I used to use my gut feeling and intuition to tell what’s good and what’s not, even for critiquing my own designs and work.

Not because I was careless. I genuinely believed I had been thorough. I had spent hours on it. I believed I had looked at it from every angle. It felt right and that ‘feeling’ was the problem.

Being close to your work is not the same as understanding it. And for a long time, I confused the two.

Skipping self-critique has real consequences. They just tend to show up at the worst possible moment. Work gets submitted with decisions that were never challenged. When a reviewer asks why something was done a certain way, the designer either can’t answer or scrambles to reconstruct a rationale they’ve already forgotten, or hasn’t ever considered.

Inconsistencies slip through. A spacing rule applied on one screen but ignored on the next. A hierarchy that made sense in isolation but breaks down across the flow. Trust erodes quietly. Not because the designer lacks skill, but because the work still carries the fingerprints of someone who was too close to it when they called it done.

Over time, the absence of self-critique doesn’t just affect the output. It limits how fast you grow. Without the habit of interrogating your own decisions, you stop building the vocabulary to explain your craft to yourself, your team, and the people you are designing for.

The real design self-critique failure mode isn’t laziness

Usually, designers do look at their work before submitting. That’s not where the gap is.

The gap is that they critique against nothing.

No ground. No principles. No framing. The review becomes: does this look right? Does this feel good? And because you made it, it almost always does. Your eye is already calibrated to what you built, not to what was actually needed.

This is especially common for middleweight designers. Not because we are less capable, but because nobody explicitly teaches this in our culture, especially if you’re self thaught. You learn to execute. You learn to iterate. But the practice of interrogating your own decisions before anyone else does is rarely discussed, rarely modelled, and in many design teams here in Malaysia, rarely even practised.

The word ‘critique’, already carries weight in Malaysian context. It sounds like conflict. It sounds like something that happens to your work, not something you do for it. That mindset has to change.

Design self-critique needs a ground

Here is what I have learned: self-critique is not a final step. It is only possible if you have set the foundation upfront.

Before you open Figma, before you write the first word, before you decide on a layout, ask yourself: what user outcome am I solving for? What principles am I carrying through this work? What does good actually look like here?

That is your ground. Everything you build gets measured against it, not against whether it looks polished.

When I started doing this, the critique became less subjective and more structured. I could ask real questions. Why did I use rows of three in this card list? Why this colour here? Why this hierarchy? If I had a reason and a grounded reason tied to the framing, the decision holds. If I could not answer, that was the critique finding me first.

Not intuitive. Intentional.

Write your rationale down as you go

The second shift was documentation, not for handoff, not for the client, but for myself.

Every design is a sequence of decisions. And most designers make those decisions well in the moment, then let them disappear. The rationale lives in their head, and by the time a reviewer asks why, they have either forgotten or can only reconstruct it verbally on the spot.

Writing decisions down as you go changes this completely. Not everything. Just the ones that matter. Why you chose this approach over the alternative. What you were optimising for. What you deliberately left out.

When you include your thinking alongside the work and not just the visual, but the reasoning behind it, two things happen. First, you are forced to articulate what you actually believe, which sharpens the thinking. Second, when you come back to critique, you have something real to interrogate. Not just a screenshot, but a position, grounded against your foundational framing.

A reviewer asking why you made a decision should never catch you off guard. If it does, that is a signal that the critique was incomplete.”

And now with AI where you can augment the design assembly process, it is more and more critical to be conscious about the goal, principles and how to execute at every step along the way. This is what design work look like at Stampede, less executing and assembly, more strategic thinking and tactical planning.

Create distance before you do self-critique

The third thing, and the one most junior designers skip entirely: walking away before you review.

After a session of deep work, you are still the author. Your eye will fill in the gaps, smooth over the rough edges, and read what you intended, not what is actually there. You are too close to see clearly.

The fix is temporal distance. Close the laptop. Do something else. Come back in half an hour, or better, the next morning.

I have finished work in the evening and told myself I would do the self-critique first thing the following day and come back to find things I simply could not have seen the evening before. Not because I was tired. Because I had forgotten what I was trying to do, and that forgetting is exactly the point. Fresh eyes read the work the way a user would, not the way its creator would.

Seasoned designers can do this in real-time. They have developed the ability to zoom out mid-flow, switch modes, and critique in live. That is the goal. But for most of us especially Malaysian middleweights, the shortcut is physical and temporal separation. And it works.

The other thing worth naming: do not be married to what you built. Don’t be afraid to murder your darlings. This sounds obvious, but it is harder than it sounds. When you have spent hours on something, it’s only natural to defend it. You will subconsciously frame your review to protect the decisions you have already made. The only way past this is to approach the review with genuine openness. Treating your own work the way you would treat someone else’s.

Sharpen the eye by dissecting other people’s work

Self-critique gets easier the more you study good work.

Not to copy it. To understand it.

When you open an app, a website, a data visualisation, pause and ask why things are the way they are. What is the grid? Why this spacing? Why does this interaction feel smooth when a similar one elsewhere feels clunky? What is the overarching principles and the intent of the design? What is it trying to solve ultimately?

Most of us consume design passively. We notice when something looks nice. Few of us stop to deconstruct why it works and fewer still ask why it doesn’t, even when it looks fine on the surface.

The more you practise this on other people’s work, the more naturally you do it on your own. You start to notice the questions before a reviewer does. You start to ask, before anyone else: if someone looked at this with fresh eyes, what would they challenge?

That shift from creator to first critic, is what the practice is building toward. It’s building that muscle so it comes natural to you the more you mature as a designer.

Where this ends up

Eventually, none of this should feel like extra work. The framing, the documentation, the distance, the dissection. These should become so embedded in how you work that finishing and critiquing are the same act.

For designers who have been self-critiquing for over twenty years, that is already true. The critique is happening constantly, live, almost invisibly. It is in the DNA.

For the rest of us, we build toward it. We make the scaffold visible until it becomes instinct.

The measure, for now, is simple: before you ship, can you answer for every decision? Not defend it. Just answer for it.

If you can’t, you are not there yet.

The post Building the Eye: A Guide to Designer Self-Critique appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

Every year, we send three team members to handle the work onsite during the regatta, however, it’s only one of three phases in our work on the RLIR website’s year-long cycle. In this post, we’ll let you peek behind the sails to see what really goes on throughout the year leading up to, during and after regatta week to ensure smooth sailing and timely web updates at the event.

A crash course in the Royal Langkawi International Regatta

Before we start talking about what we do at RLIR, it’s important to get the lay of the land or, uh, sea before diving into deeper waters. Here’s a quick look at what happens at the regatta this week.

What, when and where is the Regatta?

The RLIR is an annual sailing regatta, or series of sailboat races, hosted and run by the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club that takes place along the coast and surrounding islands of Langkawi, Malaysia. Drawing many local and international yachting teams, the regatta is an awesome display of sailing prowess and teamwork. The event takes place in early January (this year, from the 6th until the 11th) when the weather is characterised by clear blue skies, strong winds and scorching heat; the sunshine alone guarantees an epic sunburn for those who didn’t get the sunblock memo.

Regatta week starts with a practice race around Kuah Harbour (pictured above) which is just off Langkawi island’s biggest town, Kuah. For the 5 remaining race days, the teams compete on different courses in various locations around Langkawi’s coast and other nearby islands. Most of the evenings have organised dinners at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club which is also when the awards are presented for the most recent races. The week culminates in the final awards and grand prize ceremony on Saturday night.

How do the actual races work?

Good question! At each race, the crew is meant to sail the predefined course in a bid to finish the fastest. The skipper, the boat’s captain, has to guide and instruct his crew to manoeuvre around the course to get to the finish line as quickly as possible. As for who’s competing, the regatta is open to six different boat classes, roughly characterised as different types of boats. However, the races themselves are class specific which means that in one race, only boats of the same class compete with each other. That day, the same racecourse will be used by all classes with each class being flagged off at a different start time.

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In theory, the scoring is pretty straightforward: whoever finishes the race in the shortest time wins and the higher up you are in position, the better the score. However, calculating the winner is a little more complex than that. Though the races are class-specific, a time corrector known as a rating, and sometimes called a handicap, is also used to allow different boat classes to compete with each other despite differences in size and speed. At RLIR, the IRC rating rule is used to calculate the time corrector, known as a TCC rating, based on a boat’s measurements such as length, weight and sail area amongst other things. At the end of each race, the boat’s elapsed race time is then multiplied by its TCC to calculate the vessels corrected time. Whoever has the shortest corrected time is declared the winner. At the awards ceremonies, crews are then recognised as winners for each class as well as with a rating-corrected time.

So what does Stampede do for RLIR?

Our team has been involved with designing and maintaining the regatta website for years! 2020 is actually RLIR’s 18th year running and Stampede’s 15th as part of the landlubber digital crew. The bulk of the work usually involves maintenance and making sure that the site is technologically up to date and timely in its content. 2015, on the other hand, was special because we redesigned the Langkawi Regatta website to capture and retain the spirit of the event while making sure that it had longevity. Here, we’ll tell you a little about how the team planned and executed the redesign and how the rest of the maintenance work is otherwise split into three distinct phases: Before, during and after RLIR.

Redesigning the website

The current website was redesigned in 2015 and yet the look, feel and features remain relevant and fresh 5 years later. Our team’s design decisions were informed by a need to recreate the aura of the live event in addition to using data from the website and feedback from the RLIR team to inform its functional elements.

The team created the design from scratch, taking care to deliver the highlights and excitement of the race. This time, we also chose to give a rare glimpse of the people behind the race itself: from the yachts themselves, crews, race officers, volunteers all the way to the organising committee. Since the regatta is an annual reunion of sorts for the international yachting community, it was important for us to convey that sense of genial familiarity, synonymous with the Langkawi Regatta brand, to its online presence. Powered by WordPress, the regatta website is also geared to support fast and efficient updates as the event happens. This includes a live Newsfeed wall for everyone to watch in real time.

Other essential design considerations were data-informed. Based on the Langkawi Regatta website analytics (above) for multiple years, it’s clear that the vast majority of our website users are aged 40 and above. A large chunk of our users also look at the website on their mobile devices. Equipped with this data, we designed the website to ensure that everything from navigation through to font sizes and notifications is optimised for this demographic and for mobile viewing. This is a classic case of using available information on your users to inform design decisions and make meaningful and relevant experiences for them. As a result, we are still using the 2015 design today!

Before the Regatta

We usually spend the six months leading up to the race updating the RLIR website in preparation for the main event. This involves making sure that items such as SEO and plugins are the most recent. The website is a central hub for the participants and media to learn more about what’s in store so it’s imperative that we put up the information promptly.

Our standard practice is to update important information in less than 30 minutes from the time that we receive it. Vital information such as the regatta dates, crew availability (a listing page which shows people looking to crew on a boat) and banner images are some of the items that need to be done straight away followed by enabling the entry forms for participant registration. Other critical items like the schedule, sailing rules, scoring, penalty system and fees also need to go up so that participants can start planning their strategy and media can begin writing about the event. On the other hand, less critical updates such as updating the hotel rates, entrants list and unofficial press is updated within 2 hours. The pace of updating picks up considerably in December as it’s a month before the start of RLIR. This is when we receive the most content updates from the RLYC team.

During RLIR

This marks the most exciting and hectic period for us and the RLIR team. What sets this phase apart from the others is that it requires our team to be at RLYC and updating the website live. Besides the updates coming in thick and fast, sudden changes sometimes need to be made. The website’s traffic peaks during the event so it’s important that the updates are made swiftly by the onsite team so that web visitors can get the latest news.

The Team

Every year, we send an RLIR team that consists of two Front End Developers (FEDs) and a Designer. This year, we’ve sent our Senior FED Iwan Hakim and FED Sani Halid along with and Saiful Hamdan, UX Designer, to handle the event. Iwan, is the team lead and an RLIR veteran with more than a decade’s worth of experience. Besides having valuable knowledge from working on so many Langkawi regattas, he’s also the linchpin of our team connecting many participants, committee members to race officers and returning volunteers. He’s even rubbed shoulders with some of the VIPs! Since he has an established relationship working with the RLIR team, he can then manage the workload and delegate which allows the team members to focus on execution.

The work assigned to each team member is based on their areas of expertise. FEDs are assigned to update the site during the event which includes daily results, highlights, videos, photo gallery and email newsletter while the designer is assigned to process the images passed to us from RLIR’s photographer. The team also sits in the media room where they can have access to good and stable internet for the updates.

A day at the regatta: Round the clock work

A typical day at the regatta actually requires continuous work from early in the morning until the wee hours. This is because news, updates and pictures come in at different times and need to be sent out throughout the day and before the next day starts. The first thing we attend to is putting up vital information and last minute instructions onto the website. This can happen as early as 6 am so that the participants get a chance to read it before they head out to the racecourse at 7 am.

After breakfast, the Stampede team starts actively looking for content that can be used on the website’s RLIR timeline page. This page provides a summary of everything that happened on the day and includes results, information, highlights and much more and will need to be updated throughout the day. Meanwhile, the other team members will start preparing the day’s race results which are released around 12 pm. Once we receive the results from the race officers, they are updated on the website as soon as possible so that everyone can access them on the mobile friendly site. Once the results are finalised, they are printed and displayed on the notice board at RLYC for our media partners.

Throughout this process, it is crucial that we ensure that the results are accurate before they go up on the site. We also try to get all the latest information, especially the race results, up before everyone gets back from the day’s races. This is so the participants can see them and celebrate immediately. Prompt updates and a stable website are especially helpful for participants as they can quickly check the results and file a protest if necessary. A protest is a formal submission made within a specified time to the jury by someone who noticed when a team or individual violated the rules of the race. If found to be true, the protest could lead to a change of results.

When the evening rolls around, we can start processing the rest of the day’s content updates. There is usually a lull after updating the results as the official photographer can only pass us the race images around midnight. This is because they are out at sea all day taking photos and need to shoot the evening awards ceremonies after. However, once the photos are passed to us, our designer can then go through the images, select the best ones and then optimise them for website use for the photo gallery, email newsletter (also known as an EDM) and highlights. We also add items to the RLIR Timeline including social media posts from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to give the website visitors a peek at the day’s events as well as behind the scenes to hype up regatta. This makes it easy for everyone to find out everything quickly and from one place.

The last item we need to prepare and send out before calling it a night is the daily newsletter blast that gives an overview of what happened that day and contains videos from our media partners. The newsletter is especially important as it’s the main source of news for the people and family members who couldn’t attend the regatta. Our Mailchimp analytics also show that since it’s sent late at night, it becomes the first thing they open in the morning to view yesterday’s photos and videos to catch up with the race before gearing up for the day.

All in all, working all throughout the day and then waiting to upload the day’s photos at night which means long hours and sleepiness in the mornings. Needless to say, this can all be pretty gruelling. So how do we beat sleep? Well, we don’t just use tape to hold our eyelids open! To make sure that everyone gets enough rest, we rotate the team members so that someone is always working while the others sleep. We find this works pretty well. We also directly inject, I mean drink, our fresh coffee in the mornings from the Starbucks nearby to give us a kick start. Sometimes Shaza, our UX Principal who lives in, Langkawi actually makes a Starbies Javachip Frap delivery to the team before returning to Mission Control to monitor the website.

What we get to experience at RLIR

It’s not all work and no play though. Regatta is an incredible experience because we get to meet new people and learn about the world of sailing. There are always opportunities to connect with new people at events and RLIR is no exception. For example, we work closely with volunteers where there tend to be new faces every year so we get to meet a wide variety of people every time. In comparison, the media teams tend to have less turnover so we get to see familiar faces so each regatta is always a big reunion with lots of old friends.

Most people also don’t get the opportunity to watch the race up close but we’re lucky to be able to do so. At least once during regatta week, our team hops on an RLIR charter boats which zooms out to sea so we can watch the race up close. The most interesting part of the race is watching when the yachts are turning around a buoy. It’s always a moment where the crews have to work together and move around in synchrony to make the turn. Truly teamwork at its best!

We’re also lucky to have the RLIR personnel and volunteers onboard with us who answer our questions and tell us about what’s happening. By working the event, we learn a lot about sailing. From the terms to the boat structure, racing rules, scoring systems the list is endless. Learning about this also helps us do our work since we understand the lingo and can talk to others within the sailing community. Overall, it’s just an awesome getting to watch the teams in action from the water with the wind in our hair and sunshine on our face.

After the Regatta

Once the regatta is done and dusted, our priority is to notify web visitors that the event has finished. We update the site with a congratulatory message to the winners and a thank you to the participants and sponsors while displaying the full result on the homepage. We then convert the RLIR Timeline so it’s of a past regatta. By doing this, web visitors who missed the proverbial boat can still find out what happened during race week. Compared to our work during the regatta, this period is a cakewalk with the fewest updates and the least work.

RLIR is an exciting and challenging opportunity for our team to plan, coordinate and execute a year-long web campaign. Much like when the boats go round a buoy, we need to work with each other closely and communicate with the RLIR team before, during and after the regatta to make sure that the website and event is a success. We wouldn’t be able to make it through one night of the event without having a clear process and posting schedule nor a sleep plan! It also requires attention to detail and seamless delivery while maintaining the flexibility required to deal with sudden changes. Thankfully, we have the opportunity every year to meet our users and hear their ideas for how to improve the RLIR website further. Nothing beats a reality check like talking to real sailors and sailing enthusiasts.

To find out what we’ve been talking about this whole blog post, raise yer sails and head on over to langkawiregatta.com for our team’s real-time web coverage! Keep up with our scurvy team on our Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter.

The post Avast! Behind the Sails at the Royal Langkawi International Regatta appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

Last Friday (25th November 2016) marked the first time Stampede got together, physically at one place, and at the same time. If you didn’t know already, we at Stampede work remotely from various places around Malaysia along with other parts of the world. For instance, we have Viki from Hungary and Tony from Indonesia. Both flew down to KL just for this meet-up.

While we have met Tony before when he flew down last year, this marks the first time we were meeting Viki in person. She flew all the way from Budapest to meet us.

Viki arrives in Malaysia!

The reason for this get-together was to attend the JomLaunch 4 in Kuala Lumpur along with having Stampede-related meetings and just plain having fun together. Stampede was invited to JomLaunch 4 because of the voluntary work we did for the JomLaunch team. We designed and build the entire website.

The first thing we did as a team was to have dinner, which we did at Bangsar, KL. We ordered a variety of dishes and everyone dug in to their heart’s content. The tom yam soup was particularly good.

Stampede Dinner with Thai Food!

Once we had our fill, we proceeded to the condo that Shaza booked for us via Airbnb. This location was in the heart of KL and you could see some great sights at the height we were at, floor 41. We dropped off our luggage and got the needed rest for the following day’s event.

One the highlights of that night were the fresh shrimps that Iwan caught himself and prepared for us. You won’t find it any fresher and more delicious than this. It was definitely a great snack to have to produce great dreams that night.

Fresh cooked shrimps by Chef Iwan / Viki taking that honorary food pic

Event day, JomLaunch 4

Saturday happened, and we woke up extra early so that we could get first pick of our seats before the crowd moved in. The sun rose earlier that day and we could see it glowing behind the tall buildings of the city. It was a great sight.

We woke up to this the next morning!

Hopping into two separate vehicles we arrived at the venue earlier than expected. The event staff were still setting up so we had a moment for a quick breather to look around. When the event opened, there was an influx of people getting themselves registered to collect their goodie bags. We noticed that the JomLaunch team had their hands full, so we decided to help them out for a bit.

Shaza & Viki helping out at the reception

Once the crowd had finished moving into the event hall, we followed suit and took our seats. Here’s a quick explanation on what JomLaunch is about. It is an event where participants showcase their awesome ICT (information and communications technology) idea. This can be an explanation of how their system works but most participants brought working prototypes to the event itself. Some of these were ready for public usage. In total, this year JomLaunch 4 had 18 participants. The event started at 8.30 AM and completed by 5.30 PM.

The crowd at JomLaunch 4. Can you spot the Stampede team?

The presentations from each team varied from malware protection to a 3D education game. Here’s a list of what was presented during JomLaunch 4.

1. Eraxen Endpoint Protection – malware protection
2. MMS – motorsport / cub management system
3. RunCloud.io – competitor to ServerPilot.my
4. Bytetuta – AI bot for muslim lifestyle
5. Mytix – venue ticket sales management
6. MyClinic2U – clinic management
7. Ninja iDempiere – plugin for Idempiere
8. Splate – Laravel SaaS boilerplate
9. Soding – talent search and headhunting
10. WhatsTivity – social media platform
11. Telebuzz – telegram bot
12. CerdikApp – communication and monitoring tools for students, parents and teachers
13. MInD Automated Vehicle (MAV) – automated guided vehicle (manufacturing)
14. RobotJualan.com – bot for sales
15. EksploRazi – 3D education game
16. Terapi.my – Uber for home spa service
17. GO.my  – travel assistant
18. HireMe.my – platform to build and share resumes

In the end, the event was a success with every participant getting their time to showcase their ideas. The winner of this year’s JomLaunch was RunCloud.io who’s team built a platform for easy server setup. They were awarded RM 1,000 in the form of a check.

Meeting people

Another thing we like to do at these events is to meet up with other people from the industry. After a year or two, you’ll start to recognize many individuals, start-up founders and their key team members. Sometimes we bump into people who are fond of the work we do and want to get to know us better.

This is Fachrul (left), who got us together for a wefie

It’s really great to know we’re appreciated for the work we do as we put a lot of effort, thought and heart into our work culture.

Close-knit community

It never ceases to surprise us how close-knit the JomLaunch community is. The presentations of each team were well thought off and presented rather casually. This can be seen in the past 3 JomLaunches as well. The organizers did their best to brighten the atmosphere by inserting a joke or two in-between presentations. As the day was a long one, many present were feeling tired at the end of the day, but those jokes helped perk them up again.

Serious vs Freestyle

The closing night

After the event was over, we were very hungry and on our way to dinner. That was when the JomLaunch team caught us off-guard by inviting us out for steamboat. We replenished our tummies and shared a bunch of conversations with one another. Thanks JomLaunch, we look forward to what’s in store for next year!

JomLaunch and Stampede having an awesome dinner

The post Stampede Get-together & JomLaunch 4 appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

Stampede beraya at Casa de Shaiful

At Stampede, during one of our Blitz (scrum) sessions, we threw a question that we can all relate to. It’s about each and everyone’s most favourite and memorable Hari Raya memory.

What is your best Hari Raya memory?

Here’s what the team had to say

Iwan

For me, the best Hari Raya memory was from last year (2015). Before this I would only go back to my hometown, but now that I’m married, I get to start celebrating with two families. It is a new experience for me because now I need to decide which kampung I need to visit first. This also means I get to eat twice as much and can get to savor both Negeri Sembilan and Ipoh cuisine. My wife’s family are ethnic Banjar people so the food they serve is very unique to me, while my side makes the best rendang. Last Raya was also very memorable because my wife was pregnant at the time so many people came to visit.

Shaiful

My best Hari Raya memory last year in 2015. My family organized an open house, because my grandparents are not around anymore so there’s no place to ‘balik kampung’. The turnout was huge, with about 12 families attending the invitation. The guests contributed to some of the food and brought their own specialties to be shared.

Then there were also some crazy scenes happening when the kids got together. One of them just strolled into my room and picked up my ukelele and started jamming.

I think the biggest highlight of that Raya was the barbecue setup, using a big burner and set up at the porch of my house. Having a barbecue pit is very unique during Hari Raya. Then there were also some crazy scenes happening when the kids got together. One of them just strolled into my room and picked up my ukelele and started jamming. After that they went on to the playground.

Shaza

In Malaysia, Hari Raya is often celebrated by traveling back to your hometown—this mass exodus is called “Balik Kampung” (translation: going back home to the village). My parents have called Ipoh town home for many years and yet when Raya beckons, we will always look forward fondly to Balik Kampung to my grandmother’s house, a small village in Batu Kikir, Negeri Sembilan. As Malaysia gets more urbanized, Balik Kampung could also mean going back home to wherever home is, cities, towns and villages alike.

When I was a child, my parents couldn’t afford to make the trip and celebrate Hari Raya with their family every year. At one time, I remember we didn’t go back for 3 years. So this made Balik Kampung something to look forward to. I remember us taking the rickshaw from our house in Kuala Terengganu to the bus terminal, followed by a bus ride to the Kuantan terminal by the river, an exchange to yet another bus onwards to Negeri Sembilan, disembarking at a small stop by the roadside and walking down the village road for another 2 kilometers (not easy with three children and massive luggage) before finally greeted by the excited shrieks of my aunties and uncles.

Raya food and popping zombies—that’s the dream.

My grandmother has gone for a few years now, but we still honour her memory and family tradition by celebrating Hari Raya together. One of the fondest memories I have of Hari Raya recently was playing Left 4 Dead in a LAN party with my siblings at the Raya table, surrounded by lemang, ketupat and laksa, with my dad checking in every so often to replenish his supplies of “Kuih Raya” (specialty raya cookies that truthfully, all tastes the same).

Raya food and popping zombies—that’s the dream. Anyone game this raya, look me up on Steam.

Zana

My father would occasionally join us in his sarong and fire ‘meriam’ (bamboo cannon) with the older cousins.

My fondest and best memory of Raya was when I was around 7 years old. During that time we would go back to my grandmother’s kampung. Once there all the cousins would get together to play with fireworks. It was cute because the smaller cousins would play with ‘Pop Pop’ (small firecrackers), while the older ones would play with larger fireworks. With such a variety, all sorts of sounds could be heard with everyone playing. My father would occasionally join us in sarong and fire ‘meriam’ (bamboo cannon) with the older cousins. Another thing about Raya is collecting ‘Duit Raya’ from the adults which we would soon spend on buying sweets.

Tony

For me, the best and most memorable Hari Raya was the time just after Nauly (my daughter) was born. She came into my life during the fasting period before Eid. That Raya was not like the other times because the neighbors would come over to visit and be excited over Nauly. It was a great combination of becoming a dad and getting together with friends and family.

Hakim

I can’t recall a particular Raya that is the best. During that time I would visit family and friends, eat great food and getting some well needed rest after a month of fasting. Then at night, I’d hang out with my friends and watch football somewhere. One thing I do look forward to during this season is my grandmother’s cooking, as she makes the best Soto. Don’t just take it from me, my friends also love savoring her cooking.

What about you?

So what’s your favourite Hari Raya Memory? Share one of your best moments about this holiday with us below in the comment section. You’ll also be able to see what we’re up to this Raya on our Instagram and Facebook channels, so be sure to check that out too.

The team at Stampede wishes everyone a blessed Eid and Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin. Enjoy your holidays and make even more great memories!

The post Our Best Hari Raya Memories! appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

• 

  Hi Iwan and Tony! Thank you for taking the time to sit down for this interview which only both of you are qualified. We know that you guys have different routines to do your job well. Can both of you share your experience before and after being a father?

• 

  I’ve been working remotely even before my daughter was born. So back then I could focus myself solely on work. It was only after my first child was born did I have to change the way I work. So instead of working on a task for a long period, I have to portion it out into shorter work sprints.

  For example if my daughter starts to cry and if no one can attend to her, I’ll comfort her. Once she’s off to dreamland, I’ll take around 30 minutes to re-focus myself for the task at hand. This is a big difference before and after having a kid.

  Now with my kids around, I have rescheduled my hours to begin work at 8 AM and continue until 5 PM. In the past I’ve tried several different work hours, but so far this is the best arrangement for me.

• 

  Before Nauly (my daughter) came into my life, I was working at an office in Jakarta. My usual mornings involve me having breakfast made by my wife and getting to work by 8 AM. On the seventh month of my wife’s pregnancy, we decided to move back to Surabaya, her hometown. I made a request with my employer at the time to work remotely. From then on, I’d be working from my living room.

  After that, I joined Stampede and started working remotely full time. When I wake up early in the morning, the first thing I do is taking care of housework such as washing the dishes and preparing hot water. My wife takes over the rest when she wakes up. Once I log in at work, it’s hard to do anything else. So I do these things before I start work.

  At the start it wasn’t much trouble because Nauly slept around 20 hours a day on average and this went on for another 4 months. My wife is a homemaker, but there are times when she needs help with taking care of my daughter. At the home where I live and work, my wife’s siblings are around, but they are too young to properly care for Nauly. The times where I actually have to step out of the work cycle and do emergency parenting are the times when my wife is sick.

Nur Ainina HusnaIwan’s daughter, affectionately nicknamed Cuna.

Nauly SanjayaSay hi to Nauly, Tony’s daughter.

• 

  I understand that taking care of kids is really a full time job. So when you find the time to sit down and start work, what time is the most productive for you?

• 

  I adjusted my biological clock to work in the morning. Before this the best time  for me was at night, because there were no distractions, talking and ambient sounds from outside. When my baby came around, I had to change my time to look after her. After testing a few different time ranges, I found that early mornings gave me similar results. The temperature was still cool without the glaring sunlight and the noise was still quite minimal.

• 

  For me, the most productive times for working is when my daughter is asleep, or is being looked after by her mom. During this time, I can completely focus on my work since there are no distractions. In the mornings, I am already busy with household chores and baby stuff so my most productive moments tend to be only after that time.

• 

  What kind of task is suited to the situation where you are multitasking work and looking after the baby?

• 

  The time where I can really focus is when Cuna is not around. So in the morning I leave her to my wife so that I can focus on work. Once she goes to work, I will take care of the baby. So the multitasking part comes in when I’m looking after the baby. Meetings and discussions which aren’t as taxing when compared to coding and can be done while looking after the baby. One more thing I use to my advantage is my daughter. Whenever I’m feeling down or stuck on something, I’d just spend some time with her and somehow everything feels better.

• 

  Whenever I’m working, my daughter is usually not around me. When she is however, she’ll be pulling at me and making babble sounds. I can handle both work and my daughter’s antics for lighter work, but if it’s serious work, I need to focus on it alone. Instead of multitasking, if there is an emergency, I’ll put my work down for a bit and attend to it.

• 

  There is some common understanding that some men, when they become dads, they leave it solely to the wife. You guys are rare. How do you do it?

• 

  Working remotely helped me become this way. I feel that I experience what most fathers don’t because I’m around to see my kids beside me. It is definitely life changing for me.

• 

  When my wife is tired and I noticed that, I try to help out wherever I can. At times working remotely in your home can become a bit stressful, because there will be times when the baby will start crying during work hours. Also every now and then, my wife will have her ‘alone time’, for example going to the salon, and this is the time where I will take over. When my wife is not stressed out, then I can do work more effectively. As Shaza puts it, “A happy wife makes a happy life”.

Tony on break with Nauly

• 

  What are the pros that both of you benefit from this setup, working and also parenting?

• 

  One of it is that I get to spend more time with the kids. Most importantly I do not have to get my baby looked after by a nanny as there have been issues recently and also can be pretty costly. Fortunately my wife is only working 4 hours a day and we take turns looking after the baby.

• 

  One of the pros is that I can help my wife to take care of Nauly. Before getting married, me and my wife agreed that she didn’t have to work and instead look after the household and the baby. So now we both take turns parenting. Taking care of children is not easy as it looks. You need much patience and a lot of willpower. I’ll try to lighten my wife’s tasks wherever I can.

• 

  How supportive has the company and Stampede team been to your setup?

• 

  Stampede is very supportive and they love kids, so this helps a lot. This flexibility makes me feel comfortable with Stampede, sure you can get flexibility elsewhere but not at Stampede’s level. My colleagues have no issues whenever I need to take a break and they love to see my kids. Indirectly they have made me what I am today, an awesome dad.

• 

  To me Stampede is very supportive. As long as I complete my work tasks, the team supports me. If I’m falling behind a bit, they’ll be concerned and ask me if anything is wrong. Other places may say that, if work is not finished it is because my baby is distracting me..

• 

  Is there any advice or something you guys want to share with other dads who might want to work remotely?

• 

  Plan your time for work before doing any parenting. Clear all the important tasks before the period because trust me, you won’t be able to focus much. For example, feed the baby and make her fall asleep before a meeting begins. Raising children is a handful but don’t see it as a negative. Find a way to take advantage of your situation like how I use Cuna as a stress reliever.

• 

  Manage your time well and be responsible for your work. You will want to work out a plan with the wife. This way you know when to focus on work and when to focus on the baby. Lots of commitment needed and most importantly be there for the family.

Cuna at Work

• 

  Are there any particular apps that you use for your setup?

• 

  My wife uses a baby feeding app to track Cuna’s feeding schedule. I myself use an in-built feature in my Samsung smartphone which can test someone’s stress level by putting the finger onto the phone. I use it to gauge the mood of my baby to check how she’s doing.

• 

  I use a baby log app called Baby Daybook. When the baby drinks I will log it down, and this also includes things like when she poops. This is so that I can review what she did for that day. This acts as an early indicator because if a baby doesn’t pass motion consistently, something might be wrong with her.

Thank you dads of Stampede (probably good for a band name). So how about a little verdict? When you’re working remotely and have to keep an eye on the kids, anything is possible with a little bit of time management and prioritization. At the same time, working out a schedule with your significant other gives you the time to focus on your work without neglecting your child.

For constant updates, head over to our Facebook and Twitter channels. Also, we have our very own Instagram account now, so be sure to check that out.

Are you also a remote-working parent like Tony and Iwan? If yes, how do you handle parenting and working at the same time? Share your own experiences here!

The post Dads of Stampede: Parenting and Remote Work appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

As in the words of Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos:

Our number one priority is company culture. Our whole belief is that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff like delivering great customer service or building a long-term enduring brand will just happen naturally on its own.

With teams in a physical workplace, most companies tend to disregard the exercise of building culture with the assumption that it will naturally happen. That should not happen with remote teams, when everyone is distributed across places and timezones. It is hard to gauge everyone’s level of happiness and satisfactory when you could not see them face-to-face, therefore, setting things right as much as possible on the first try is crucial.

Here are six things we have learned on the journey of building the culture for a remote team.

• Hire the right people
• Use onboarding for new hire success, and quick assessment
• Invest in technology and tools for work and fun
• Organise in person meetups
• Provide perks & professional development
• Be transparent and cultivate trust

Hire the right people

A client once told us, that every one in our team has this Stampede DNA that makes us gel well together as colleagues and friends. What is this unspoken Stampede DNA that she speaks of? We ourselves don’t know, but upon years of hiring, we know what kind of people we do not want.

At Stampede, we hire based on this order: good attitude, willingness to learn & skills more than possessing the skills, followed by the rest. We understand that it’s tempting to bring on board someone with the technical skills to immediately get down to work. But any skill can be trained, but things like personality and temperament have a huge effect on how someone will meld into your team and perform for your clients.

Hiring for attitude ultimately opens up a wider pool of candidates. Also because the technical requirements for business are constantly evolving, you can’t anticipate the hard skills you will need several years out. Which is you should always be on the lookout for someone who is hungry to learn and know more when you are hiring.

Onboarding & assessments

We take great care when we are welcoming a new Stampede-ian onboard. We want to make sure that their first day leaves a good impression (and with better impression the next few days and weeks, because we are overachievers that way), that everything they need is ready and most importantly, they will not be bored or be left wondering what they should be doing on the first day.

In order to make this happen, we have checklists on what the new Stampede-ian should be provided, briefed and walked through on the first day.

On top of this, in order to ease them into our culture, they are also included in internal meetings and some client meetings for observations. This shall also help us to assess how well they get along with the team and clients, and how well they perform in social situations.

Another thing we learned is that to assess new hires as frequent as possible. Do not wait until the end of the probation to provide feedback. Keep a spreadsheet of weekly observation of how they perform, and discuss the progress every week on how they are doing and how we can help them to perform more should there be problems.

For the hires requiring technical skills (coding and programming), we assign weekly coding assignments on top of real projects and encourage them to ask for feedback as soon as they have problems. This way, we are able to see their initiative to problem-solving, and that it is okay for them to get help if they are stuck.

Tools for work & fun

A physical office develops its own personality through inside jokes, shared experiences and a collaborative environment where you can just walk to someone’s desk and do all of these. However, when it comes to a remote office, we do not have such luxury, so we shall make do with something similar.

We spoke in Part 1 of how much we use tools to automate our work as well as to motivate each other in a remote setting. When we speak to the team members who had worked in a physical office before, they admitted they get more things done than before and our inside jokes are pretty legendary too.

Here are some of the tools we have been using.

• Slack: Virtual office and gif ping-pong
• Basecamp: Project management and client communication
• ResourceGuru: Scheduling
• Bitbucket: Hosting version control repositories
• Google Apps: File sharing, to-dos and many more
• Dropbox: File sharing
• DoneDone: Issue tracking for maintenance projects
• LastPass: Password management
• Toggl: Time tracking and employee timesheet
• Bonus.ly: Peer-to-peer bonuses program

In person meetups

To be honest, we troll each other in Slack every single day it is almost we are in the same office together. So what happens when we gather everyone around for a couple of days at least once a year? Peak action potential happens 🙂

The in-person meetup includes loads and loads of food, jamming session, LAN party and also so much trolling and laughing like no other. Just an extension of our virtual office in Slack.

Perks & professional development

Earlier this year we have started to implement more and more perks to our full time Stampede-ians:

• Everyone in the team gets 3-month free membership of gyms of our choice.
• 2-week paid leave on top of the compulsory leave
• Every team member gets to propose any local or regional conferences they want to join, and most of the time, we let them go and pay for their expenses too!

We learned that by doing this, the team members return to work more motivated and always ever ready to share their experiences!

Another new thing we have done recently is subscribing to online learning programs. They are really convenient and everyone can learn at their own pace and time. Now every team member has a Lynda account of which they can use to delve more into their related skill sets, both technical and soft skills.

Transparency and trust

Since we are a distributed team, we learned to trust our colleagues in order to get the job done. But in order to do so, everyone is responsible to make sure they are worthy of trust. There is no one in the team to hover around each other to make sure everyone does the right things, so it starts with the first point – hire the right people.

What’s wonderful is when you learned to trust your team members, oftentimes they will amaze you. With the trust, they continue to feel empowered and do good things and beyond. Give your team members the benefit of the doubt and you will learn that most people just want to do amazing things as you do!

Conclusion

This is by no means a definitive list. As we grow as a remote team and as remote working gets even more popular, we shall learn more and more things on how to build culture around a remote working team. When we find out interesting things, we shall be sure to share with you.

To recap:

• Hire the right people
• Use onboarding for new hire success, and quick assessment
• Invest in technology and tools for work and fun
• Organise in person meetups
• Provide perks & professional development
• Be transparent and cultivate trust

If you are also part of the remote team, what are the things you have learned about building the culture for a distributed team?

While you are here, please also take a look at Part 1: Running a Remote Team.

The post Working Remotely Part 2: Building Culture in a Remote Team appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

Shaiful, Tony and Zana catching some waves.

Going to Kuala Lumpur

I begun my morning with prayers, resisting the urge to get some extra sleep and making some final preparations before leaving my house. Understanding that my flight departs at 10:58 AM, I wanted to get to the airport early. Using GrabCar, I got picked up from my place and arrived at Soekarno Hatta Airport at 8:30 AM. All that time in-between meant that I could catch up on my downloaded anime. When it was time, I boarded the airplane and traveled across the sea to Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Hanging Out with Shaiful

My flight to KL was on a Saturday and the following flight I would need to take to get to Langkawi was on a Sunday; this meant that I had one day in KL to explore. Shaiful offered me a place to bunk in during my stay at KL (thanks master!). We spent some time at his place talking about Indonesian and Malaysian topics whilst munching down ‘pisang goreng’ (banana fritters) and sipping hot tea prepared by Shaiful’s mother. Later that evening, Shaiful drove us to Aimar Corner to indulge in ‘char kuey teow’ (a noodle dish). That was my first time having it and two plates were finished before I realized it. Once we got back, we did some work on the Langkawi Regatta website.

Initial Thoughts About Langkawi

The following day, we took a flight from KL to Langkawi. I was amazed by how similar the island looked like when compared to the south side of Bali with its numerous cafes, motels, hotels and foreign travelers. I found the vibe very good and started liking this country more!

My Awesome Team

My involvement during the regatta was to update the event website’s timeline on all the action that occurred from morning up to the evening. This also included popular social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The updates came in fast, by the minutes in fact. During midnight, we would prepare the timeline for the following day’s events. Teamwork was key here and without it, things wouldn’t have gone smoothly.

Before we proceed any further, a small introduction to the team:

Dahlia, Zana, Shaiful, Tony and Iwan ready for what’s in store!

1. Iwan. The leader of the team with the most experience about regatta among us. Hence why a lot of people in the club knew him.
2. Shaiful. My master, who gave me his advice regarding all matters on updating the timeline. His role was to update the website.
3. Dahlia. The project manager and designer who helped prepare all the visual assets that were used for the event.
4. Zana. The social media manager, who prepared all the content to be sent via social media.

We were like the Power Rangers!

I had a good time in Langkawi while working in the yacht club and hanging out with Dov and Shaza (thanks for the BBQ). The guys and I spent a lot of time talking on various topics, one of which was an old Indonesian song that both Iwan and Shaiful knew. It was interesting to find out that they knew quite a bit on Indonesian music, at times they knew tracks that I never knew. These talks happened mostly while working as well as in the room where we all crashed for the night.

On the Race Days

During the yacht races I did not really know what was going on, but I think it all went well judging by how fast the yachts were skimming through the seas. Obviously the one that was going the fastest had to be winning.

There was a heavy downpour on Thursday and that could have been the cause of why Friday had such small winds while Saturday had almost nothing. Because of that however, the race had to be cancelled and due to its cancellation, on Day 4, the team with the lead position would be crowned the winner. It was a pity that some teams lost the chance to catch up due to the cancelled race day.

On the 4th day of the race, the yachts sailed very closely to the marina. Iwan mentioned that this was the first time it was happening and it looked beautiful. It was also that day where I got the chance to enter the sea with Shaiful and Zana. Shaiful prepared anti-seasick medicine but we couldn’t drink it because we had to consume it at least 1 hour in advance, something we only noticed 15 minutes before. On the boat, I told myself mentally to just keep looking ahead and not the side or the back to prevent myself from turning over. I didn’t want to become a spectacle if it happened but surprisingly I didn’t feel anything even after reaching the shore.

On the last day, Dahlia had to rest because of food poisoning. It was a pity because there was a lot of food that night. I had a lot of delicious satay which had a different flavor from the ones I was familiar with in Indonesia. The event closed in a fireworks finale and the guests and participants invited themselves onto the dance floor.

Farewell Langkawi

The final day had arrived and it was time for me to return back home. It was a Sunday and my flight was booked at 11.25 AM. Shaza picked me, Shaiful and Zana up from our lodging and we left at 10 AM to go to the airport. Shaza shared with me a myth which mentioned that someone who travels to Langkawi will return back to Langkawi (and she proved it!). As for myself, the next time I’ll go to Malaysia/Langkawi with my own little family.

Thank you everyone at Stampede for having me at this event. See you next year!

The post Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2016 appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

• Shaiful with jazz and blues
• Sani with chiptune music
• Iwan with Hindi songs
• Shaza with EDM
• Dahlia with mainstream pop
• Zana with drum and bass
• Anis with Jason Mraz and mainstream pop

So we thought, “Hey let’s compile everyone’s favourite tunes together in one playlist,” so people can have an insight into what Stampede listens to while designing, coding, project managing and being up to tomfooleries.

Introducing Crescendo, our unofficial playlist.

The word crescendo couldn’t be any more apt. At Stampede, we start with building up momentum, having a progressive increase in intensity till the most intense point reached -as we churn ideas at miles per hour day per day. There is never a dull day here.

Generally defined as the gradual increase in loudness in a piece of music, Crescendo – both word and playlist, where it lists music ranging from laidback to feel-good times to epic launch themes, is just perfect to describe how we go through about our days at Stampede.

Enjoy Crescendo!

(Note: While you are reading this, we are also in the midst of creating another version of Crescendo, with more heightened experience covering the sickest sound bytes to listen to while working, music news, reviews and many more. Stay tuned!)

The post Introducing Crescendo appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

It all started when Zana signed in to work, announcing as ever shamelessly as she always is, that she had two extra tickets to go watch Sarah Kay & Phil Kaye at The Projector – and inquired if anyone else would like to go with her. Shaza volunteered right off the bat, while the rest had things to do over the weekend. I was reluctant to go along because I was never interested in literature. However, with a little bit of arms twisting by the girls (they were way stronger than I thought!), I agreed.

Besides, this would be my first international flight. Should be exciting.

Day 1: Looking for the merlion

After approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes direct flight from Langkawi Island, we found ourselves in Changi Airport, one of the largest transportation hubs in the Southeast Asia. The multiple award-winning airport serves close to 6,500 flights on a weekly basis! And I thought having to complete 5 HTML/CSS pages in a week is already such a traffic!

I got the window seat, so I had the chance to see how the view changed from when we departed from Langkawi all the way to Singapore. Before landing at Changi, I saw there were hundreds of cargo ships in the coast compared to where it was in Langkawi. Being in the plane, flying untethered, reminds me of what comedian Louis CK said, “You’re sitting in a chair in the sky. You’re like a Greek myth right now.”

I was practically Icarus right at that moment.

We made our way to our hostel, 5footway.inn Project Bugis slightly earlier than the check-in time. After leaving our bags at the hostel while waiting for the rooms to be ready, we decided to walk around the place to scout for lunch spots.

This is our first time in Singapore, so we had no idea what to expect much. We were delighted to find that our hostel is situated in the Kampung Glam neighbourhood, where the famous Haji Lane is. The streets are filled with narrow shophouses which had been given a new lease of life by local designers and young entrepreneurs who have set up their fashionable boutiques and hip restaurants here. Grub should not be a problem, so one issue solved!

A particular place caught my eye: it’s called Children Little Museum. I begged the girls so that we could visit the place right away, but Zana said, “Last day, Sani, on our last day here.”

I sulked, but not too long.

After checking in at our respective dorms, we were out again exploring. We chose to have Minang food at a quaint small restaurant called Restoran Sabar Menanti. And now we are off to look for the (mer)lion!

After walking for what seems like an eternity, we were welcomed with the statue of the merlion, standing ever so majestic overlooking the three towers of Marina Bay Sands. Of course, we decided to take some selfies and standard touristic shots to send to the team back home with the sole purpose that they’d be brewing with jealousy.

Trivia time: while the merlion is a traditional creature in western heraldry, for example – on the coat of arms of of the city of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom, it was never featured in any local folklore or myths of Singapore, and was only used in Singapore initially as the logo for the tourism board.

After sending about 300 images through Whatsapp to the team until Shaiful replied, “We get it. You are having fun. Go away, guys.” we decided we had annoyed the team enough for the day. Feet all blistered from walking around the city, we took the taxi back to our neighbourhood (as we have already grown fond of the area) for dinner.

Dinner, as an introduction in one word, was delish in many ways.

Because Zana is Zana, she had done some extensive research before going for dinner and she recommended this hip restaurant called The Lab located in Jalan Pisang. We were their last customers of the day, of which we had to join a small queue before being escorted to our table.

The Lab, as its name suggests, adopts the theme of a laboratory for their restaurant concept. Our drinks were served in beakers, which sent us into picture-taking frenzy and Shaza’s drink particularly caught our attention – it was called Heisenberg* served with a syringe filled with blue curacao syrup.

On the walk back home to the hostel after dinner, we thought grub time was over. IT HAD NOT.

We decided to stop at a Turkish restaurant on the way back, ordered a kettle of çay (Turkish black tea), some fıstıklı sarma (pistachio rolls) and chatted away into the night – about life, relationships and how to centre float elements in HTML/CSS.

Day 2: Navigating CBD by foot

We are these typical Malaysians, as we have found out – especially when it comes to food.

While there were many restaurants around the neighbourhood – western, fusion, Turkish, Korean, etc. – we still found ourselves at Agrobazaar across where we were staying. Aside from selling fruits and fruits-based products from Malaysia, like cordial and juice, they also have a cafe. We grabbed a nasi lemak in packet each, savouring in the fragrance of pandan leaves and coconut milk and pondered over how beautiful life is.

Food is that moving for us.

Travelling with two bibliophiles, it wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the National Library of Singapore. We were lucky to find there is a cartography exhibition going on in the library, where we could learn about the history of Singapore.

Being at Stampede where we value details, perfection and good user experience in our work, we were astounded at how well-executed the exhibition is. It was told chronologically with such engaging copy, and various mediums such as videos, text, photos and sound were used to express the information better. For someone who is not big on reading, this kind of exhibitions helped me to learn and digest information a lot better.

My front-end skills are always tested wherever I go, you see. Shaza decided to use her meticulous designer eyes to pick some difficult designs on the walls of the exhibition and asked me to describe the HTML/CSS structure needed to solve them. Needless to say, there were lots of border radiuses involved.

Zana decided to laugh at my misery and documented the situation.

All the way to Orchard Road

Orchard Road is a huge tourist attraction and the most popular shopping enclave in the city street. I love how despite it being a whole stroll of shopping complexes in this green city, walking amidst the heat is still bearable. The street is clean and it is lined with trees and plants all around. This concept of green city is something many Southeast Asian countries should be able to adopt more.

Watching Sarah Kay & Phil Kaye

I had never been into poetry my whole life, let alone watched one. This is such a refreshing experience.

I have decided that:

• Poets are cool people. They write beautiful words, and not only that, they touch our hearts with those words. That was not an easy task.
• Serendipity is even cooler. Sarah and Phil are not related, not married, not dating, however they share the same last name, both of them are Japanese-Jewish and before meeting in college, their lives had actually intertwined more than they could ever imagine & they had never realised this before!

While watching Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye performing, I had no idea how many times I said to myself, “goodness, so much feels.”

During the show, Phil said, “In this room, there are at least 5 people who had no idea who we were and were dragged around by their friends to come watch us performing. Hands up to those people!” so I put up my hand while grinning sheepishly. During the meet and greet session, Zana and Shaza once again dragged me to see Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye and told them about me being one of those 5 people who were dragged along! It was so funny.

Shaza bought me one of their books, No Matter The Wreckage and the three of us read the poems together on the flight home. Thanks Shaza!

Which one of their poems is my favourite, you were asking? Well, it wasn’t from Sarah or Phil though. It was from one of the local poets opening for Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye – it was a poem called A Love Letter to the Magikarp. As you can see I am a huge fan of Pokemon!

Day 3: A room full of childhood memories!

Remember the first day when I mentioned about Children Little Museum? We were finally going to visit it today!

Upon walking into the humble museum, I was transported back to my childhood. You can see many traditional village games like congkak, marbles, the rubber bands tied together for a game called zero point and so many more. They also have toys like tin robot, some creepy-looking dolls, hand-made wood rifles and swords. It’s not limited to toys and games, they also have strollers, some makeshift barber shop, elementary school tables and chairs, drink stalls, enough for you to re-live your childhood. We were so elated.

Before leaving the museum, I bought a pack of glue balloons that I used to play during my childhood time. It is sticky and you have to blow it carefully through a small straw. Here’s how it works:

Never the last

It was time to leave Singapore, unfortunately. But I can assure you this will not be the last time I visit Singapore.

This was my first international flight and I got so excited seeing my first international stamp on my passport. Traveling allows me to open my eyes and learn more about the culture, history, walks of life and the lifestyle of other people in other countries or regions. It allows me to venture more out of my comfort zone, having to navigate a space entirely new to me and having to interact with people of whom I have never met before.

Will I travel again? Definitely!

Where to next though? Feel free to drop your suggestions in the comments!

*The first person who caught the reference shall receive something special from Stampede!

The post Singapore! appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.

If you are feeling seasick, look to the horizon because that is the only thing reasonably stable when you are on a boat. But how boring it is to be stable all the time, no?

Running Social Media

Aside from providing real-time race updates via web, of which Syazwan and the boys had been doing for the previous years, we are also tasked in providing updates via RLIR’s social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

On top of the existing platforms, we decided to introduce something new – a brainchild of our Creative Lead, Shaza.

Behold, the beautiful RLIR 2015 Timeline – providing the Regatta updates by the minute.

Constantly updated with the latest embeds from multiple social media platforms and fully responsive to boot, which means everyone can browse on their mobile devices, our Timeline had garnered close to 4,000 visitors within a week and had been the talk of the regatta!

Faces of Royal Langkawi International Regatta

I look forward for good races, good show and good souls.

Because we are not easily satiable by just updating social media, we came up with the idea of having Faces of Royal Langkawi International Regatta.

Injecting a bit of human factor to this year’s regatta, we conducted quick 2-5 min interviews with the folks around the Regatta- merely a quick chat on their hopes, dreams, fears and what made them who they are today.

So we went round the yacht club, armed with a camera and a little bit of courage to talk to people. These amazing people – they were the employees, the volunteers, the sailors, the media, the visitors, anyone who were happy to chat. They were even more ecstatic to be told they were going to be featured in social media. Some would quickly tag themselves for their family and friends to see when their photos were up.

This project is yet another talk of the regatta!

A new Foxy Lady in town

On the final day of the race, I was approached by Wicky Sundram, the ever delightful Regatta Director – and was introduced to Bill Bremner, the skipper of Foxy Lady VI.

“Would you like to go racing with Bill and his team onboard Foxy Lady VI tomorrow?”

I quickly said yes without thinking further. I have never sailed before. The night before the race, it was a mix of being ecstatic and feeling terrified. This is going to be a race, no, two races – not a leisurely stroll. The most extreme sports I have done was running, back in the chilly mornings of London. Now, not so much.

Luckily, Bill and his team were ever helpful. A cool team who knows how to have loads of fun while being thoroughly focused while racing, we started out to the sea listening to Deadmau5, Black Keys and Pnau. I was given a detailed briefing on the inner workings of a yacht, the terms and we had some light practice before the race. Basically all I had to do was move to the port and the starboard during the race, in times of changing directions of which the sailors call ‘tacking‘. It sounded nothing much, but in the midst of sailing and everyone was in full focus, you have to take care of yourself and not get in the way of the team doing their best job.

And The Foxy Lady VI came first in the IRC1 class in the Regatta. Yay!

My observation: The Foxy Lady team is an absolutely amazing team, with a strong team dynamic. The level of precisions and details given into the preparation is just mindblowing. Their teamwork is rock solid and coordination is on point. Just the perfect team.

It was great fun, and definitely this will not be my last time sailing. Thank you for trusting such a sailing n00b to be onboard, Bill and team!

The Stampede team

I know I have mentioned this time and again, but have you met my team – my wonderful Stampede team?

I, and each other, could have never achieved things above and beyond without the unbridled support of each other. Seven of us, juggling the tasks of live web update, providing live social media to four different platforms, interviewing people, taking photos and transcribing the recordings later on and make everyone look and sound good – these tasks were nothing piece of cake.

Yet in between all the noise and the traffic and the bustle, we could not resist including in some little harmless trolling.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, they say? We defy that and we play and work at the same time.

It gets even better when I receive random messages in my inbox congratulating our team for a job well done, on top of the verbal praises we received while on the job. We could not stop smiling.

Conclusion

I think I speak for the whole team when I say this is the best Royal Langkawi International Regatta, yet. As always with Stampede, even though we often aim for the moon (and more than often we land higher than the stars), we will often aim for an even greater heights the next time round. Also, have I ever told you how therapeutic it is to work overlooking the gorgeous Andaman Sea?

So mark our words, next year’s Regatta is going to be even more spectacular. See you again!

(And Mihalis, I hope to see you too again next year 😉 )

While you are at that, check out these RLIR2015 links:

• Web
• RLIR2015 Timeline
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

(Foxy Lady VI photos credits go to Icarus Sailing Media & Sea Yachting.)

The post All Good Things: Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2015 appeared first on Stampede: the strategic design & technology company.