Project Manager Edith Keel discusses the responsibilities, challenges and rewards of her role at makepositive
Describe your role at makepositive and how did you get into Salesforce consulting?
I am a project manager on large projects, coordinating an internal team and client stakeholders to ensure successful delivery of digital transformation projects.
I started my Salesforce career as a System Administrator for a large end user and wanted to get into a more buoyant and dynamic environment where I could learn from diverse implementations. Consulting seemed to be the right fit for me to achieve these goals.
What does a typical work day look like for you?
I start my day with checking emails and Slack for any high priority items. At 9am I have a stand up call with the team and organise the day ahead. My day is quite often spent on the phone coordinating different team and client activities, managing moving priorities and resources, reassessing budget and timelines where needed.
What is the most challenging part of your role?
Challenges come in different forms based on the project. It can vary from dealing with difficult personalities, managing unforeseen budget constraints or moving timelines for example. Challenges can also come from working in multi-vendor environments as good coordination, communication and working from a common agenda don’t always happen as planned.
What is the most rewarding part of your role?
Seeing a customer go live successfully and getting feedback from users that the system we’ve implemented is going to make a difference to their day to day job. This is a very positive reflection of the amazing work the team put in and gives us great satisfaction!
What skills are the most important to perform well in this job?
In my opinion, soft skills are paramount to succeed as a project manager because anyone can learn the tools to run a project, however some skills are hard to learn and equally hard to teach. I believe that good people and leadership skills will drive success if people know they are in safe hands and can focus on the task at hand.
Equally important are organisational skills to keep your ducks in a row and know where you’re at in your budget and timeline at all times.
What advice would you give someone looking to apply for a similar role?
Always drive a project with your client’s success in mind and be equally loyal to your team. Be prepared to have some difficult conversations at times and someone once told me not to take things personally which was great advice!
What’s your favourite thing about working at makepositive?
For risk of sounding like a cliche, the people at makepositive make the company. It is a great place to work where flexibility is part of the culture, people are treated like responsible adults and speaking up if you have an issue is expected of you – there will always be someone to listen and help out.
To find out more about current opportunities at makepositive, please contact [email protected]
