How To Be a Good Boss/Manager - Send Em on Cruise

I recently found out about one ColdFusion based company that is considering sending up to 10 people to RIAdventure this year.  How fantastic is that!   For those of you that don't know, RIAdventure is a networking/social cruise for RIA interested people in February from Miami to Bahamas.

So I decided to find out a bit more about the company and their interest and talked to Mark Phillips, Principal of Vertabase.   The company has been providing project management / time tracking since 1999.  All done with the power of ColdFusion no less. I hadn't heard of them before which surprises me.  It also made for great timing as my company is just now looking into time sheet solutions for our staff.  They have an AIR app that is free which provides basic time tracking for projects/tasks.  Looks like it would do the trick for individuals in need. Their main product, Vertabase 4, offers both a hosted solution as well as a self install option on CF7 and CF8. The software itself also appears to be fairly robust in functionality and reports.

I asked Mark why he was interested in sending his staff on the cruise. Aside from the fact it sounds like lots of fun of course. :-)

He responded "I see a real benefit in sending people on a trip like this.  They are able to relax, pump up morale and network/learn. Being around other people of similar interests who are all passionate about what they do will naturally build a great one on one environment to discuss, learn and make connections.  Plus it's a great location and time to do something like this."

After talking with Mark for a while it was clear he was deeply invested in a healthy CF community and also in further developing his employees' skills/knowledge.

Makes sense to me.  Hopefully he will inspire others to consider the same.