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Revolutionizing the Web

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Read the Article: The Reflection Before Christmas

Article

The Reflection Before Christmas

The Enduring Point of Pointless Corp.

[pointless-sticker-bear-article]
[24] Brian Williams

[25]Brian Williams, Co-Founder & CEO

Article Categories: [26] #News & Culture, [27] #Employee Engagement

Posted on March 24, 2023

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Pointless Corp. is the innovation lab at Viget, where we step away from client
work to make fun and useful things for everyone

P o i n t l e s s C o r p . i s t h e i n n o v a t i o n l a b a t V i g e t ,
w h e r e w e s t e p a w a y f r o m c l i e n t w o r k t o m a k e f u n a n
d u s e f u l t h i n g s f o r e v e r y o n e

“Neither pointless, nor a corporation” is how we describe Pointless Corp. here
at Viget. We founded Viget – an actual company – in 1999 during the original
dot com bubble to build web products for clients. Serving clients has always
been our purpose or … point, if you will. Over the decades, we’ve done just
that, completing thousands of projects for hundreds of clients. Never
forgetting that we exist to serve our clients has been key in our longevity.

About a decade in, we felt the urge to build and launch our own projects. [31]
Pointless Corp. became the internal [32]brand we adopted to remind ourselves
that these projects can be fun and useful but don’t replace the primary point
of Viget. A line from Harry Nilsson’s The Point! referencing the Pointless Man
serves as inspiration: “a point in every direction is the same as no point at
all.” We wanted the freedom to experiment in every direction.

So we did. Ideas and teams formed fairly randomly, and Pointless Projects began
to fill the gaps between our client work. Projects like [33]HeyCraig (2009),
which sent you an email alert based on your Craigslist search (before
Craigslist shut us down and added the feature). Or [34]Tincan’d (2011), a
simple video call platform before Zoom or Google Meet. Or [35]BabyBookie, the
baby due date office pool app over 500,000 people have used since launch in
2012.

These projects allow our teams to work without the input (including, ahem,
revenue) of clients, so we’re more free to experiment, wear different hats, and
learn … a lot. We apply what we learn back into our client work. Along the way,
we get to know each other better, scratch our entrepreneurial itches, and
hopefully put some fun and/or useful things out in the world for others to
enjoy.

For many years, we organized an annual optional Pointless Weekend. We’d kick
off hackathon-style on a Thursday evening and wrap on a Saturday evening with a
functional product out in the wild, as I described [36]back in 2012. It’s [37]
always been an intense, enjoyable, but rather exhausting 48 hours. Photos from 
[38]2011, [39]2014, and [40]2016 bring back some great memories.

[pointless-old]
Pointless Weekend 2014 spanned three Viget offices

A couple of years ago, we shifted the schedule to start on Wednesday and wrap
on Friday. This made participation easier, allowing parents and others with
weekend commitments to join. It also allowed projects to wrap up just in time
for our Friday staff meeting. We awkwardly called it “Pointless Week” even
though it was still only two days.

New for 2023: Pointless Palooza

Two things I like: alliteration and lollapalooza (specifically circa 1992, but
that’s a story for another day). So Pointless Palooza was an obvious choice for
what to call our little two day adventure. In addition to a new name, we’re
trying a few other changes this year:

Pointless Executives. Nothing injects new energy like new leadership. We handed
over the Pointless reins to two trusty execs: [41]Andrew (day job: developer)
is our Pointless CEO and [42]Aimee (day job: project manager) is our Pointless
COO. They’ve done a phenomenal job setting a vision, planning, and leading the
activities. Their enthusiasm helped inspire more than half the company to
participate with a record number of projects and great results.

Pitching & Team Formation. Previously, project ideas were “pitched” with a
single slide and a tight 1-2 minute segment at a staff meeting. These were fun
and lighthearted, but didn’t always capture the full vision, and teams often
formed and morphed during the kickoff night. This year, project ideas were
shared more gradually via collaboration in Slack and Notion. Project teams
formed with more structure in advance, and team members had some time before
the kickoff to marinate on the idea and get excited to build.

Even More Remote Friendly. There’s something magical about kickoff-pizza,
launch day donuts, and [43]in-person collaboration. But there’s something even
more magical about collaborating with dozens of teammates around the country
(especially when it’s supplemented by [44]sweet swag boxes and Divvy credits
for remote treats). Hybrid teams work. We still had fun in-office connections,
but most of our Pointless Projects this year are being worked on with
distributed teams, much like our client work.

[23-pointless]
Pointless Branded Stuff 2023 including a t-shirt and sticker pack -- very
corporate

Some things haven’t changed from prior years. Team members are still swapping
roles – PMs writing code, designers running projects, the list goes on – which
means steep and rapid [45]learning curves. We’re still trying out new
technologies and approaches to our work, which means unexpected blockers and
great insights to share. New connections are being formed, especially since
more than half of this year’s participants are in their first year at Viget and
experiencing their first Pointless event. Forming authentic co-worker
connections isn’t easy, and our culture is stronger today than it was at the
start of the week.

So what projects will launch? I won’t steal their thunder, but we just wrapped
the presentation portion of six Pointless Project teams at our weekly staff
meeting and it was the most we’ve laughed, cheered, and been inspired in a long
time. I expect articles will be written and shared in the days and weeks ahead
outlining the thrills (and mishaps) of the teams this year.

[PointlessPalooza2023]
Pointless Palooza 2023 was a blast!

Pointless Corp. is more than an annual palooza. We work on projects throughout
the year in the gaps between client work, weaving the teamwork, learning, and
teaching values of Viget into all that we do.

If this is the kind of work and culture you might enjoy, learn more about [46]
our culture and job openings – perhaps you’ll be able to join next year’s
Pointless Palooza. After all, inspiring people to join us is unapologetically
part of the point.

[47] Brian Williams

[48]Brian is Viget's co-founder and CEO. He does everything from advising our
clients to building our conference tables with his bare hands in our Falls
Church, VA, HQ.

[49]More articles by Brian

Related Articles

  • [50]

    Article

    Our Pointless Logo

    Brian Williams

  • [51]

    Article

    Introducing Pointless Corp.

    Brian Williams

  • [52]
    What’s the Point of Pointless Weekend?

    Article

    What’s the Point of Pointless Weekend?

    Brian Williams

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