A Month As Director @ Artefact

One month ago I took on a challenge as Director in a consultancy focused on Data. To help others move into a new leadership role, and to give some insight into life at Artefact, I decided to share my Experiences. First I will share my Hopes, Dreams and Fears, and below you will find the Ramp Up Plan, something I created to ensure new Directors would have a flying start.

HOPES

Before joining, or even talking to Artefact, I took a moment to reflect upon what I really wanted in work and life:

1. First and foremost I wanted to move forward on the track that I had enjoyed in recent years: Taking the role of a technical leader
2. Secondly I wanted to make clear impact: Helping a company/team grow firmly in the region.
3. Finally I realized that I wanted all this, and that there was a healthy way to do this: Taking a role that mostly focuses on my local timezone.

So far I have had the pleasure to help out several countries, hire a new team member, and all while reasonably staying within my own time zone. A great start!

DREAMS

During and after talks with Artefact, I often took a step back to wonder: "Why will I get out of bed in the morning?" Well, here are the dreams that I have:

1. Bring Data Engineering in to a higher level in The Netherlands, and of course across Europe: Even before I started I had already come to a list of 30 things that most companies could benefit from. I am still identifying the best match between the potential improvements, and the focus of Artefact, but it seems clear that we will be able to make a positive impact on the Dutch data landscape.
2. Bring Data Engineering to a higher level in Artefact: In some countries the capability is very mature, and through collaborations I expect to help other countries advance as well.
3. Let collaboration be the starting point: Whether with global colleagues, partners or even the community in the broadest sense, I really hope to see collaborations blossom: So far I have already talked to several colleagues from other regions and I will soon take (local) leadership of some technology partnerships.

Though a month is too short to draw final conclusions, the first signals around the impact that can be made on the local Data maturity, as well as the collaborations inside Artefact and beyond seem to be off to a great start. Not unimportant: my manager has also shown support for my dreams and included these as core elements in my annual objectives.

FEARS

It is great to think about everything that could go well, but moving into a new role can be scary. Here are some my concerns which you might relate to your own:

1. Letting MY team down by finding a cozy place and hiding in my comfort zone. Perhaps here I would be comfortable but my team might feel a vacuum, hindering them to fully succeed.
2. Getting distracted by (poorly designed) financial incentives. Perhaps luring me into the trap of optimizing for the short term, or going for local optima. Or alternately seducing me to become purely commercial/managing, with disregard for content.

Though I will need to keep a close eye on these, so far I am glad to see that my financial incentives are well designed (tip: discuss before joining any company!). Both towards helping the team, and to avoid shortsightedness. Also I am very relieved to see that other Directors in the company can find a good balance between staying very connected with the content while succesfully fulfilling their commercial/management responsibilities.

As you might have guessed I currently feel that I am keeping my Hopes and Dreams alive, while keeping my Fears in check. Something I would wish upon everyone. However, let us now switch to the practical part:

MY ACTUAL RAMP UP PLAN

Anyone I know who started a new role was eager to get going (and even more so within consulting). This can sometimes be more difficult than expected, perhaps because you only discover after a year it would have been convenient to do a few simple things like getting to know the right people.

In my first month I have actually been fortunate enough to be involved in 6 customer projects to some extent (3 where I was billable), but above all I made sure to keep hammering away at my On Boarding and Ramp-up. Those lay the foundation for long term success, any performance that comes out in the first 2-3 months is a pure bonus in my mind. Here is the ramp up plan that should help anyone moving into a Director role, perhaps with some minor tweaks, including the status after 1 month.

CONCLUSION

I am off to a good start after my first month, and encourage you to also think on your Hopes and Dreams when joining a new company in any role. If your role is somewhat similar to mine, make sure to copy the Ramp Up Plan and make it your own, as it simply helps you from dropping important things once the storm of new impressions hits!