As we welcome 2020, we’re also reflecting on 2019. It was a year of growth for us, in the the number of clients we served and the new team members we hired, as well as the way our processes and systems matureed.
Here are some of last year’s highlights:
January
Nobody likes when things go wrong, and we certainly didn’t plan to kick off 2019 that way. But on the last day of January, a mislabeled switch at our datacenter caused an outage. It wasn’t how we planned to start the year, but we quickly realized that our response to that outage helped each of our clients know that their sites were our priority.
This was also the month I got to officially join the Agathon team after many years as a happy client!
February
In February we officially relaunched our monthly WordPress newsletter.
March
Aloha! 2019’s team retreat was held on the beautiful island of Kauai. Authentic shave ice was definitely the highlight for many of us … along with lots of discussions about vision and strategy, of course.
April
In April, we moved from Pivotal Tracker to using Jira as a development management tool; we now use it with all new development projects because we like how it increases transparency as clients follow along with progress.
May
Following in the footsteps of our WordPress newsletter, in May we launched a strategy newsletter for product owners. Each month, Kedron shares thoughts on resources on topics such as accessibility, usability, and more.
We also introduced Marvin 2.0 on Instagram!
June
Peter and Morgan headed to Chicago for the first of two Mediavine conferences in 2019, where they did 20 site health checks in just 6 hours. They shared some of their key takeaways from those health checks here.
July
This year we also sponsored WordCamp Grand Rapids for the third time, and Joel and Morgan attended. This local, one-day conference is a great opportunity to connect with the WordPress community—both bloggers and developers.
August
In August, Rachel, Luke & Kedron flew to Parkside Church for an on-site discovery meeting to kick off their website redesign.
September
While our spring team retreat often includes fun destinations and broader vision-setting topics, our Grand Rapids retreat in the fall is all about working side-by-side. This September was our first time together as a team of 13!
October
October marked an exciting milestone as we celebrated our 20th Ag-iversary. We took the time to look back and create a timeline of the past 20 years as we also look forward to what the future holds!
November
In November, Peter and Morgan set out for the second Mediavine conference of 2019, this time in Austin. The highlights of this conference were the chance to connect with a record number of clients face-to-face and Morgan’s karaoke performance.
We also launched our updated website at agathongroup.com.
December
We ended 2019 on an exciting note as we celebrated the launch of the SxanPro app!
And we kicked off our 12 ways to prepare your blog for 2020 series on Instagram.
In 2020, we’re looking forward to continued growth, exciting new—and ongoing—development projects, and an improved hosting stack.
Above all, we’re looking forward to another year of working with our incredible clients. Thank you for making our 2019 memorable!
With 10 years of experience as a professional blogger—and as a former Agathon hosting client herself—Mandi’s passionate about the good work Agathon does and sharing that message with more people.