Last month we decided to give ourselves a break from our co-working space and went on a week-long team retreat in the beautiful countryside of Charlevoix, Québec.

We set out to the Petite-Rivière-Saint-François village on a grey Sunday afternoon and arrived in a beautiful log cabin perched above the Saint Lawrence River. The view was stunning.

A change of pace

We knew from past retreat experiences that breaking the routine can be beneficial for productivity and new ideas. From way back into our client-work era, to building Conference Badge and Medali.st, we always got something big out of team retreats.

No specific goals were set for this one. We simply wanted to work more, with fewer distractions and more time to discuss. We firmly believe in work-life balance, but sometimes it’s just good to go all out for a few days. The key benefit was constant focus… with a view.

Working with a view 🌄 #missiveRetreat pic.twitter.com/iPUCwfnUpc

— Missive (@missiveapp) November 11, 2015

In between all the hard work we took the time for good food and relaxing spa sessions. Add a few refreshing runs rewarded with drinks and pool games and you get the dream retreat (let’s not forget Etienne’s classic late-night LoTR viewing).

Sharing the fun

Since the Airbnb “cottage” had enough space to house 12 people, we thought it’d be good to invite friends to come work with us for the week. It was a win-win situation: they got to spend a week in a nice spot and we got to have feedback on various aspects of Missive. Getting raw feedback from people you trust outside the bubble of your team is very important and surprisingly hard to get.

Late night dev is best dev 🤓#missiveRetreat pic.twitter.com/HRU1NsxxdV

— Missive (@missiveapp) November 11, 2015

All in all, going on a team retreat is like changing the tires on a racing car. You come back thirsty for new challenges with a refreshed view on your next steps and memories of good times spent together.