Most of our webshop work happens at a distance. That works well for a sprint, but it leaves little room to ask where the shop should be in 12 months. It also leaves less room to make decisions together or build trust with the people on the other side of the partnership. For that, you need face-to-face time.
That’s why, this summer, the Maxifleur-Kunstplanten team came to Serbia for 3 days. They met the people who work on their webshop and set aside a full day to discuss the next stage of the collaboration.
Maxifleur has worked with us for more than 10 years, and we have grown together. The platform, range and market have changed in that time. The visit was a chance to look beyond the next release and decide what comes next.
Day 1: from Belgrade to Niš
We met the team at Belgrade airport and drove to our office in Niš. After more than 10 years together, there were familiar faces to catch up with. Both teams had new colleagues too, so it was a chance to meet people we had worked with for years but had not met in person before.
We introduced the developers, front-end team, DevOps and support colleagues who work on the webshop.
That mattered. A task is still a task, but now it goes to someone you have met and who understands the people behind the request and the business logic.
We ended the first day at one of the best restaurants in Niš, with no agenda, just food and casual conversation.
Day 2: making time for the next 12 months
The second day was our Inspiration Day. In a normal working relationship, almost all attention goes to what is currently on the schedule: security improvements, ongoing work, new features and the next sprint. That work has to get done. But it also means the question “where do we want to be in 12 months?” keeps getting pushed aside.
That is why we introduced Inspiration Day for our clients. It gives us time to look at what can improve, alongside the work already planned.
With Maxifleur, we discussed how we could improve their webshop in 3 areas: market opportunities based on their assortment, customers and current position; services we already provide to other clients; and Maxifleur’s own business priorities. We used each area to get clear on what it could mean for the shop.
Together, we identified 3 areas for the next stage of the collaboration.
DevOps: reviewing what keeps the webshop stable
DevOps is the work that keeps the application and its infrastructure reliable. It can seem like an abstract cost until the shop goes down during a peak, so it is worth looking at what happens behind the scenes.
Together, we reviewed the DevOps work already in place: zero-downtime deployments, proactive server and application monitoring, error management, security scans, up-to-date patches and performance optimisation. We looked at whether it still supports Maxifleur’s plans for the next 12 months and where an adjustment could help.
That includes Magento, the e-commerce platform used by the shop, and the server it runs on. We monitor that server together with our reliable partner, Hypernode.
Merchandising: keeping daily content moving
Development delivers functionality. The everyday quality of a webshop also depends on product and page content, images, categories, landing pages and email.
We discussed making merchandising a regular part of the work. This could include content management in Magento, image and video improvements, SEO work led by a specialist, and support for newsletters and landing pages.
The practical reason is pretty straightforward. A team that already knows the shop needs less handover than a new party starting from scratch.
Product ownership: checking the direction of the work
The third area was product ownership: how we organise the work today, from requests through refinement and review. A product owner keeps the overview and makes sure the work has a clear direction.
Together, we looked at whether the current way of working still supports Maxifleur’s plans for the next 12 months. That can mean adjusting the sprint rhythm, the product owner’s role or the space for strategic conversations alongside delivery.
The evening: city tour and kafana
In Serbia, a full day of discussion needs to be wrapped up with a kafana and a tour of Niš.
For those unfamiliar: a kafana is a traditional Serbian tavern, and it’s more of a social institution than a restaurant. Local cuisine, live music, and evenings that naturally run late. You don’t go there for a quick meal. You go there to spend the evening.
It’s also where conversations flow differently than in a meeting room. The webshop still comes up, but more loosely, with more room for ideas.
Day 3: turning the conversation into a plan
On the third day, we drove back to Belgrade for the flight home. The drive took a few hours, which gave us a good opportunity to go over the conclusions from the previous 2 days.
Shortly afterwards, we turned everything discussed on Inspiration Day into a concrete proposal. An answer to every point on their list, with the scope and timeline to match.
Why do we do this?
A good partnership is about more than delivering tickets and getting through the next sprint.
It is about having people who help you think about where the business is going. People who will tell you when a feature will not deliver what you are hoping for, and who look ahead to next season instead of only the next release.
That works best when you know each other properly. You know who works on your shop, and they know why your business makes the choices it does. Spending time together also makes room for the conversations that do not fit neatly into a ticket or a planning session.
Three days in Niš gave us that time. We made a plan, met the people behind the work and enjoyed the city together. That is as much a part of a long-term partnership as the work itself.
