ExtraORDERnary Julia - Inspired by people

Order Group | 22.07.2022 | 4 min read

Table of Contents

The brief What do you do at Order Group? What is currently the biggest challenge in your position? What drives you and inspires you in your daily work? What skills should a person working as a PM have? What should they learn to make their work more effective (easier)? How is Order Group different from the companies you worked in before? What would you like to tell future OG Project Managers? OG SHOTS This or That Want to apply?

The brief

Our extraORDERnary series is back! Today we're introducing Julia, our Agile Project Manager. She started working here over a year ago and is already a crucial part of the team. Her colleagues say she creates a friendly and positive atmosphere; when they have doubts, they can ask her a question, and she would patiently explain. She values Order Group for caring about the quality and feasibility of the products they develop. So let Julia take the mic over now.

What do you do at Order Group?

My position is Agile Project Manager. It's a general name comprising other roles like Project Manager, Proxy Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Account Manager. Sometimes I am four of them at once, and sometimes I take only one role.

Some of my responsibilities are:

managing the team,
conducting all the team's meetings,
making sure that product development goes in the right direction,
getting the instructions on what to do next from the stakeholders,
planning the tasks in the proper order,
clarifying the tasks when needed,
assisting the team in choosing the right technology for a given feature,
helping the team in estimating the time necessary to complete the tasks,
making sure the client knows how much time creating a given feature would take and agrees to it.
are you still even reading this? :)

I also help with designing some processes in the company.

Currently, I work on a big nutritional enterprise-level project. At its peak, over a dozen people worked on it! Apart from that, I work on a few more minor apps.

I would say it's the perfect role for a natural multitasker :)

What is currently the biggest challenge in your position?

Making sure we're on time.

Building an app is a complex and lengthy process, during which you often face obstacles, which are usually technological. So, for example, if we have to switch to a different technology to create a given feature, or if we have to add something to the scope that wasn't originally there, the estimated delivery time can increase even a few times!

In such situations, the biggest challenge is not extending the deadlines and still delivering quality work. To do so, I try to work out the best solution with my team to complete the critical tasks without staying after hours.

What drives you and inspires you in your daily work?

People.

I truly enjoy working with my teams. People here are highly motivated and take an active part in meetings, making my job much more pleasurable.

They think clearly and logically, so they consistently implement the most practical solutions for our apps. Because of that, I'm sure we deliver high-quality products to our clients. And a client happy with our work is another thing that drives me daily.

What skills should a person working as a PM have? What should they learn to make their work more effective (easier)?

As a Project Manager, you are a link between the team and the stakeholders, so you must be an excellent communicator and a leader. Not an old-fashioned, order-giving, authoritarian style, though, but rather a modern one, equal to the rest of the team.

You must remember that coaching the team into making things a certain way isn't effective long-term. Instead, they should learn how to solve the issues themselves. Otherwise, you would have to tell the team what to do until the end of the project and beyond… Of course, you can suggest the solutions that worked well in other teams, but the ultimate point is to be a good listener and an inspiring leader more than a teacher.

As a Project Manager, you will also work under time pressure. You have to know how not to transfer that pressure onto your team. No matter the circumstances, you have to remain patient and diplomatic, so these are the skills I would definitely seek and work on them.

As a PM, you will do multiple things in one day, so you must be well-organized and excellent at time management.

Finally, to start working as a PM, you should also get some work experience in the IT field. This way, you'll observe how IT companies operate and learn its basics, e.g., what the process of building the app looks like.

Ideally, it would be best if you read the Scrum Guide and get to the bottom of what it’s about.

How is Order Group different from the companies you worked in before?

I genuinely appreciate the relaxed atmosphere and lack of rigid hierarchy in Order Group. I can casually talk to everyone in the company, including the boss. And it doesn't feel out of place.

I think the more traditional way of managing the employees creates unnecessary tension. So I'm happy they decided not to follow that script in OG.

Furthermore, nobody here feels attacked when receiving the feedback, and nobody is afraid to give it. This open communication lets us improve as a team daily.

ExtraORDERnary Julia - Inspired by people

The brief

We are currently recruiting Agile Project Managers, so if you feel it's something for you, send us your CV!

Read more articles about ExtraORDERnary

ExtraORDERnary Paweł - Simply doing what feels right

ExtraORDERnary Jan - The Importance of Sharing a Common Goal

ExtraORDERnary Joanna - Understanding the business is key

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ExtraORDERnary Julia - Inspired by people

The brief

We are currently recruiting Agile Project Managers, so if you feel it's something for you, send us your CV!

Read more articles about ExtraORDERnary

ExtraORDERnary Paweł - Simply doing what feels right

ExtraORDERnary Jan - The Importance of Sharing a Common Goal

ExtraORDERnary Joanna - Understanding the business is key