Why We Got an Office in 2021

Four months ago, we did the opposite of what so many tech companies and corporations in America are moving away from ... we got an office.

Every day since then, I wake up feeling like there’s a party I don’t want to be late for.

At TruPlay, we have a hybrid model. Some of our employees live and work locally at our headquarters in Austin. Others who do not live in Austin, work remotely. However, we have periodic visits for everybody in the company to come to the office. We just had one last week.?

We have a world-class team of both accomplished veterans and incredibly talented young people. I got energized by seeing everybody together, hearing the enthusiastic conversations, and experiencing the excitement of ideas coming to life. I saw our accomplished veterans applying their hard-earned experience to see around corners. I watched our younger, energetic people breaking glass and asking “why not?”?

I walked away last week excited and grateful for my team because we’re going to build some awesome stuff that will make the world a better place. Because no one person has all the good ideas, we foster a culture where good ideas can come from anywhere. God gave everyone gifts for a reason.??

Here’s why an office is something you should consider too:

People are designed and created to live in community. No one ever started a significant movement completely alone. Billy Graham, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ronald Reagan were leaders because they had supporters following them. We call businesses "companies," meaning collections of people. We don’t refer to them as “proprietorships.” All of the great educational institutions in the history of the world are communities. And the church, too, is communal.?

In the Bible, you never see people in isolation forever as an instructive or productive way to live. Yes, there are times that Jesus, Elijah, and David went away for solitude. Still, they always came back to live out their purpose.

At TruPlay, our work is highly collaborative. So much value dwell in the informal hallway conversations, body language, and understanding intentions. Knowing who people are and where they come from is crucial in building trust. These organic experiences are tough to replicate over Zoom.?

That said, some people are better off with focused, quiet time. We have talented developers and writers who need time for “deep work” and can’t be interrupted every five minutes. (I get it ... I once spent a month in a WeWork, and I couldn’t get anything done either ... I have nothing against beer or techno, but I don’t like either at 8:15 in the morning ...)

At TruPlay, we do our best to strike that balance and foster everyone's unique God-given gifts. Coming together helps start a fire that we hope lights up the hearts and minds of our players everywhere.

If you'd like to be with us in the office too, hit the link

1. Part 1: The Problem
2. Part 2: Our method
3. Plugging in my old Nintendo
4. Video Games, God, and Redemption
5. Part 3: Why Good Writing Matters (and Jack Bauer)
6. Personal Culture
7. Empowering Creatives
8. Empowering Creatives Pt 2
9. Part 4: Where do Children Find Hope? (and the Challenger Documentary)
10. What are they really watching?
11. R.A.D.A.R
12. The Art of World Building
13. The Redemptive Power of Play
14. Part 5: Foundational Principles
15. You’ve Been Using Your Clue Sheets All Wrong
16. You Can’t Coach Size
17. Character Matters