After several years separated by distance and a certain highly contagious airborne virus, PDQTs from around the country traveled to Salt Lake City to hit up the Whiskey Time Lounge — I mean, discuss what’s on the horizon. From Jan. 9 through 12, we participated in learning sessions, engaged in shenanigans, and compared beards with the best of them. While we’ll keep some things close to the vest so as not to bring shame upon our families, we’d love to tell you a little about what we learned.
Product
Deploy and Inventory have long anchored our product suite, but our lineup continues to grow. In late 2021 and early 2022, respectively, SimpleMDM and SmartDeploy joined the PDQ family. PDQ Week presented the opportunity to work as a close-knit team and chart a course toward greater product unification and integration. The goal is to make using the complete PDQ suite in tandem simple, secure, and pretty damn quick.
Beyond improvements to our existing products, we’re eager to release PDQ Connect later this year. Currently in beta, this standalone, agent-based solution combines some of the most popular features of Deploy and Inventory to simplify remote machine management.
“I look forward to seeing the changes develop throughout the year.” — Joyce
People
Much of the company works remotely, so we don’t often see each other apart from video calls. While we enjoy our cozy work outfits and speedy down-the-hall commutes, getting together in person was a nice change of pace. Not only did we get a better feel for everyone’s personalities, but we also bonded over activities, events, and outings. While it may have seemed like fun and games (partly because we literally played games, like Top Golf), these normal human interactions were invaluable for team building and comradery.
“Getting to see first hand how genuinely kind and helpful everyone was and starting to see how to correlate those online personas with real human social traits has made me feel much more comfortable in reaching out to people from other parts of the company.” — Sid
“There is actual value to interacting with your coworkers face to face. And not just for the endless supply of energy drinks and high-end trail mix.” — Mike
Company
Fun fact: PDQ is a great place to work. To be fair, we figured that out long before PDQ Week. You can see it in our benefits and perks. But this event served as a helpful reminder. Our culture is second to none, and we’re actively growing despite the economic rollercoaster of the last few years. And best of all, happy employees and continued growth mean we can keep giving customers top-notch solutions that make their jobs easier.
“PDQ truly cares about their employees! I never doubted it, but after seeing everything that was done to accommodate us all — on top of the absolutely amazing benefits and perks, PDQ is the best place to be an employee.” — Brittni
“PDQ is thriving even with the rough economic conditions that presented themselves in 2022. We are lucky to work at such a strong, smart, well-run business that brings value to our customers.” — Kenzie
Customers
Two things fuel PDQ: the hopes and dreams of sysadmins and the full spectrum of Monster Energy flavors. But while we love a good Mango Loco, sysadmins definitely have the lion’s share of our hearts. PDQ Week included a Customer Q&A Panel, which helped us connect with real users, understand their pain points, and gain insight into how they use our software. We enjoyed our time with them so much that we didn’t want to let them go, but they will continue to inspire our work.
“I just never realized how much our products help sysadmins do their jobs.” — Tim
“It's great to hear customers going to bat for us, and hearing the passion that they have for our software was very cool to see in person!” — Joyce
We hope you’re as excited about the future of PDQ as we are! We have lots in store for the months to come, so keep reading the PDQ blog and watching our YouTube channel for the latest updates.
