The end of one song means the next is about to start.

You know when you have a story in your mind, and a tune that reminds you to the story?

Miguel Angel joined our team in February 2014, I remember we were very happy with him joining our team because he was a good developer and a very nice person. He had a good programming skill and a deep agile methodology knowledge, he was a very good fit.

Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waitin' for a train
And I's feelin' near as faded as my jeans
Bobby thumbed a diesel down, just before it rained
It rode us all the way to New Orleans

At that time he was living in Dublin with his wife, and he started working as remote, spending one week every two months with us in the office.

I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandanna
I was playin' soft while Bobby sang the blues, yeah
Windshield wipers slappin' time, I was holdin' Bobby's hand in mine
We sang every song that driver knew

As the team kept growing, we hired his wife. She was also a good developer, and we managed to keep them both working in the same place because by that time, we had two teams working in different things, so each one would get assigned to one team. They moved back to Valencia, and we kept moving on.

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose
Nothin', don't mean nothin' hon' if it ain't free, no no
And, feelin' good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues
You know, feelin' good was good enough for me
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGhee

Months pass very quickly, and we kept growing our team, we hired more developers, more testers, more Product managers, we kept being busy, holding our retrospectives, code reviews and so on. But at some point we started just maintaining our codebase, instead of aggressively shipping new features.

From the Kentucky coal mine to the California sun
There Bobby shared the secrets of my soul
Through all kinds of weather, through everything we done
Yeah, Bobby baby kept me from the cold

At some point, she left the team. Maybe the role she wanted to perform wasn't one we had, maybe we were not the kind of team she wanted to be working with...

One day up near Salinas, Lord, I let him slip away

He's lookin' for that home, and I hope he finds

 

I guess that when you remain in the bay for too long, and you don't sail stormy seas, some sailors leave the ship, because they get bored, they miss the excitement of building solutions that will change the world for good, they miss the thrill.

Let me put clear that I totally understand that the company has strategical needs, that we have to ensure that the foundations of our core business will be strong enough, that when we scale nothing will break into pieces... all ships must go into the dry dock from time to time.

But, I'd trade all of my tomorrows, for a single yesterday
To be holdin' Bobby's body next to mine

This week is going to be his last week with the team. Where he will be next I don't know, but I can only wish him the best. It has been a pleasure working with you, sailing these never-ending seas, figuring out how to solve all those issues we been through.

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose
Nothin', that's all that Bobby left me, yeah
But, feelin' good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues
Hey, feelin' good was good enough for me, mm-hmm
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGhee

Having Miguel Angel on board has been great, just as it has been to have Emma, Carles, Adrian, Gregorz, John, Aditya, Teresa, Marco... and every other fellow we had the chance to work with in the past.

Let's celebrate his departure, and continue our voyage, to wherever the next harbour is. Next steps are continue hiring great people, release features that will make us proud, have fun together and find our way to success.

Journey on.