"No day is the same," Mirjam laughs when we ask her how she starts her day. She can give an outline per week: "Actually, I always work on different projects at the same time - we never spend the whole week working for just one client. And each day is also different for each project: I often work one day remote and one day on-site. So one day I get in the car, another time I start from home or if I feel like it at our office in Delft."

Identify and address dilemmas

As a project manager, managing expectations is key. For example, if the client can free up fewer people than originally agreed. Then a choice has to be made between shifting the deadline or the budget. Identifying and discussing this type of dilemma early on is crucial. "This requires guts. That is why assertiveness is important: daring to take the first step is your job," Mirjam explains.

"Project management requires guts and assertiveness."

No hard IT experience required

She manages implementation projects of complex financial software. Clients range from retail to industry. "Often they are the larger companies in the Netherlands, who need financial innovation within their organization. That's where we are interlocutor." Yet she herself has no substantive knowledge of the software - it's a widespread misconception that this would be required before applying as a project manager. "I can't sit in the consultant's chair - and I don't have to at all. As a project manager, it is more important that you have strong communication skills and bring energy to the project than that you have hard IT experience. But a little affinity with financial data and IT innovations is helpful."

Collaboration as highlight

Mirjam finds collaboration with the various project teams the highlight of her role. That happens remotely and during the on-site days. Then many of the Finext colleagues from the project team are often there as well. "My day is a party anyway. For me, that is also a condition of a job: I want to do something that makes me happy. On the one hand, I help people, which is always fun. On the other hand, I challenge teams and clients, and I also find that interesting. I don't often have a down day." Of course, there is also a piece of basic hygiene in her role: after all, reports have to be delivered with a budget and detailed schedule. "That's part of the project, without reports it does become very difficult to manage the project."  

"Each project manager has their own style and works from a shared Finext project approach."

Own style but shared quality

Within Finext, Mirjam can do her own thing. "We assume personal responsibility. Each project manager has his or her own style, but that's why we have a shared Finext Project Approach."
This approach was drawn up by the Finext project managers themselves and is regularly reviewed. It states, for example, which steps you take in which phase of the project. It also includes all kinds of templates. "This way we know that we deliver the same quality without doing it in exactly the same way." That wouldn't work either: every project team just needs a slightly different approach. "That's what makes it fun, otherwise it's just repetition," says Mirjam.

In fact, meetings with the other Finext project managers are often held in the early evening. No problem, thinks Mirjam: "At other times I'm at a performance of my daughter at school in the afternoon. That offers freedom. At the same time, you have to be able to work well independently and take responsibility when you have to."

Balancing between project team and client

The day is successful for Mirjam when she has a satisfied client and a satisfied project team. "I think it's important that people feel good about themselves. I stand for the team, but also for the client: I want a good project to be delivered. That is balancing sometimes, though, and means you have to be able to show leadership."