From Cagayan de Oro to Umbria: A Week at a Client Offsite

When the invitation came through to join a UK client's team offsite in Italy, it felt like more than just a trip. It was a chance to sit across the table from one of our partners, to plan side by side, and to experience a different corner of the world while doing the work we love. From 30 May to 7 June, I traded the familiar hum of our Cagayan de Oro office for the rolling hills of Umbria — and came back with a notebook full of ideas and a camera roll full of memories.

A Working Week in the Italian Countryside

The offsite was hosted in Doglio, a quiet pocket of the Umbrian countryside near San Venanzo. The setting was deceptively peaceful for how much ground we covered. Our days followed a clear rhythm: mornings and afternoons packed with sessions, evenings reserved for long team dinners where the real conversations happened.

Some of our best conversations happened right here — open-air tables looking out over the Umbrian countryside.

The first day set the tone — a welcome session, a company state-of-the-union covering performance and key metrics, and introductions that reminded everyone why we were all in the same room. From there, each day had its own focus: a product and platform review, technical workshops on tooling and infrastructure, go-to-market and growth strategy, client success and operations, and finally a strategy and planning day to lock in priorities for the second half of the year.

For someone who lives and breathes software quality, the technical days were a highlight. Sitting in on sessions around candidate verification flows, infrastructure and incident response, and security and compliance gave me a much sharper picture of the systems we support — and a few ideas worth bringing home.

The offsite venue, tucked into the hills near San Venanzo.

Squeezing in a Bit of Italy

A week abroad would be a waste without stepping out to see the country, and Italy did not disappoint.

On my very first day, I found myself wandering through Rome. The Colosseum is one of those places that somehow looks even bigger in person than in every photo you've ever seen of it. From there it was the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fountain, and what felt like an endless trail of basilicas, each one quietly spectacular. Rome has a way of making you feel small and lucky at the same time.

The Trevi Fountain — somehow even more grand in person.

Later in the week, on one of the free days, I explored Todi — a hilltop town that feels frozen in the best possible way. I spent the day strolling through its art museums and basilicas, then did what any sensible traveler in Italy would do: tracked down the local gelato shops. (For the record, gelato in a quiet Umbrian town hits differently.)

Todi — a hilltop town that feels frozen in the best possible way.

And on my final day in Italy, I made the trip to Vatican City to see St. Peter's Basilica. It's hard to put into words. You walk in expecting to be impressed, and you still end up standing there a little speechless. A fitting way to close out the trip.

What I Took Home

Travel has a way of resetting your perspective, and this trip was no exception. Beyond the sessions and the sightseeing, what stuck with me most was the value of being in the same room as the people you build with. Video calls are efficient, but a week of working shoulder to shoulder — and sharing dinners afterward — builds a kind of trust that's hard to replicate remotely.

The crew at golden hour — the people who made the week what it was.

I came back to Cagayan de Oro grateful: for the partnership with our UK client, for the chance to see a part of the world I'd only read about, and for the reminder that good work and good people travel well together.

Here's to more milestones, more partnerships, and maybe a little more gelato.