Posts Tagged ‘team development’

Bowl-o-Rama 2010 Team Challenge

December 16th, 2010

Mallory Maske

The MyAds team recently organized a team outing at a  bowling alley near our LA HQ. Megan Hartman, MyAds Support Specialist, shares with us the highlights.

Megan Hartman

Megan Hartman

“The transition from working for a startup under the umbrella of a major corporation to an independent startup is a journey filled with consolidation, new experiences, trials, and a test of character. And one of the greatest aspects about learning to work for a startup? The intimacy and transparency that is shared between a smaller group of cohorts. While this intimacy and changed work environment takes time to acclimate to, a couple of tools to breaking down the barrier of learned behavior and preconceived notions are group outings and team building exercises.

With this in mind, ‘Rubicon Bowl-o-Rama 2010 Team Challenge’ was manifested by Steve Wilcox and Amber McCarty, and executed by Allison King and Nicole Smith, with some assistance in facilitation from myself. This was not only an event created to boost morale and to show off bowling skills, but also one for introductions, as well to teach us the importance and benefit of working together as a team.

All teams were a combination of  legacy Rubicon members and legacy MyAds team members. Each team was allowed the creativity of coming up with kitschy team names: ‘Split Happens’, ‘Two Guys & Three Girls Walk Into a Bowling Alley’, ‘RTFB (Roll the freaking ball!), ‘The Incredi-bowls’, ‘Alley-OOPS!’, ‘Big Balls of Fury’, and ‘RTB (Real Time Bowlers)’. And creative we did get. Team ‘Alley-OOPS!’ was so enthusiastic that they wore purple sweatbands to show their competitive streak.

Awesome prizes that consisted of holiday-themed baskets filled with eats, sweets, treats, martini-mixers, and more were passed out for wins such as top scores, most strikes, most spares and most enthusiastic.

As a testimony from one of the bowlers himself, it appears that Ryan Bulaon had a bowling-good time:
“Bowling with everyone was awesome! I only really knew one person on my team, so it allowed me to get to know people from other departments in a competitive team setting. Especially enjoyable: bowling while holding a partner’s hand. Not so enjoyable: fearing for my life as I stood in line in front of the bowler as the bowler attempted to bowl between our legs. Other than that, I had a blast!”

This outing was a shining example that those on the other side of the building are just as fun as many of us know we also are! It also planted the seed and the desire for many of us to want to learn more about our colleagues, our company, our business, and our industry. As a wise woman once quoted a very wise man: “The whole is more than the sum of its parts” -Aristotle. While this is a quote that I acquired sometime during my school years, I found it to be reemphasized during my time working with Amber McCarty, MyAds Support Manager, as she is an advocate for teamwork.

Through this group activity, I learned that it’s okay to loosen up around my peers because we all like to get a little crazy sometimes, and we all need to get a little crazy sometimes. I also learned that the union of MyAds and Rubicon is more like pieces to a puzzle coming together, rather than a formal business acquisition. And that’s how we should look at it- as though we’re working together towards completing the puzzle/goal: giving power to the publisher. After all, we spend more time together than at home, right?” – Megan Hartman

Some team members are a little competitive....

The Road to 1 Trillion Impressions!

November 19th, 2010

Vanessa Rottet

988,000,000,000…989,000,000,000… and closer and closer to 1 trillion impressions! Yes, 1 trillion impressions! 1-trillion_3-300x1501

Everyone at the Rubicon Project is so excited to hit 1 trillion impressions – and it is obvious throughout the Rubicon building. Big numbers of 5, 4, and 3 have been falling off the walls as the team counts down until the presumed day that we will hit 1 trillion “imps” – Monday, November 22nd!
A survey with an amazing prize was created by Solomon Ko of the Demand Support team. The survey is to guess the exact date and time when our ticker will hit 1 trillion – in Pacific time. But don’t worry, the Pacific time does not throw off our team members from overseas and 3,000 miles away in NYC. Everyone is still battling for the $200 VISA card prize and also for the bragging voice to say, “I chose the exact day and time that Rubicon hit 1 trillion impressions!” The survey concludes at 5pm today – good luck everyone! 1-trillion_52-300x2252

With all of this excitement, we at the Rubicon Project, still act like a family – continuing to conquer the market and work hard at focusing on what is going on in current time. But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t having a little fun in the office as well. Steve Lundby, the manager of the account managers, tried to keep “hush-hush” about his secret in how to find the winning date and time, but of course, it started a little stir in the office. Members of the team, including Casey Smith and Brian Buttray were interested to find out what his plan was… 1-trillion_4-300x2251

The expected date to hit 1 trillion impressions is Monday, November 22nd. But everyone will have to wait until Sunday or Monday or Tuesday to tell what the exact date and time is. And until then, we will all keep counting…  994,000,000,000… 995,000,000,000… 1-trillion_1-300x2252

Bowling for a Good Cause

November 9th, 2009

Mallory Maske

On Sunday, November 8th a team of ten Rubicon Project employees from our Los Angeles headquarters joined together to form a bowling team and headed to Lucky Strike lanes for an afternoon of fun- all in the name of a good cause. We were supporting our friends at the Midnight Mission, a homeless and rehabilitation center on Skid Row. This event, in particular, focused on raising money for the homeless children of the Midnight Mission, a cause that we were more than willing to support! Team member John Robinson walked about with a pretty sweet Sector Nine skateboard and the rest of us practiced our bowling moves and enjoyed food, drinks, and mingling with the other folks at the event. It was great to see so many folks who are passionate about helping out where they can- they definitely inspire us!

Rubicon Project team members at Teach a Kid to Fish bowling event

Rubicon Project team members at Teach a Kid to Fish bowling event

Rubicon Olympics: The Technology Team Takes the Gold

March 6th, 2009

Karen Leano

Congratulations to the Technology team! They won the first-ever Rubicon Olympics, a series of competitions that pit team against team in an all-afternoon melee to determine who rules all of Rubicon. The games required skill and dexterity: from ping pong and darts to Wii tennis and horse, we brought an epic competition into our own little game space. Players scrambled from event to event, running outside for a quick round of horseshoes before rushing off to the semi-finals for foosball. The Olympics culminated in an entertaining tournament of liquid pong. So even though the technology team took home the gold yesterday, everybody was a winner as we ended the day with red cups and reracks. It was a good day to be a ping pong ball.

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Rubi Rewards: How We Show Our Appreciation

March 1st, 2009

Devan Fearman

Matt’s mission to turn the whole Yield Management team into wine connoisseurs is no secret in the office. So when we received a wine cooler through our Rubi Rewards program, we were grateful to have an excuse to keep a few bottles handy for a special occasion. Unfortunately, the cooler sits guarded by Matt’s desk and those bottles have yet to be uncorked. We’re waiting for the right moment–I’m just hoping that moment comes soon.

The RubiRewards program started as a way for us to show appreciation for other team members by purchasing items for them with Visa gift cards that we receive quarterly. It’s a nice surprise when you receive a gift from a person on a different team because it makes you realize that your impact spans far beyond the people sitting next to you…like our wine cooler, which the Ad Network Development team gave to my team at the end of last quarter. Our teams work so closely together every day, and we don’t stop to say “Thanks, you’re doing a great job” enough!

The Rubi Rewards program is just another one of those fun little things that we do that actually makes a big impact on our work environment. It’s great to see that your work is recognized by people who don’t necessarily have access to your everyday accomplishments. It proves that we’re really doing something special here, and hey, you deserve something for it!

Now, time to start thinking about what to buy this quarter for those people at the top of my list…

After School Special

February 27th, 2009

Devan Fearman

As work hours grow longer, parents rely on after-school programs to keep their children safe and on-task between the dismissal bell and the end of the work day. The Rubicon team took the afternoon off from our work day yesterday to volunteer at three local elementary schools, where we brushed up on our arithmetic skills and remembered how to spell. The kids at Braddock Drive, Stoner Avenue and Grand View didn’t mind us trying to fit into their mini-chairs, so long as we shared during snack time.

Duc helping with homework

Duc helping with homework

We tutored kids aged 5-11 in subjects that reminded us how a show like, “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader” ever came to be. I don’t remember studying communications in the media and the effects of television advertisements in the third grade, like the kids over at Braddock Drive. But they’re an intelligent bunch and I quite enjoyed the afternoon with burgeoning young minds.

The gang at Braddock Elementary

The gang at Braddock Elementary

The team at Stoner Avenue Elementary

The team at Stoner Avenue Elementary

The crew at Grand View Elementary

The crew at Grand View Elementary



Project Samaritan

February 16th, 2009

Devan Fearman

The team in New York found our first East Coast volunteer spot in Brooklyn. Project Samaritan, which addresses the needs of people with HIV/AIDS and substance abuse issues, needed a team of five to help jump start its new project. They provide health care services and rehabilitation programs for the community but recently, the clinic has been getting hit pretty hard by the economy, as less donations roll in and more expensive bills roll out. The solution: the Brooklyn branch is opening a thrift store this summer, to offset the costs of Project Samaritan’s services.

After a 45-minute train ride from our office to the site, we met up with Brandon Snead, who recently created the volunteer program for Project Samaritan. It turns out, we were one of his first batches of workers! We helped him with creating items for the store, organizing the space and putting together packets and publicity to seek donations and raise awareness of the group. We were doing what we could for a cause that serves almost 2,000 people in the area who rely on Project Samaritan. Brandon was just grateful to have us there helping him move his vision forward.

We wish the best of luck to him as he builds this program and we are very humbled and honored to be a part of it. If you are interested in volunteering, contact Brandon Snead at bsnead@projectsamaritan.org.
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Rubicon Green Week!

February 13th, 2009

Devan Fearman

The Green Truck @ Rubicon for Friday's activity!

The Green Truck @ Rubicon for Friday's activity!

We’re creatures of habit and unfortunately, sometimes those habits aren’t so good for the world around us. So we instituted Green Week, which is a platform for us to institute new “green” practices into our work week routine. Every day we held a simple activity that helped save the planet. We know every little bit helps so we’re trying to do our part.

Monday: Marwan updated our email signatures to remind everyone to conserve paper. At the bottom of all of our emails you will find

P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

What can we say? We love our trees.

Tuesday: We posted “Please remember to turn off the lights” signs above every light switch in the building. Our NYC office was similarly outfitted.

We’re also bringing in a lighting technician to control some of the lights in our LA office that stay on 24/7. We’re turning off our desk lamps when we’re not using them; now we just have to figure out those pesky main lights.

Wednesday: We set up all of our computer monitors to automatically go into sleep mode after 5 minutes of non-use.

Bill took the extra step to challenge everyone to find ways around leaving our computers on 24/7. If your reason to keep your computer on is to avoid the 15-minute boot-up time in the morning, he has the solution: he wrote a script that opens Windows and starts all his programs in 10 seconds flat. And don’t even try to use the excuse that you need to keep your programs continuously running to log the history. “Screen” is a terrific program for running programs on remote machines, allowing you to disconnect from your session and reconnect with no loss of state. Bill has more information on this if you need it.

Thursday: Our team pumped our bike tires, crammed into cars, and reloaded our Metropasses to go green on our way to work. Participants received reusable grocery bags–not to mention, we saved ourselves gas money and years off our lives (traffic can really get to you, sometimes).

Friday: We brought in the Green Truck for lunch, a favorite here at the Rubicon Project. Not only is the food delicious—we depleted their reserves of grilled cheese—but their mission is ambitious. All the trucks are powered on vegetable oil and bio-diesel, naturally and meals are made using local, organic, fresh produce and proteins. See http://www.greentruckonthego.com and try the sweet potato chips. Going green never tasted so good.

The Dream Center: Changing Lives

January 30th, 2009

Devan Fearman

The Rubicon Project exceeded many goals last year but the most inspiring of them all has to be our Food and Clothing Drive last holiday season. We set a goal of donating 3500 items to the Dream Center, a non-profit outreach, and our team responded to that challenge by bringing 5x the amount: 17,372 pieces of clothing, packaged food and household necessities.

We hope that our contributions help the Dream Center’s mission to provide food, clothing, shelter, and life rehabilitation to the struggling in impoverished areas. Their Mobile Food Truck delivers groceries to 26 different low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles each week. In May 2008, the Rubicon team spent an afternoon bagging groceries and items for the Dream Center’s food truck—and thus began our love affair with the organization.

The Dream Center protects and motivates the youth of Los Angeles through many campaigns. Project Prevention delivers food, baby supplies, toiletries, cleaning supplies, furniture and beds to families that are at risk of losing their children to foster care because of poverty. Metro Kids mentors young minds to think positively and encourages young people to find their talents and abilities and pursue their dreams.

We love working with the Dream Center because of the opportunities to attend to the various needs of our community. Whether we want to focus on sheltering the homeless, rehabilitating the sick or inspiring our youth, the Dream Center aids many different groups. For ways you can get involved, go to http://www.dreamcenter.org.

Q4 Community Service Day: Hope Gardens

December 5th, 2008

Devan Fearman

It is my favorite time of the quarter again! One of our company values is community. We believe strongly in taking the time, every quarter, to give back to a local program that is making a difference. This time around, we took all 65 of our team members from the LA office and headed out to Hope Gardens, a Los Angeles based shelter for abandoned women and children, part of the Union Rescue Mission. The Rubicon army descended on the transitional housing center, ready to be put to work! We spent the morning and early afternoon gardening, doing site maintenance and clean up, organizing donations, decorating for the holidays, and repainting. At the end of the day, we were exhausted but beaming from the good vibes we got for donating our time to such a worthwhile cause. Not only is the community service aspect of the event important, it allows us all to get out of the office (in this case, a half day) to bond around a cause that is greater than ourselves. The drive and willpower that our team members put into these events never ceases to amaze me, and the memory stays with us permanently, as do the people in need that we encounter. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes in relation to what we did yesterday, “it is easy to make a buck. It is hard to make a difference!”

the Rubicon Project at Hope Gardens

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Rubicon Project Community Service Day

June 1st, 2008

Devan Fearman

At the Rubicon Project we think that giving back to the community is an important part of our growing culture. Every quarter the entire company takes a work day and volunteers with a local organization. In this round of community service we worked with the fine folks at the Dream Center in Los Angeles. The Dream Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping inner-cities by providing food, clothing, shelter, life rehabilitation, education and job training, and donates food to those in need.

The team helped sort and package up food the Dream Center received form countless food donation centers and then went on ride a-longs to help hand out. It was a very humbling and rewarding experience and all of us walked away feeling that much more appreciative for what we have. Check out the pictures below for a snapshot of our day.

Community Service Day at the Rubicon Project

December 13th, 2007

Devan Fearman

Recently, the Rubicon Project rolled up their hoodie sleeves and headed downtown to lend helping hands to a good cause—the LA Food Bank. Community service is a big part of the Rubicon Project philosophy as we want to give back to the community and not lose sight of those that are not as fortunate.

In pure Rubicon Project style, we were going 100mph from the moment we arrived. Naturally, we wanted to box as much as possible, as quickly as possible. If only we could turn charity into a competition.
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