Yasmin Stewart

7.00 AM

If I'm working from home, I take full advantage of sleeping in as late as I possibly can, but today I'm in the office so I have to get up earlier. Luckily, I live in outer Geelong so it's only about a 30-minute drive into the CBD.

8.30 AM

I'll head into the office, grab a coffee and some breakfast and set up my desk. I'll start by checking any emails, messages, or other updates to make sure I'm ready for the day.

9.00 AM

Tuesdays are one of the busiest days in office, so many of our meetings are scheduled for these days so we can meet in person. I’m currently working within the Program Integration team, which is responsible for managing the many different projects within the organisation. My first meeting of the day is a weekly stand up for one of the projects I'm currently working on – an update of the customer relationship management system (CRM), which is a massive project which will modernise our current systems over the next few years, and create a smoother experience for our members and employees. The core team is about 10 people, made up of Program/Project Managers and Coordinators, Business and Tech Leads, and Change Managers, but involves others from all different parts of the company -  like Technical Architects, Product Designers, and Subject Matter Experts. These weekly stand ups give the team an opportunity to update everyone on what they are doing, ask for advice, or just give a general overview of where they are in the project.

9.30 AM

Today we get to do something a bit different and do some volunteering! GMHBA has a great volunteering program where we get to spend some time helping at local charities and organisations. I'm heading off with my fellow graduates to assist Our Village (formerly Geelong Mums), which is an amazing organisation that supports babies and children by providing donated essential goods such as prams, clothing, and nappies. I'm helping by cleaning shoes and packing clothing bundles, which vary from itty bitty baby clothes right up to a size 16. 

1.00 PM

Back to work! I'll stop and grab some lunch from the dumpling shop next to our building because while I try to bring my own lunches, I am unfortunately not as good at planning it out as I would like to be (and the dumplings are delicious).

2.00 PM

Next up is my graduate cohort catch up session. These are scheduled each month, so we can all learn more about the business and what the other grad’s are working on, and provide support to each other.  These are super important as it can be a bit overwhelming as a graduate in a new business, so having a support network is great to help manage some of the nerves and worries.   Different rotation managers also attend these each month to give an overview of their area and the type of work available in their team – which is helpful for planning out our next rotations.

3.00 PM

I usually use my afternoons to catch up on any work I need to do. Today some of my tasks include scheduling meetings and workshops for our project, so our system designers and implementors can get a better sense of what exactly they need to include in the new system; updating minutes from our Steering Committee, where our project team meets with the company executive to update them on the project and get support; and creating a financial resourcing model spreadsheet to track project expenses against our original budget. These are all important tasks for a project manager, as there are many different moving parts that need to be organised, documented, and tracked. There needs to be this level of detail so anyone would be able to look at the project and understand exactly what decisions were made, where the budget is being spent, and why things occurred the way they did.

As part of my development within the graduate program I am completing a Project Management Certification, so I also use this time to work on that. I have already been able to use things I have learnt in the course, such as a RAIDD log (used to track risks, assumptions, issues, decisions and dependencies – the log helps to note anything that might be an issue later) and a RACI chart (which helps the project manager to know which stakeholders are either responsible, accountable, consulted or included).  These have both been useful to help manage big projects like this one and identify who needs to be involved and how.

5.00 PM

Home time! I’ll finish up anything I’m working on and then head on home. If the weather’s nice I’ll take my dog Kevin for a walk around the neighbourhood. Then it's back to the house to have some dinner and a relaxing night.

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