Planning to succeed Danielle Brown

Head of Project Management Office - Manx Telecom

What do you do day-to-day?

The PMO team facilitates all major projects across the company and these projects generally span multiple teams and require close coordination from start to finish. My role is to provide oversight of all projects within my team and manage the funnel of new projects. We have a continuous inflow of requests, and I work closely with our department leaders to strategically evaluate and prioritise new project requests to be added to our Prioritised Project Portfolio.

On average we could have anywhere between 20-30 active projects on our PPP. The breadth of what we cover can include anything from software development, data centre or infrastructure migrations, to ESG Projects (and everything in between!).

A major project I am currently managing is the roll-out of fibre broadband. This is one of the most important telecoms projects to ever take place on the Isle of Man, and one of the most significant investments by Manx Telecom. We’re investing £40million in a world class fibre broadband network across the Island and we are delivering the Isle of Man Government’s National Broadband Plan.

My role is to coordinate the various workstreams that feed into the delivery of fibre across the Island, which means setting out timelines and ensuring milestones are met, and getting involved in everything from working with the planning and installation teams, and with the products, marketing, communications and sales teams. I make sure that everyone is working collaboratively and has visibility of the many and various workstreams.

Why do you think it’s important for women to be properly represented in your industry? Nobody should have an advantage or disadvantage based on their gender: it is all about hard work and dedication. However, it is important that we play our part in improving gender equality in the workplace.

Historically, technology industries have been predominantly male-dominated. We are seeing the gap gradually reducing and, hopefully, as more young women see strong successful women in tech industries, they might be more inclined to explore a career in this sector. In addition, having diversity in the workplace helps us to better meet the needs of our diverse customer base.

What I love most

I love the people I work with, and the diversity of the projects we work on. We have a really great bunch of people at Manx Telecom who genuinely care about each other and about our customers.

As a company, we always work with our customers front of mind. A big part of my job is to make sure we get input from and collaborate with all the relevant departments to ensure changing customer needs are met.

Biggest challenge?

I would say our biggest challenge is that we want to do so much. There are so many exciting projects and initiatives that we want to get involved in, and we only have a finite amount of resource to deliver them. Prioritising them is a critical part of the process.

Hobbies outside work

I have a four-year-old son who is the light of my life and we love going out as a family on the weekends, exploring, going to cafes and just spending time with each other. We love paddleboarding and exploring the Island from its shores. In summertime, if the sun is out, we are most likely out on the water.

I also love Pilates and would love to be able to share the joy I find in it so I am currently studying to teach Pilates in my spare time.

Career highlight

The highlight of my career so far has been leading my team of excellent project managers, successfully delivering projects and seeing our hard work come to fruition. With visibility across almost every area of the business, I have learnt so much and I am continuously learning.