This week, I’m continuing our Capella Space company values blog series with a post about one of my favorite Capella values: Aim High & Bold.
Questioning the Status Quo
Internally, here’s what the Aim High & Bold value means to our team: We take risks and challenge complacency, mediocrity, and decisions that don’t make sense. We learn from others, write our own rules, and strive to be a pioneer in our industry.
To me, it also means we question the status quo. We don’t do things a certain way just because they’ve always been done like that. Instead, we challenge ourselves and welcome constructive criticism. Even after we’ve made a decision, we aren’t afraid to assess our progress and pivot when needed.
I joined the Capella team in March this year and noticed right away how this value came into play at the company. During my interview process, as I learned about Capella’s innovative satellite design and the progress the company has made in the SAR space, it was immediately apparent to me that this team has aimed high and made bold decisions since day one. Nine months later, I am still so amazed by how Capella, a relatively small company, has already successfully designed, built, and launched such an innovative new satellite in just a few short years.
Before coming to Capella, I worked in the medical device industry, so SAR and space were new fields for me. This year, as I’ve learned more about it, I’ve been very impressed by how Capella is pioneering its SAR technology and making it accessible to customers.
Applying the Scrum framework at Capella
Day to day, I see this value manifested on my team through our use of the Scrum framework. The Scrum framework is a simple framework for effective team collaboration on complex products, helping teams to address complex problems while productively and creatively delivering high-value products. My team uses the Scrum framework to manage development cycles, prioritize work, and conduct the review process.
This framework opens the door for members of the team to challenge the way we do things. In some instances, after we’ve decided the details of a project, members of the team have reached out to ask why we’re doing it that way. Sometimes they share new ideas or discuss different ways they’ve done similar projects in the past. I always appreciate this constructive feedback and proactive questioning because it guides our team to continually improve and aim higher.
At previous jobs, most of my teams implemented more traditional leadership and management styles. During my time at Capella, I’ve seen how implementing the Scrum framework helps our team always aim high and deliver the best possible products.
Emphasizing the power of teamwork
We also do a daily standup meeting as part of the Scrum framework, and this meeting helps us continuously aim high and bold. For 15 minutes Monday-Thursday every week, we do a quick check-in with my entire team. We always ask three questions: what did you achieve yesterday, what are you going to accomplish today, and are you blocked? These questions help us stay on track, measure our progress, continue pushing ourselves to do more, and solve any challenges that come up.
We have a number of other company values at Capella Space. Check out our blog to read more about them.
About Jonas Estefanos
Jonas is a project manager for space operations at Capella Space; he is also a certified Professional Scrum Master. Jonas has a background in project management and engineering. Before joining the Capella Space team, he worked at Welch Allyn and Micron Technology.
