A day in the life of Level Level – From AM to PM with Dorin.

Of course we would love to see this tile for sale at Xenos, but you can’t have it all. A job with us, on the other hand, you can! What is life like at Level Level? In more serious language: what is it like to work with us? 

“Three sixty-five days a year,
Twenty-four a day, seven days a week!” 🎶

Well, seven days a week might be little too much. Dorin has been working with us for about six months now as project manager (or as we like to call it: PM’ing)! How is it like for her?

Good morning Dorin! How are you and how is working at home treating you?

Good morning! I’m doing great. And yes, working at home is a bit unfortunate. I really miss the contact with colleagues, like at the office. And sometimes my home is a kind of call centre; being a project manager in corona time means a lot of calling! First I was able to walk to someone’s desk, but now calling is the thing to do. But it’s for the greater good!

What is the very first thing you do at the start of a new project?

First a little dance next to my chair of course! 🎉 I always enjoy to start a new project. First I set up the project internally. This means that I make all the information available for the team, roughly outline the first steps, make agreements and roughly outline the planning. Before we start with the real work, I always plan a kick-off with the client and an internal kick-off. That way everyone can get off to a good start!

How do you put the “pro” in project management?

A little bit of a cliché, but it’s true: you really should like to make a lot of to-do lists. For yourself and for others. Sometimes there are so many projects that are happening in the same timeframe that you simply can’t do without them. In addition, as a project manager you have an important facilitating role. Asking questions such as ‘Is something blocking your progress?’ or ‘Do you need something else?’ are daily questions for me. I think all of our project managers have a high level of curiosity and flexibility. In fact, we all put the “pro” in project management! Christien, Merel and I have three totally different personalities. So, we often ask each other “Hey, what do you think of this?”. That different input is very valuable!

What is the difference in approach between a small, short-term project and a large, long-term project?

We actually have three different projects: small projects, large projects and continuous developments. And it’s important to realise that there is not one way to manage a project. But I will state the most common way we like to manage these three kinds of projects. 

Small projects: scope is often completely defined, without complicated connections or functionalities and sometimes the design has already been worked out. This way we can always adapt quickly. Often, the kick-offs are enough to get to work on the design and after approval of the design, the developers can get to work.

Large projects: scope is often not yet completely defined, there are complicated connections and many additional functionalities. Such a project is then usually taken up in various sprints (phases). This looks a lot like scrum, but we like to give such a sprint a head and a tail. 

In addition, there are also many customer websites that we are constantly working on. These are continuous developments, where new features are added or adjustments are made.

What do you prefer to work on yourself and why?

I sincerely like it all and I prefer a variety of everything: small, large and continuous development. It all requires something different from me, the team and the client. No two days are the same!

What do you like best about your work at Level Level?

Well, I can say more than one thing, can’t I?! I have quite a list (how can it be otherwise if you are a project manager): 

• My super cozy, crazy colleagues! 
• An open culture; we can talk about everything
• My work is very diverse due to a variety of projects and clients
• Work hard, play hard! 🎮🎵🍺