Showcase: sharing our work
Every Friday afternoon, we gather on Discord for internal demos, our weekly showcase. This is where teams share what they've been building and learning. While it started with engineering, anyone from any team (design, product, etc.) is welcome to present.
Sharing our work is important at Dwarves. Showcases are how we celebrate craftsmanship, share insights, and learn from each other. It's also a great way for those not directly involved in development to see the progress and feel included.
What makes a good demo?
We aim for demos that are short, interesting, and easy to understand, not lengthy, formal presentations.
Demos should walk the team through recently completed work or work in progress. This can include new features, bug fixes, performance improvements, new tooling, integrations, prototypes, or refactors. Keep demos concise, around 5-10 minutes, and generally include:
- A brief description: What is it? Why does it matter? Who benefits?
- A working example: Show how it works in practice, not just a code walkthrough.
- Before and after: If it's an improvement, show the difference.
- Next steps: Briefly mention what might come next.
Sharing bug fixes, performance boosts, or internal tooling improvements is highly encouraged. Prototypes and design mocks are also great showcase material. We value seeing all stages of the process.
Some ground rules
To keep the showcase positive and focused:
- No shaming: We encourage sharing, regardless of how polished the work is. This is a supportive space to learn from colleagues.
- No PowerPoint: Showcases are for demonstrating builds and progress, not presenting slideshows.
- No selling: Demos are for understanding and sharing progress, not sales pitches. What you see is often work in progress and might change.
- No blaming: Respect the work that came before. Focus on the progress and learnings, not fault-finding.
Come and join us
We encourage everyone to participate in the showcase. Coordinating with your team is a good way to prepare. Consider discussing potential demo topics early in the week. If you have something to share, talk to your manager to get scheduled. We look forward to seeing what you create!
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