Software firm keeps it light and productive

By Betty Lin-Fisher

Beacon Journal business writer

This was not your typical office meeting.

Sure, it started with a few minutes of technical discussion of some upcoming projects. But then the 12 workers watched parts of Kentucky Fried Movie (made by the makers of Airplane! and the Naked Gun movies) and an episode of The Three Stooges.

The clips were actually just a distraction so the workers wouldn't notice managers setting up an obstacle course throughout the Bath Township offices of 4TechWork, a firm that provides custom software development for companies throughout Northeast Ohio.

The employees were then paired up and given this task: lead your blindfolded partner around the office to shoot foam bullets at various targets, including Easter Peeps stuffed animals, basketball hoops and a picture of the company president's head superimposed on a picture of Aunt Bea from The Andy Griffith Show.

The blindfolds were talking masks: one was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and the other was Spider-Man.

But it's not all just fun and games at 4TechWork.

The obstacle course -- and other fun events like an upcoming game of Laser Tag, a foosball tournament and an Indy 500 competition -- are actually designed to let off some steam and as team-building exercises. The meetings are held twice a month and usually only one out of four meetings is set aside for the team-building exercises, though many often have some type of fun element interspersed with the normal meeting details.

``People have to interact to get their job done in software development,'' said company President Michael Seed. ``They need to be comfortable with each other and it can be a high-stress job.''

The interaction is also good for some of the employees, who are not as gregarious as others, Seed said.

Games and fun activities ``become a stress reliever,'' he said.

Jim Knotts, 24, a senior network engineer, said the team-building exercises help bring people from different departments together.

``We all work really, really hard, but at the same time, we play hard, too,'' he said.

Jason Moran, 27, a software developer, said he just came off his busiest week, working long hours on a project.

He and Bill Darrow, 25, also a software developer, said they were looking forward to the obstacle course because they had missed a few of the previous ``fun'' meetings.

``If you don't have it, the stress builds up,'' Moran said.

Bart Bischoff, a Microsoft services executive who has used 4TechWork consultants for some of his projects, said the atmosphere at the office reminds him of the pre-dot-com office environment.

``It's a fun environment,'' he said. ``That's been lost with the dot-com crash.''

Bischoff said he's been in the office when there were random marshmallows being shot around the office.

``You have to have some kind of relief, especially when you're working code and working on projects. You're so heads down all of the time that it's good to have a little relief sometimes. That's what makes their teams strong,'' Bischoff said.

A few years ago, 4TechWork expanded its staff, which was typically an Internet technology specialist with more seniority. Company officials decided to blend teams of more senior employees with younger employees ``with a hunger to learn,'' said Gene Marsh, director of marketing and sales strategy.

``We have a great mix of skills and personalities. It's intentional that people are not similar,'' Marsh said.

So the team-building exercises get ``people to rely on each other a bit more,'' said Jim Weiss, director of projects.

Marsh and Weiss acknowledge that they gear their activities to engage their younger staffers -- mostly in their 20s and 30s -- but, ``it's the kid in all of us.'' In fact, many of the other company employees -- there are about 125 total -- wish they could also be involved in the team-building exercises for the software developers, Seed said.