[ui!] End of the Year Workshop, Weihnachten 2025: Work Hard, Play Hard, Think Smart!

At [ui!], closing the fiscal year doesn't mean finishing your to-do list and closing your laptop.
Our End of the Year Workshop 2025 was a day full of thoughts, conversations, and shared moments with smoking brains, lots of laughter, and the right mix of review, outlook, and team time.

Before getting down to business, we started off with a prophetic note. We kicked things off by opening our fortune cookies together. The sayings immediately sparked conversation, ranging from astonishingly accurate to wonderfully quirky, and found their way into our unofficial strategy memory for the coming year. It was a tongue-in-cheek start that perfectly suited the occasion.

The focus then shifted to content and exchange. In presentations and contributions by Lutz Heuser, Matthias Weis, and Tino Baumann, we looked at the year 2025 from different perspectives. In addition to successes, the challenges were also deliberately addressed: experiences were reflected upon and lessons learned were classified together.

Matthias' contribution was particularly impressive, giving the team a deep insight into the daily work at [ui!] Urban Lighting Innovations. This opened up a broader perspective for many colleagues from the Urban Software Institute. Less code, more hardware. Less screen time, more hands-on work. Seeing the physical and practical side of our solutions sharpened our understanding of each other and made it clear how closely software and hardware interact at [ui!]. At the end, we shared a common outlook for 2026 and felt that we had grown closer together as the entire [ui!] team.

Equally significant was the tribute paid to our employees who have been part of [ui!] for ten years. Here, too, Lutz Heuser took the floor and presented each of the two jubilarians with a special coin as a token of appreciation. Ten years of projects, developments, discussions, coffee machines, and shared successes stand for continuity, trust, and cohesion. Moments like these underscore the value of long-term cooperation, which is rarely just a coincidence.

After so much input, it was time to switch to leisure mode. And that was quite something. We raced for the best times on the Carrera track, demonstrated our accuracy at the dartboard, played creatively around obstacles on the mini golf course, and skillfully lit up the game console. The regulars' tables filled with conversation and gin, the plates with good food, and the glasses clinked as we toasted.

The Christmas party culminated in a joint Kahoot quiz on the big screen. A colorful mix of general knowledge, [ui!] insider questions, and facts and figures from our trade fair year ensured highly concentrated gazes, fast thumbs, and plenty of ambition. Everyone typed intently, cheered loudly, and fought fairly but hard for victory.

The excitement continued to build with each round. In the end, the top three finishers were rewarded with great gifts, while the entire team proved that puzzling, cheering, and laughing together is at least as much fun as winning.