I don’t have a technical background, something I’ve been struggling with sometimes even though I’ve been working in IT for 12 years. Now I’ve come to think of it as my strength. I can ask honest stupid questions.
People Lead of the everyday
My role is quite wide especially when I’m working on a big project. As a Project Lead, I’m responsible for everything running smoothly in the project, the profitability of the project, and that we create value for the customer. I consider myself as the People Lead of the everyday. I focus on being there for my team and supporting the work so the team functions well together and that my team members cope with their workload.
I think my main role is to facilitate. I wouldn’t want to work in an expert role, we have wonderful people for that. Important factors in my work include also supporting our sales, ensuring information security, and making sure that we deliver the things we have agreed with the customer.
My typical day consists of a ton of meetings. On Mondays we have a weekly with the team, then I have planning meetings with the designers, meetings with the customer and one-to-one with my team members. I also reserve time from my calendar to check that we are in line with the roadmap and what the team should focus on next. With Lifecycle Services I meet once a week.
I don’t enjoy working in solitude. Meaningfulness in my role comes from working with my team and witnessing my team succeeding.
In this role, I’ve learned to come to terms with my limits and to respect those. It’s easy to push yourself too hard when the work is interesting and people are super nice. Also, I’ve learned from my work experience that it’s better to be direct with the customer and lay out the facts sooner rather than later. It takes courage, but it’s better in the end, I think. There can never be too much communication.
It has been easy to become a Project Lead at Solita. We have a lovely helpful community, and everyone gets a suitable size role here. I like that.