For those lucky enough to be English cricket-lovers, this summer has bought the unexpected pleasure of winning ‘The Ashes’ against Australia. The term originates from a satirical obituary published just after the tourists won their first series of ‘test matches’ on English soil in 1882, which drily stated that English cricket had died and “the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.”

My fellow members at Lords cricket ground felt that we’d be lucky not to have a repeat of the thrashing we received at the hands of a good Australian team last year. To our joy (and enormous relief) a different England came out to play in three of the five tests: one that that paid attention to the fundamentals of taking catches; bowling a good length and a consistent line; as well as scoring a few runs. At last they had decided to pool their effort and commitment into working as a team.

This ethos of ‘the team above the individual’ resonates with us here at Emotion. It’s not always easy when one combines the knowledge and insight from a couple of old hands, with the innovation, sparkiness and energy of talented graduate developers, but the results speak for themselves.

In this way we – just like any team that learns to work together – can patiently find answers to tricky challenges from first class customers and, because we write our own code, are able to develop exactly what is needed for each application. The parts come together to fulfil a bigger vision and, by sticking to a small number of fundamental rules, we create both first class products and a belief in ourselves. We like it that way and hope that you do too.

It’s been a decent summer of cricket and for Emotion Systems, but now it’s time to look ahead. What will you come up with next?