Sharing weekend photos as a way to build empathy
“Weekend Snaps” - a weekly ritual to help build team connection.
Context
Right before the pandemic started, in February 2020 we assembled the team to work on one of our most important strategic projects.
Suddenly the office got shut down and we were locked inside of our homes with no idea when things will “get back to normal”. We found ourselves in a situation that, frankly, no one knew how to navigate. Working with a new team is hard by default – you don't know the people, they don't know you, and you don't yet understand the team dynamics. Starting with a new team in the face of a global pandemic took this challenge to the next level. We were scared, unsure of how long we'd have to stay home, and worried about the safety of ourselves and our loved ones.
After the first month of working together as a team, we realized we were missing something very simple – human connection. We were so used to office interactions; even small talk tends to reveal a bit more about us as humans, not just tech workers.
Weekend Snaps Ritual
In a nutshell, Weekend Snaps is a practice of sharing photos of your weekend life. I can’t recall the exact moment or how we initiated Weekend Snaps—perhaps someone started a thread on Slack, or maybe I introduced it as an alternative to a traditional ice-breaker. What I do know is that it began naturally and evolved into a cherished ritual for our team.
Here’s how we did it:
Every Monday, we have a weekly meeting to kick off the week. The meeting lasts 30 minutes and is structured into three sections:
Weekend Snaps
Company/team updates
Goals for the week
Let’s dive into the Weekend Snaps section. At the beginning of the meeting, I open a session on FigJam and share the link with the team. For the next 3 minutes, we all drop pictures from our weekends: movies we watched, games we played, time spent with kids, funny pictures of our pets being weirdos... Then, we grab FigJam stamps and put little hearts on the photos/things we like – and we like everything that is being shared. We quickly ask each other questions e.g. “Did you like the movie?” or “What park did you go to?” or “How old is your niece? She is so cute”.
Effectiveness
When I look back and think about why these 10 minutes really stuck with the team, I think of a few reasons:
It was low effort – just using FigJam and exporting photos from our phones.
It was quick – just 10 minutes every Monday.
It fulfilled the need for human connection in an entirely new digital workplace environment. We celebrated engagements and birthdays, discussed movies or TV shows we were watching, learned about each other's hobbies, and cheered each other on. We had to figure out how to maintain connection in our new way of working.
Outcomes
I wouldn't be a product manager if I didn't think about the outcomes. The impact of this little ritual was hard to quantify, but here are a few facts:
We had the lowest churn rate on the team; every single one of us stayed with the company throughout the pandemic. We actually expanded our team and made every new member feel welcomed.
The bonds we created were stronger than just workplace connections – when it became safe, we grabbed dinner together and kept in touch over the years.
Other teams wondered what it was like to be on our team, and our culture gained internal interest and curiosity (and maybe a little bit of jealousy).
If you are leading a team, I recommend trying this exercise to see if it can bring your team members closer together and spark new ideas.
Yana’s 2 Cents:
I think everyone now is more or less familiar with classic scrum rituals like standups or retrospective, yet I often find them less effective in today’s distributed setups (let’s unpack this topic in a separate post, shall we?). This post deeply resonated with me, both as someone who has navigated remote work challenges, and as a team leader assembling new cross-functional teams for various projects.
It’s always challenging at the start when the team is in its “storming” phase, and folks haven't figured out how to interact with each other or how to execute most effectively in the given circumstances. In one of my recent projects, it took us a few weeks (!) to build these personal connections and start executing effectively. So I’m fascinated by the Weekend snaps idea: it’s brilliant in its simplicity and effectiveness.
By dedicating just a small portion of your weekly meeting to personal sharing, you managed to replicate some of the organic interactions that naturally occur in an office environment, working as a glue that stitches people together. This definitely goes on my “tips and tricks” list :)