Our project management team's mission is to ensure that every project runs smoothly, from start to finish. The man who does that every day is Sanel Kovačević. This week, we were lucky enough to get 15 minutes out of his busy schedule to learn a little more about him and the role he plays.
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy client work! To start, tell us a little more about what the project management team does at GRM?
The information is truly in the title! The role of the project management team is to manage our projects from start to finish, ensuring that everything runs smoothly for clients.
Basically, we are the bridge between the client and the GRM development team, ensuring proper communication, resource control, and notification of every step taken. We work on all projects that come up, be it website development and design , SEO optimization, 24/7 web hosting and support , or any other digital marketing service .
Going back a few years, how did you initially enter the world of web design and digital marketing?
After graduating from IT faculty and earning the title of "Information Technology Engineer", I wanted to gain some work experience in the IT sector. Like many IT graduates from my university, the first call is a role in the quality assurance (QA) department - testing code when projects for clients are completed. Not long after that, I was lucky enough to receive an offer for a project manager position that was open at GRM at the time, and I gladly accepted it. And I'm still here!
So, you originally started as a QA, can you tell us how your role evolved to become a project manager?
It's not as strange as you might think, as both roles are closely tied to clients and overcoming their challenges. The quality assurance position taught me the basics of web development and digital marketing, along with the accountability needed to ensure a project meets agreed-upon expectations. That experience led me to project management.
When the opportunity arose to join a project management team, I knew I had to take it. I love overseeing tasks and making sure everything runs according to plan.
My average day consists of communicating with the internal team and clients, which is something I enjoy doing. My primary duty is to relay information correctly and concisely, and ensure that every participant is kept up to date.
Also, monitoring budgets and deadlines are my daily activities. By monitoring project budgets, I ensure that we spend the right amount of resources on each task and stick to the priorities we have outlined.
You have completed the PRINCE2 qualification. How has this improved your work and delivery of GRM to clients?
PRINCE2 has given me a whole new perspective on project management. I morocco phone number data have learned many new processes and topics that I now use on a daily basis. Before I started with PRINCE2, I had no idea how broad a topic project management can be! There is so much to it, and it only becomes apparent when you go through a rigorous qualification process like PRINCE2.
It's strange to me when I hear that some agencies don't invest in their project management processes. For me, project management is the foundation and a key part that ensures a project is delivered successfully, on time and on budget.
Without daily monitoring of these two areas, complex web development projects could easily go off track, and when that happens, delays and diminishing returns for the client result.
What are the biggest challenges when it comes to supporting and managing the team and clients?
We can't expect everything to be perfect all the time, you just have to accept that. As a manager, you need to constantly support and motivate your team. I always try to be positive, even in difficult situations. With this approach, team members look at you in a friendly way, and this immediately improves the overall communication, culture and morale of the entire team.
On the other hand, when it comes to clients and their expectations, honesty, transparency and finding the right balance is all that is needed to successfully overcome challenges. A satisfied client is the purpose of my work, and my motivational drivers are all those who rely on me.
The past two years have been a great journey and I hope to continue at the same pace in growing and serving our clients.
Can you walk us through a typical Monday in a project management team?
The first thing I do on Mondays is log into our project management software to review the daily and weekly task schedule. After that, I lead our daily scrum meeting, where we go through everyone’s tasks and determine if there are any project activities that I need to highlight and discuss with the client. It’s also a great time to uncover and identify development issues that could impact other team members.
Obviously, due to the Covid-19 situation, we currently have a lot of internal calls with everyone working from home, so I spend a large part of my day in internal discussions with the team, in addition to 3-4 daily calls with clients.
After I make sure that all team members are up to date, I update my plans so that I can track the projects and have a reference point for the coming days, weeks, and months. After updating the project plans, I have a few internal calls again about the tasks completed today, and this forms the basis for our morning scrum the next day. In short, a lot of task organization, communication, documentation, and of course coffee!