Whether approaching a project as a manager, stakeholder, or even product owner, it’s important to step back every so often and view a project from the lens of the tech team. It’s the essential step to ultimately generate synergistic results and prevent disconnects that cause errors and delays in projects.
Sharing a snapshot of his work as both a software developer and engineer and as managing director of WillDom Paraguay, Rodrigo Parra approaches the conversation with an extensive background in informatics engineering (computer science) and data science.
What is an overview of your typical day with the team?
Overall, a typical day for devs begins with a stand-up meeting in the morning with the rest of the team to sync on what was achieved the day before and set the targets for the current day.
I work in both a hands-on and consulting fashion, so I guide potential leads with technical onboarding and their initial steps with WillDom as well as take on a few projects myself on the development side.
On the consulting end, I have meetings with clients primarily focused on agile teams who have an idea, but lack the technical knowledge to specify their needs like tech stack, team composition, project timeline, and so forth.
And for the dev projects I take on simultaneously, I tend to meet with stakeholders several times a week to catch up and check in on the course of what I’m developing. This is especially important for more dynamic projects. For the current client I’m working with, the main challenge is to munge the data from different platforms of its subscription-based business to build a singular reporting platform with core KPIs. With so many moving parts, it’s essential to connect regularly with the client.
There is also an important mentoring aspect of my work. For instance, in one project that I am currently working on I’m helping onboard and manage the work of a new additional data engineer who will take on a bigger role in the project.
Since WillDom technologists work primarily remotely, can you share how you work so well with team members from around the world to advance complex client projects?
Communication and accountability are key, and even more so with remote projects. The standard is stand-ups for sure, but throughout the day we also have one-on-one discussions which quickly become meeting sessions if needed. On an everyday operations level, we use tools like Slack for messaging, Jira for the grand view of the project, and Google Meet amongst others.
A lot of our teams know each other long before the starting point of our projects, so we are functioning teams that know the ins and outs of the group. It’s really about trusting the people you work with and setting accountability.
How do the teams you’re part of integrate with the client’s workflow on an everyday level?
We try to work as closely with the client as possible. So that means being in their communications channels and meeting with them regularly to keep things flowing; we try to operate as if we were staff members. That’s an advantage of working with WillDom. We emphasize communication and the English level of our developers, and being in the same timezone has helped a lot.
A great example of how deep our integration can go is our work with a client for whom we developed a fitness app. I feel like I’m completely part of their team; I take part in all-hands meetings and every activity across the company as an in-house member.
Do you have a favorite customer success story?
I’d say the very first project our team had at WillDom, which was with the fitness app mentioned earlier, is one that sticks with me. We’re still working with them; they’ve become a stable client and we’ve developed a strong relationship with them.
What I’m most proud of in this project is having assembled the team that developed their app from idea to app to release, and it’s now a subscription business that is actively looking for investments and is growing from month to month. We combined their industry savviness with our technical expertise to take the concept on a slide deck to an MVP and final product in 4 months, assembling the best team and practices along the way.
On a personal level, I still work with them to help set up their data platform to generate scalable reporting from the ground up.
Rodrigo’s presence at every level of his branch’s work provides a unique perspective for our clients, one that is shaped by a technical mindset that is strategic, tactical, and operational. Across the board, our technologists work with this holistic mindset driven by our agile way of operating.
Visit WillDom.com to explore how our teams can address your tech needs and deliver a variety of solutions that will set your company at the forefront of digital transformation. Stay tuned to our LinkedIn and Twitter for more on tech news and successes within our teams.
