Some sprints finish in the office, others finish on a river. Last Saturday, twenty of us headed to Köprülü Canyon, one of the finest courses near Antalya, for a day of rafting.
How the day went
We set off by shuttle in the morning and split into boats after a short safety briefing. The first half hour went on debating who was holding their paddle correctly; everything after that was a lesson in teamwork. What we learned on the river wasn’t any different from the office: The boat that keeps a shared rhythm is the boat that handles the current most comfortably. (And yes, one of our boats completed a good stretch of the course determinedly sideways. Requests for a paddle technique workshop have been noted.)
We had lunch by the river, and the afternoon brought a swimming break, plenty of photos, and the classic team trip finale of people falling asleep on the bus home.
Why it matters to us
These days out are more than a team-building exercise for us. When people from different teams, who rarely cross paths during the working day, end up paddling in the same boat, sending that Slack message on Monday gets easier, and so does asking for that code review. The bond beyond being colleagues improves the work itself.