We live Managed WordPress Hosting 100 percent. The Raidboxes dashboard is set to remain number 1 in the future - thanks in part to our Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Thomas Goik. Find out more about his diverse work and about our team.
The product development of Raidboxes
Thomas, you're new on board as CTO. What exactly does this role involve? And what does your day-to-day work look like?
Yes, that's right, I'm new at Raidboxes, previously two of our employees had taken on this task on an interim basis. My task is relatively comprehensive, which is why I have divided it into several milestones.
First of all, as the person responsible for technology, I have to get to know the employees. So my first milestone was to take care of the team. The second step in my role is to advance us technologically, and that is my focus at the moment.
My working day usually consists of meetings, firstly with my colleagues from the technology team, but also with stakeholders and the people responsible from the other Circles. I usually work through the different points every two weeks, so the content and tasks are different in each case.
Raidboxes continues to grow - be part of it
Our product development tasks are very diverse. Which projects have priority for you and why?
The tasks are indeed varied and quite complex, and we want to continue to be at the forefront of things like speed and reliability. However, I have noticed that we have lost our focus a little. The top priority for me is therefore to bring more structure and therefore more product responsibility into the teams.
This allows us to focus more on development. We are currently working on updating our interfaces so that we can offer even more functionalities.
A diverse and committed team
What is your first impression of Raidboxes and your team?
I wouldn't say it's my team, but rather "of the team". My first impression is that we can still achieve a lot. Both as a Raidboxes team and in development itself. Our employees are all incredibly driven, I think we just need to channel the tasks a bit more.
Regardless of that, I immediately felt very comfortable with my colleagues - I had a bit of respect for such a "rather German group", over the years I have always worked with many, many people from other cultures.
You have a lot of experience in managing software engineering. Every working environment has its own challenges. What do you see at Raidboxes? And how do you tackle them?
In fact, I have worked with a wide variety of team structures. And each team had its own dynamics and challenges. With Raidboxes, I think the task is first and foremost to redefine the focus. We tackled a lot of things and then sometimes lost sight of completing them.
As a result, the internal feeling has "spread" that we are not making progress at some points. As already mentioned, the first step is to structure teams around product areas and give them a clear mission. But we are also in the process of adapting our working methods. For example, by generating more feedback loops in order to act faster. Fast and lean development is what will take us forward.
The focus for the future
How did you manage to get an overview of Raidboxes in such a short time?
Ha, I don't know if I really have such a good overview yet 🙂 However, I've made an effort to get to know Raidboxes from the outside first, so that I can now work through what I've seen from the inside. It's always important for me to talk to all the employees - and not just stay in the technical department. I think that helped me to get a more colorful picture.
Are there any new things you want to introduce at Raidboxes?
Yes, absolutely, I think that processes can be very useful. Especially in a start-up, where the focus can and must change quickly, processes can channel certain actions. In recent years, I have had very good experiences with OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). I think that we at Raidboxes can certainly achieve something with this type of focus.
In development, we will focus more on the customer. We will take care of their needs and implement the whole thing more quickly, using simpler development processes.
Why did you choose a WordPress web host as your employer?
There are a few reasons that prompted me to join Raidboxes. I was looking for a company that sees fair play as more than just a figurehead and that also wants to do things sustainably.
WordPress web hosting has never been a topic for me before, but I have always been involved with server hosting in my roles. So WordPress hosting is not an unknown topic for me. However, over the last few years I've been stuck with providers such as AWS or GCP. I guess I also missed the flair and impact of being an independent hosting provider.
Raidboxes continues to grow
We are regularly looking for new employees. What advice would you give potentially interested candidates? Why should they apply to us?
We are particularly interesting for people who are looking for new ways - both in the WordPress environment and in hosting. As already mentioned, we want to stay at the top. And, of course, we are looking for people who like to smoke with mental exertion, to put it bluntly. Above all, it is important to us that applicants have drive, i.e. incentive.
You live and work from Spain. Raidboxes is very well positioned remotely. Nevertheless, how do you manage to stay close to the team?
Yes, exactly, Raidboxes is - in my opinion - a pioneer with its remote approach. Not only are we looking for people nationally, we also want to position ourselves internationally. And I fit in very well with my base in Spain.
First of all, it was important for me to give everyone the feeling that you can also establish good connections via video conferencing. I've had a lot of remote employees in recent years. And of course I've already been able to gain experience of how this works.
I myself like to work with 1:1 agreements. This form means a lot to me personally. Because I can pick up on everyone individually. But I think it's also important to have an open ear for the employees and to listen.
What do you do to balance out your demanding job? How do you "wind down" in the evening?
I've always been a team guy and played 7-a-side soccer until before Corona. However, these types of team sports have been cut back a lot due to coronavirus. My wife signed us up for the gym and then for boxing to balance things out.
Boxing is a sport that I never had on my list. But since I've been practicing it more intensively, I think it's a shame that I didn't try it out earlier. Thanks to my trainer (Carlos Ramos, EU champion), I find the mental and physical balance to my work.
