Fe Nuñez Unlimited

Early September, after my y4it talk on Day 1, Aiza, one of the participants of y4it placed a comment on my Friendster:

# Posted 09/19/2008 9:50 am
# hello ms Fe..

Im a senior I.T student of Bulacan State University
just wanna ask if u interested to answer an email interview..its one of our final requirement, to have an interview with a project manager..

tnx..

i’m waiting for your response ^_^

Since I used to be a student, I know how grueling the senior year is, and I hate it when “grown ups” say no to student interviews… I vowed not to become one of them. So, even though I still have a lot to learn in the world of project management, I told Aiza I was willing to participate. When I checked the questionnaire, it was pretty logical but interesting. It was actually quite interesting that I decided to post my answers here:

—start—

The main purpose of this interview is for students to gain more insight into what project managers really do, what challenges they face, what lessons they’ve learned, what concepts/tools they are using, and what suggestions they have for future project managers.

1) How did you get into project management?

<– I was promoted as Project Manager from Marketing Manager when we had our company restructured last year.

2) If you had to rate the job of project manager on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, how would you rate it?

<– I would rate it with an 8.

3) Briefly explain the reason for your rating. What do you enjoy most and what do you like least about being a project manager?

<– I gave it an 8 because the position gives you enough leeway in handling the project or goal of the company/team. Your creativity and strategic thinking are greatly tapped with this job. That is, you can pretty much do anything so long as you meet the goal.

However, there are times when you, of course do not have the last say – it is a company after all, and the owner has this privilege, at any time. So even though you do not agree to the final decision, all you can do is gracefully accept it. It’s his company, after all.

4) Did you have any training or special talents or experiences that qualified you to be a project manager?

<– It’s a combination of all three actually. I was a pioneer in my company and I started from scratch - literally from the lowest position at that time in our company – a Creative Writer. During the development stage of our websites, our CEO discovered that I have a good background in computer. He decided to train me to do technical and website work and promoted me to a Technical Content Manager.

Then there was a need for SEO Director to get our website’s rankings maintained if not increased in the SERPs. Since this position requires technical skills and I was the one in line for that, our CEO gave me an orientation about it and the rest of my knowledge came from thorough research and my colleagues. Soon, I was promoted to Marketing Manager.

Sometime 2007, our CEO decided to put up another company. Since he was too occupied with this new company, decided to restructure my company, and I was the only one who knows the entire network of our sites in every angle (almost as much as he does), he decided to have me manage the 20 websites, making me the project manager.

5) What do you feel is the most important thing you do as project manager? On what task do you spend the most time each day?

<– I consider two tasks to be very important - task distribution/delegation and monitoring. For any project, it is important that tasks are distributed properly and to the appropriate people to ensure smooth sailing. Once this is done, the project should be well-monitored so you will know if you are going towards the direction to achieving your goal and for you to be ready for any setbacks. After all, you are accountable for the outcome of the project.

6) What are some of the positive and negative risks you’ve encountered on projects? Please describe any notable successes and failures and what you’ve learned from them.

<– One of the positive risks I took was when I stood my ground on implementing social marketing as a strategy for our websites to gain more traffic. Social marketing at that time was a very new concept and our CEO was very doubtful about it. In the end, he gave me a go signal but told me that if he did not see any significant result, he will cancel that marketing effort.

In a few weeks time, we were able to give him a report with increased statistics of our sites due to social marketing. He acquiesced and we continued our social marketing efforts.

When you are confident about something, and are prepared to take any consequences (should there be any), keep your ground. Fight for it. After all, the worst that could happen is just to have your CEO say no.

As for the negative risk, there was a time when I became too confident in the leeway/authority our CEO gave me that I did not consult him about one area in our website template change since one of the owners also do not agree with his idea. In the end, since the other owner was out of reach, the CEO had the last say and our programmer ended up losing two weeks’ worth of work.

So never, ever, make a major decision without consulting/informing your superior. It will save you a lot of hassle and time.

7) What are some of the tools, software or otherwise, that you use, and what is your opinion of those tools?

<– Since we are an internet company, we have freelancers, we outsource, and we have advertising clients (both local and international), we make use of Skype and email. Those tools are very helpful in monitoring and coordinating with people especially with the time difference when dealing with international clients.

8 ) What are some steps a project manager can take to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of a team? How does a project manager gain the respect and loyalty of team members?

<– Some steps would be more team building and more one-on-one interaction with your colleagues/subordinates. That way, you will be able to understand each other well and there will be less miscommunication – generally the main cause of any conflict.

9) What suggestions do you have for working with sponsors and senior managers?

<– Senior managers are most of the time under the category of “old dogs”. It’s quite hard to teach them new tricks. Seriously. However, for a company to grow, it is important that it adapts to change. Thus, you need to be able to appeal change to your superiors in a way that they will happily agree to it.

To be able to do that, you need to talk their language – profit. It’s all about profit. If you can make them see how profitable-related your suggested efforts are, they are sure to give you a go signal in no time.

10) Do you have any suggestions for future project managers, such as any specific preparations they should make, skills they should learn, etc?

<– Although experience is a good teacher, other’s experience is the best. It would be great if you can attend a project management course and get a certificate to add to your credential. However, do keep in mind that that piece of paper (certificate) is useless unless you practice what you have learned.

In any case, as with any position, you should be flexible and be very open-minded. When given two options, always choose the third. Think out of the box. ^_^

—end—

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Noong 2006, nag-usap-usap kami ng mga dati kong kaopisina tungkol sa mga plano namin sa buhay. Isa lang ang napagkasunduan namin… ayaw naming maging empleyado lang habangbuhay.

Nang mga panahong iyon, dahil nagtatrabaho kami sa isang web development company, natutunan namin kung paano ang mga pasikut-sikot sa paggawa ng isang website at kung paano ito kumikita. Nalaman din namin ang ‘passive income’ at ‘work at home’ benefits ng pagkakaroon ng isang website. Dahil dito, napagkasunduan namin na ang solusyon sa aming pangarap ay magtayo ng kani-kanyang website na may potensyal na kumita. Pero hindi lamang basta website na kumikita ang gusto kong gawin, gusto ko yung tema ng website ko eh gusto ko rin. Sa ganoong paraan, masaya na nga akong gumagawa ng website ko, kumikita pa ako. Ganun naman talaga dapat eh, masaya ka sa ginagawa mo. Bonus na lang yung kumikita ka ng malaki. Kumbaga sa, bonus yun if “I get paid for doing something I love.”

Mga ilang araw rin ako nag-isip kung ano ang gagawin kong website na talagang gusto ko.

“Alam ko na! Bargain Website!!!” ang nagtatatalon sa tuwa kong ibinalita kay Elvis, isa kong kaibigan at katrabaho, habang naglalakad kami pauwi galing opisina. Tamang-tama yung topic ko kasi adik ako sa mga discounts, sale, at freebies.

Sa sobrang pagiging adik ko, may koleksyon ako ng discount cards at coupons at kilala ako ng mga kaibigan ko at mga kaopisina na palaging may bitbit na isang wallet ng discount cards saan mang store mapadpad. Yung tipong, “Miss, do you honor GenText here?” “Eh yung SM advantage card?” Hehehe. In fact, high school pa lang ako eh palagi na akong niloloko ng isa kong kaklase kung dala ko yung ‘suki card’ ko tuwing mapapadaan kami sa National Bookstore sa Robinson’s Galleria kapag uwian. Ngingiti ako sa kanya, tapos ilalabas ko yung Laking National Card ko at sasabihin with matching 360° roll ng eyes, “Of course!”

Sabi ni Elvis sa website ko, “Go! Umpisahan mo na.”

Kaya lang, maraming kung anu-anong nangyari (wag mo ng ipakwento kasi masyadong hahaba ito), hanggang sa napagpaliban ko na ang aking pangarap na website. Oo, nakakalungkot. Pero hindi ko tuluyang inabandona yung ideya ko nung mga panahong yun. Binili ko yung domain na “sukicard.com” para may entry-point na ako. (Commercial: Nais ko nga palang gamitin ang pagkakataong ito upang magpasalamat kay Linj dahil nakuha ko yung “sukicard” sa testimonial nya sa akin sa friendster. ^_^).

Sa ngayon, yung sukicard.com ay ginagamit ko pang-test ng isa ko pang bagong website at sa pag-aaral ng PHP at MySQL. Time consuming ilipat yung mga laman ng sukicard.com sa isa pang domain, kaya naisipan kong ito na lang fenunez.com muna ang gagamitin kong domain para umpisahan ang aking sukicard website. Sayang naman kasi itong fenunez.com. Mga ilang linggo na rin itong nakatiwangwang na walang kalaman-laman. Hmmmm… baka Wordpress blog muna ang gawin ko para sa sukicard. Saka ko na gagawing website pag bihasa na ako sa programming.

Baka nga itong fenunez.com na lang ang gawin kong discount card and bargain website. Tutal naman isa sa mga paborito kong hobbies ang pagkolekta at paggamit ng discount card, at wala talaga akong masyadong maisusulat dito dahil wala akong balak na gawing personal diary ang isang blog. Para sa akin, may mga bagay o pangyayari na dapat eh pampribado lang talaga and/or hindi na kailangang i-broadcast sa buong mundo, tulad ng mga one-liner blog post na “I feel sick.” “Waste of cyberspace,” ika nga ng officemate kong si Cristina. Pero, kung talagang gusto mong maglagay ng one-liner updates, may lugar sa web para sa mga ganun (gaya ng twitter.com).

Ito ang history ng sukicard.com. Pag may oras ako ngayong linggo, uumpisahan ko ng ipakilala sa inyo ang mga discount cards ko at perks ng bawat isa para malaman nyo kung bakit ako nahuhumaling sa mga discount cards. Hanggang sa muli!

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