Location independence in practice: 84codes goes to Marstrand
84codes traded their desks for a week on the island of Marstrand, mixing focused strategy talks with long walks, crab fishing, and dinners you won't get over Slack.84codes was built on one idea: people shouldn’t be tied to an office to do great work. So when the team traded their desks for a week on the island of Marstrand, it wasn’t a break from that philosophy. It was the philosophy in action.
Marstrand landed at the perfect moment. Most of the team had just come back from summer vacation, scattered across different countries and time zones for weeks. The workaway gave everyone a chance to catch up properly, not over a screen, but face to face, with actual time to talk.
An island built for slowing down
Marstrand is a small island off the Swedish west coast, known for its sailing history and rocky shoreline. The team took long walks around it, swam whenever the weather allowed, and spent afternoons just sitting in the sun. We also tried crab fishing, with mixed but entertaining results.
Strategy, with real focus
One day was set aside for the company’s strategic direction, and this is exactly the kind of discussion that benefits from being in the same room. Being a distributed team most of the year makes this even more valuable. Strategic decisions often need back-and-forth, disagreement, and quick follow-up questions, the kind of exchange that’s hard to replicate across time zones and typed messages.
And, of course, there was good food. Long dinners together turned out to be some of the best parts of the week, the kind of conversations that don’t happen over Slack.
The Marstrand workaway wasn’t just a nice week away. It gave the team space to reconnect after summer, think through strategy with real focus, and enjoy each other’s company somewhere completely different from a normal workday. It’s a small reminder of why 84codes was built the way it was: work goes wherever the team does.
