The professional development I have been through has undoubtably helped me mature personally too, and continues to do so every single day. I am a better person because of my experiences at work.

One thing that has been bubbling in my brain for the last year or so is the desire to write some blog posts about things I’m doing at work.

I know. This sounds boring as fuck. And it probably will be for most people. The topics will likely be unconnected. I won’t be specialising in anything. I definitely won’t be writing anything revolutionary.

But I do enjoy my job. There – I said it. I know it can be fashionable to moan about work and trust me, I do a lot. It drives me insane most days. It’s intense, exhausting, infuriating and all-consuming most of the time. But it’s also exciting, exhilarating, hilarious and hugely rewarding.

I’ve developed professionally more than I ever thought I would be able to. I am unrecognisable from who I was when I dipped my undersized feet into the world of Project Management and Digital 12 years ago. The professional development I have been through has undoubtably helped me mature personally too, and continues to do so every single day. I am a better person because of my experiences at work. I have made friends for life from 3 separate jobs – friends I still speak to regularly when we have all moved on and in some cases, all moved to different countries. The people I work with drive me, inspire me and motivate me to be a better boss, colleague, employee and a better person with better ethics, communication styles and increased empathy. So a boring topic it may appear, but it’s an important one in shaping this CatDog to be the best version of herself.

So let me explain a little about what I do. I started in Digital Project Management – riding high on a new wave of Agile frameworks enabling Project Management to become a valuable and sought-after discipline again, and not one that is associated with documentation and bureaucracy. I learned fast and I learned hard. I worked on tough projects, projects with impossible deadlines, normally on websites not in English and I quickly found myself working with difficult stakeholders or in precarious political situations. I had the most incredible bosses and mentors. I absorbed everything. I watched. I listened. I put myself out of my comfort zone on more occasions than is sane.

In time, I’ve worked to a position where I now oversee Project & Product Management at a large, dynamic and aggressively growing publisher. I’ve found my passion for process consultancy again – and not just in digital teams. I am obsessive about being the best leader and example to my teams as I can be. I’m a fanatic of learning about behavioural psychology and analysing why people act in the way they do. I am continuing to push myself harder and harder. And I love to talk about challenges, opportunities, themes and things I’m learning – academically or vocationally. I hope you find some of the things I talk about interesting. And if you don’t… well there’s always the food posts or reading about my bruise collection stories…

Catdog xx