Who are you and what do you do at Valtech?
Hello! I am Shirley Wong, and I am a Senior Product Owner / Business Analyst.
In a nutshell, I elicit requirements, turn them into user stories, prioritize the backlog and steer the sprints. I manage the customer expectations, provide functional advice and ensure my team have enough information to implement product features. There is more, but this is not a job spec.
What do you really enjoy in your job and what else do you appreciate?
I love the various interactions with people throughout my day. At the moment, my days involve: guiding the customers through workshops, collaborating with project managers and architects, and keeping my team busy and motivated. This is what I thrive on!
I also enjoy the various „extra-curricular“ activities such as company-wide Team Events and organizing Hackathons. I volunteered to host the recent Virtual Jour Fixe (full day team-building and networking event). My tasks were to introduce speakers, guide people through the day and generally keep the energy levels up. I must say that although it was quite exhausting, it was an amazing experience and I felt absolutely honored to have hosted the first virtual event of this kind for the company.
I think it is important to get to know people outside your project bubble, especially since we have such wonderful personalities throughout the company.
Why did you choose a digital consultancy / agency? Why Tech?
I chose to work in a digital agency so that I can experience eCommerce in various industries such as hospitality, travel, automotive, retail and health.
I studied Economics with the goal of helping people and have worked in the HM Treasury in London as a Policy Advisor. I decided that working in the Civil Service was not for me and managed to convince a Digital Agency that my analytical skills were transferable, hence forging my career as a Business Analyst.
For me, Tech is an area with several possibilities and constantly evolving technologies with the ultimate goal of improving peoples’ lives. Obviously, Tech has a murkier side, but the disruptions in sectors such as Finance and Healthcare are really amazing.
How did you find Valtech?
Through a recruiter. I looked up Valtech and liked what I saw, enough to fly from London to Munich twice for the interviews.
What do you need as a woman to succeed in the industry? What do you think needs to change?
From my experience, I have worked in eCommerce companies founded by brilliant and inspiring women, but the people in charge of developing the product are mostly male. I think that there are a lot of initiatives to encourage and empower girls to code such as “Techgirl” from Valtech, but perhaps there simply should be more.
Which of your projects are you particularly proud of and why?
That is a tough question given I have worked on several projects with exciting features.
However, my current project - Hartmann B2C - recently received a lot of praise from the customer and I was bursting with pride on behalf of my awesome team.
The website will eventually be rolled out in several countries and help people access Healthcare products, so that also gives me a nice sense of wellbeing.
What special challenges did the Corona period bring with it for your job?
I have only seen and spoken to my team of 11 people and my customer via video call, and I would love to meet them all face-to-face, but the logistics of meeting them all when they are based in Denmark / Ukraine / Belarus / India / Spain / UK may be difficult.
I am very fortunate to have such a great team and I try to raise the team spirit through finding out how the team members are, by ensuring issues are resolved quickly and injecting a bit of fun into meetings and team contact from time to time. I guess it helps that I am generally quite personable but I make it clear on a daily basis that the team can reach out to me anytime during the workday.
How do you stay motivated, what are you doing in your spare time?
I have my phases. I currently love baking, it is my therapy during these anxious times but the results are always sweet and delicious!
I have also rediscovered the joy of swimming so that helps burn a few calories.