

Over the years, there have been a few instances where we didn't opt for Drupal because a simpler solution provided more value to the client.

Maintaining an online presence often forces companies to build multiple websites and Drupal provides various choices for Clients to build and manage them efficiently. We explored the pros and cons of each solution in our post,

We joined Acquia's partner program. By becoming an Acquia partner we now have access to new solutions deeply integrated with Drupal that can help us serve even more sophisticated business needs. In the meantime, Vince and BT successfully achieved the highest category of Acquia Drupal certification.

In the last quarter of the year, I met with key energy players in the Baltic region to talk about the integration opportunities of Drupal. Transparency in the energy market is in many ways a core issue of our times. Implementation is clearly a complex but achievable challenge with Drupal. The Baltic Transparency Platform has been publishing regional energy market data for almost 3 years. 

As for team changes, Ancsa and Zsuzsi rejoined our active team in 2023 coming back from maternity leave and from January on Olaf is tinkering with drones instead of websites.

The highlight of the year for me was reading Ancsa and Tomi's letters in December. They started a project titled the Advent Calendar and every morning at 8am sharp we all received a story, a memory, an acknowledgment into our mailbox often accompanied by offline surprises in the office.  

At the end of the year, Tomi become the show master, and we had a great time by playing with the quizzes he prepared.

Wishing us all a calmer year full of positive changes.