Instructure

Culture Q&A

What are examples of Practice’s products?
Practice uses videos to promote interactive learning based on peer feedback and repeated, deliberate practice. Our software reaches a diverse range of clients, including hospitals, universities, and major corporations aiming to assess and develop skills in their employees. Our software builds learners’ competence, and consequently their confidence.

How many people work at Practice?
We have 15 in our Philadelphia office and 15 in our San Francisco office.

What is the team dynamic?
Extremely collaborative and engaged. We all work extremely hard, but we also work extremely well together. Because a large part of our product emphasizes feedback and transparency, we’ve created a candid culture in the team so that everyone can give honest, open feedback that helps everyone to grow and see the impact they have on individuals. Just as much as we care about the users of our software, we care about individual employees’ growth, and that translates into a team that’s happy to lift each other up.

How do Practice employees stay connected?
We mostly use Slack, which is great to feel connected to the West Coast team and create that kind of good dynamic and banter you’d have in an office space. Even with our Philly team working in two separate suites, we feel connected because we’re talking throughout the day on Slack. We also use video conferencing tools like Zoom to have real-time conversations with the San Francisco team, and the engineering team likes to use GitHub. And, every month a team member will do a Practice Talk, where they’ll teach us something new from outside the work space — meditation, beer brewing, anything.

What is your onboarding process?
It’s important for our team members to not only have the skills necessary for their particular role, but to also have the right culture fit. Basically, we want to make sure you’re more than just good on paper. We infuse our own video platform as early as the hiring process, giving applicants six different exercises in addition to the regular interview cycle. Once we have a new employee, we use the platform to help people build the specific skills needed for their team. In turn, the onboarding process is threefold: The typical administrative onboarding process, the learning of specific Practice content and pedagogy and then putting your skills into practice before being fully in your role.

How does Practice use its own software for employee development?
To foster a practice-driven culture, the Philadelphia and San Francisco teams, both use our software, which allows us to not only stay connected but to continue to understand and develop our software. We also have challenges that change from month to month, like asking team members to showcase a skill or hobby they’ve mastered. Again, this not only helps our teams feel connected coast to coast, but gives us a better insight into how our product fits into the broader education technology world, because we’re using it ourselves.

What can a new addition to the engineering team expect?
We’ve always had a strong culture of mentorship. We do a little bit of trial by fire, but we don’t make new hires feel responsible to those things — it’s just not helpful. When you first come on board, you might be surprised by our code review process, which can go into a pretty heavy and long-running back and forth.

Describe the office. What’s unique about it?
We have a great snack selection, which teams on both coasts take very seriously. Both offices are also in shared spaces. We have two suites in the coworking Industrious space in Center City, and the physical set-up works quite well with the collaborative nature we want to foster. Other companies in the space have their own suites but we also all share a communal space on the first level, and it’s a fun way to meet other people in the office, especially when there are more snacks provided.

How often do team-building events occur?
We have Monday lunches every week and organize outings every quarter, such as going to a Phillies game or trying axe throwing. We hold monthly team meetings as well as the Practice Talks, which are bicoastal. At the end of a meeting, we’ll also do something called Appreciation Jolts, where people will give individual shout-outs and positive feedback to team members. It’s a fun way to bond the team and help people continue to grow.