Embracing Change – Meet Matteo Cavucci

To understand what life is like at Edenspiekermann, start by talking to the people who work here. We recently caught up with our developer, Matteo Cavucci, to learn more about his first year with our agency and the personal philosophy he brings to his work.

Matteo, you left Italy and your own agency to join Edenspiekermann. Why?

Because I wanted to keep improving myself. And to do that, you must always be ready to seek out new challenges. It’s not easy to change jobs and start all over again in a new environment, but it’s an incredibly rewarding experience. And the opportunities are endless. 

I first met Erik Spiekermann at a conference in Brighton, England. That was back in September 2013. Erik gave a great talk where he explained how Edenspiekermann is structured. He talked about the importance of processes in design and development, and how people and conversations are the driving force of every great organization. I really identified with his ideas. I was interested in the same topics, and we got to talking. About a year later, we finally had the chance to work together. I started as a freelancer, but after just a few weeks I fell in love with Berlin and became a full-time member of the team. 

Even though it can be difficult, you should never be afraid to change your circumstances. Change is a skill that you learn. And like any skill, it’s something that you have to work at every day. Stay curious about the future, keep experimenting, and always be ready to pack your bags when a valuable opportunity comes your way. 

Would you describe change as part of your working philosophy?

Absolutely. Being open to change is an important part of both my personal and professional life. To solve a problem, you often need to break out of your fixed patterns and change the way you think about the problem. You have to let your perspective evolve from one day to the next. 

For example, I don’t like to describe myself as a developer. Code is simply a tool, a way to define problems and experiment with solutions. Our main job here is to learn. Each of us is a professional learner, constantly exploring new technologies and techniques, constantly striving to better understand our users and our clients’ businesses. 

In any given day, we spend about 80% of our time learning, and the other 20% putting what we’ve learnt into practice. We never let ourselves get comfortable, because what’s current today might be obsolete tomorrow. 

How does change fit into the culture at Edenspiekermann?

Just look at this office space – a few years ago it was the newsroom of a major newspaper. These rooms were full of editors, photographers, reporters. And now, in the very same rooms, we build digital products that empower people and brands to communicate. We’ve evolved from producing stories to producing the tools necessary to tell stories. 

Technology has completely transformed the information landscape. It’s opened up whole new markets, and the pace of change gets faster every day. Our clients need increasingly complex tools to help them understand what’s coming next. Which means we can never work from a template – every project has to break new ground. We have to embrace the unexplored territory and always be ready to learn new things. 

Our mission here at Edenspiekermann is simple: constantly challenge our assumptions, and never be afraid to fail – so long as we learn something from it.