For the past two months, Techstack as a company founded in Ukraine has been operating in the conditions of war. The majority of our team members were forced to leave their homes and move to safer places. Some techstackers have engaged themselves with volunteering activities, helping people in our hometown, Kharkiv, others supported Ukrainian refugees in other cities and countries, and several of our colleagues have joined military forces. However, the company keeps functioning at full capacity and fulfilling all obligations to its team and partners.
Techstack accounts support the products of our partners just as they had done before the war. Although the conditions of their work have changed dramatically. We are very proud of each of our colleagues who manage to keep working in our rapidly changing reality. So today we’d like to share the stories of how some of our accounts function.
Product Development Team of a Sales Enablement Platform
The biggest of Techstack’s accounts have been working on a sales enablement platform for several years. Before the war, the majority of team members were located in Kharkiv, Ukraine. However, when the war started almost all of them managed to relocate to safer places in Ukraine and abroad.
Despite the shelling and missiles attacks in Kharkiv, on the second day of the war, 40% of the team was already involved in the work process, 55% started working at a regular tempo within the next 2.5 weeks, in the middle of March about 80% of the team was actively engaged in working process and today the whole team is already back to work and ready for full-scale operations.
The biggest of Techstack’s accounts have been working on a sales enablement platform for several years. Before the war, the majority of team members were located in Kharkiv, Ukraine. However, when the war started almost all of them managed to relocate to safer places in Ukraine and abroad.
What is also important is that the team became even more united than ever before. Team members are supporting each other, turning cameras on at meetings, recording videos for each other, and taking photos of the workflow to share warmth, love, and team spirit!
The partners on the product side of the team demonstrate absolute solidarity with the development team and Techstack’s policy of putting people first. They also make donations to the Red Cross and Ukrainian Armed Forces, bringing us closer to victory.
"We are grateful to have this synergy: between partners as customers, between Techstack as a home company, and among ourselves as a team." - Oleksiy, Product Manager of the team.
Product Development Team of a Fundraising Platform
Our second biggest account works on the development and maintenance of a fundraising platform, which helps youth sports teams to collect financial support to reach their goals.
Part of the team was located outside of Ukraine before the war. When it all started, the majority of the rest of the team members also moved to safer locations in Ukraine and Europe. However, several people stayed longer in Kharkiv for various reasons.
For example, Anya, a QA engineer, volunteered to support the Armed Forces with her parents.
“I attended our meetings with the camera on from the bathroom during the shelling and explosions somewhere nearby, pretending like nothing was happening outside the window, trying not to frighten everyone!". — she said.
Several other heroic people from the team helped Kharkiv residents with humanitarian aid, transportation, and purchasing of ammunition for the military forces. Now there are 2 people left in Kharkiv who are fully involved in the work process.
Before the war, there were 3 Scrum teams on the product, but it was decided to temporarily make one for those who had the opportunity to work smoothly. Other people worked on the Kanban board, distributing the tasks as best they could. Today all three teams have returned to the usual format of work, keeping everything under control and steadily achieving all of our goals.
For informal communication, the team has a separate chat, where everyone exchanges news and emotions, supports each other and discusses problems, just like we did two months ago, over a cup of coffee in our office kitchen.
The partners on the product side of the team fully support Techstack team members and Ukraine. The main page of the fundraising platform now has a “Stand with Ukraine” banner and their common chat is full of photos with the Ukrainian flag.
IoT Product Development Team
Another Techstack team develops a number of products for automation and improvement of manufacturing facilities. During the first days of the war, a portion of the team reached the Western part of Ukraine and other safe areas and continued their work.
The work process had slightly changed but is now back to normal: those who had a chance to continue during the first days of the war divided their work into sprints; and those who needed more time to leave Kharkiv joined the work gradually. Currently, the whole team is functioning at full capacity.
An interesting fact is that the team works on two IoT products that require a certain set of devices. During the evacuation, the set was transported, but of course, there were no office conditions for installing devices in new locations. The team has quickly found a way out of this situation and managed to securely connect the devices in a hotel room. The system works successfully.
Many members of the team manage to help Ukrainian citizens and the Armed Forces from different locations. For example, the DevOps team engineer carries humanitarian aid from Western Ukraine to Kharkiv on weekends, and the QA engineer purchases the necessary drugs and sends them to Kharkiv residents.
The team has a separate chat for off-the-job conversations that allows them to remain not only a good team but also good friends supporting each other.
Even more support express partners on the product side. They fully support the team, Techstack, and Ukraine, and admire the courage and determination of the team members for working in the conditions of war and still being able to show great results. Customers kept emphasizing that safety is paramount. During the gradual relocations, the partners received updates on the relocation and security status of each team member, going through this process together with the team.
Another Techstack team develops a number of products for automation and improvement of manufacturing facilities. During the first days of the war, a portion of the team reached the Western part of Ukraine and other safe areas and continued their work.
The work process had slightly changed but is now back to normal: those who had a chance to continue during the first days of the war divided their work into sprints; and those who needed more time to leave Kharkiv joined the work gradually. Currently, the whole team is functioning at full capacity.
An interesting fact is that the team works on two IoT products that require a certain set of devices. During the evacuation, the set was transported, but of course, there were no office conditions for installing devices in new locations. The team has quickly found a way out of this situation and managed to securely connect the devices in a hotel room. The system works successfully.
Many members of the team manage to help Ukrainian citizens and the Armed Forces from different locations. For example, the DevOps team engineer carries humanitarian aid from Western Ukraine to Kharkiv on weekends, and the QA engineer purchases the necessary drugs and sends them to Kharkiv residents.
The team has a separate chat for off-the-job conversations that allows them to remain not only a good team but also good friends supporting each other.
Even more support express partners on the product side. They fully support the team, Techstack, and Ukraine, and admire the courage and determination of the team members for working in the conditions of war and still being able to show great results. Customers kept emphasizing that safety is paramount. During the gradual relocations, the partners received updates on the relocation and security status of each team member, going through this process together with the team.
Two Teams Developing Solutions for a Healthcare Service Provider
This Techstack account is divided into two teams that work on medical and sales enablement solutions for our partner, a medical service provider from the US. Within the first two weeks of the war, both teams managed to evacuate from Kharkiv to the safer regions of the country. However, the work has not stopped even during this time.
The team working on a medical solution was the first to reach these safer places, so now they are back to the pre-war working tempo. Guided by Scrum principles, they divide their work into sprints and hold daily meetings, which they use not only to discuss their status but also to share news, support each other and stay together as a team.
The biggest support the team receives is from the partners on the product side. From the first day of the war, they assisted with the team’s evacuation, kept in touch, offered help, supported team members with bonuses, expressed understanding for any possible issues, and demonstrated warmth and care. The partners actively engage in anti-war demonstrations in their city, signing petitions and trying to find ways to influence the situation. This huge support and understanding help us all to move forward, keep working, and do the best we can.
Development Team of an Enterprise Application
The team helps large enterprises, like banks or insurance companies with over 20,000 - 50,000 active devices, with the migration and update of their software products.
“The first two-three weeks were the hardest; people tried to keep working while evacuating across the whole country, searching for a safe place to stay. The guys who managed to relocate first were helping others to navigate through the country and find accommodation. We were active for 14 hours a day trying to help each other and at the same time to keep doing our work. On the third week of the war, we all got to our new places and from then on we have been working as usual without any delays or failures. Our productivity is fully back to the pre-war level.” — Vitaliiy, the Account Manager.
Customers expressed one-hundred-percent support to the team and demonstrated total understanding of the situation. The CTO of the partner company made an official statement that the company fully supports Ukraine in this situation and condemns Russian aggression. The company also donates to various humanitarian organizations supporting Ukrainian refugees.
Development Team for a Web-Based Vector Editor
This team is developing, designing, and testing a web-based vector editor with cloud storage and the possibility to collaborate with multiple people working on one design. As the war broke out, the team rapidly relocated to different cities in Ukraine, so they were able to continue working almost uninterrupted. Despite the war, with the constant support from the partner company, the team managed to deliver each release on time.
Dev Team for Design Communication Software
The team develops communication and task management software that facilitates interaction between designers and agencies. The work on this product started at the beginning of 2022. The team finished the first sprint and conducted the first demo session just a few days before the war. Some team members witnessed active military actions in the first hours of the war and even were trapped in the occupied territory, which they managed to leave after some time.
Now the whole team has evacuated to safe places and is steadily working. The team managed to catch up on all the tasks they put on hold during the war and two weeks ago they finished the second sprint which they started from their new places. The product team expressed support and understanding to the team and made a donation to help Ukraine.
Development Team for a Complex E-Commerce Platform
On the day when the war began, the team creating a complex e-commerce solution appeared to be spread between different places: the teсh lead was on vacation with his family, some of the team members were in Kharkiv near the epicenter of the war, and others were staying in the Western part of Ukraine. Due to everyone’s well-coordinated actions, they managed to jump into work from the first days of the war and even did not demonstrate any stoppage.
Today the team functions steadily and effectively. Every daily meeting, the dev team takes time to share news and take care of each other. The product team expresses full support and almost daily, offers any possible help to the team, including relocation to the other country.
Other Techstack Teams
There are more than a dozen accounts of different sizes that work on our partners’ products within Techstack. Although all of them were influenced by war, today every account is back to work. The general tendency is the same for every account: all team members work on their regular tasks fulfilling all obligations to our partners and often exceeding their expectations. The war has made us closer and more united. We learned how to cheer up and take care of each other.
The war has also made us stronger, more motivated, and more fearless. We feel that there is nothing impossible for us now. We keep going forward in spite of all the difficulties and challenges, developing both professionally and personally.
Techstack is grateful to our partners for their constant support, understanding, and concern. We are proud and happy to have such relations with our customers, who have also become our friends. We are looking forward to gathering together at our new Kharkiv office in a peaceful Ukraine.
