Meet the team: Abi

1. What is your role at ClarityDX?

I’m the newest Digital Project Manager in the ClarityDX team. I’ll be looking after our Support Desk and taking care of our retained clients after their sites have gone live. 

2. What does an average day for you look like?

Well, I’m still getting into the swing of things as I’m only a couple of weeks into the role. Saying that, I’m an early bird, so I like to sit down at my desk each morning with a large cup of tea and take a look at our Support Desk, to see if anything new has come in since the day before. After this, my morning is filled with calls checking in with our clients and our support developers. In the afternoons it’s either more client calls or working on briefs for our clients. 

Going forward, I’ll be monitoring the support desk full time, but whilst I’m still finding my feet, I have been helping out other Project Managers.

3. What’s the most challenging part of your job?

Whilst I’ve not been at ClarityDX long, I know that going forward a challenging part of this role will be managing client expectations, as it is in any client-facing role. Obviously, all our clients are lovely, but as a Project Manager I need to make sure that our clients are happy whilst at the same time helping projects stay on track and on budget. 

4. Any advice for those who want to do what you do?

A big part of being a PM is how you create a relationship with each of your clients. Working with a lot of different clients means you have to tailor your communication to each client, to succeed you should try to anticipate their needs and adapt to each client’s way of working. That, and making sure you are super organised! 

5. What future design and/or technology developments in the industry are you excited about?

I’m excited to see what happens next with Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. Already we can see what that new piece of furniture will look like in our house before we buy with Ikea’s AR capabilities, which saves time and money and the stress of ‘PIVOT’-ing when you buy a new item. As VR headsets get smaller and lighter, alongside people avoiding traveling as much (thanks Covid!) I think it can open up so many possibilities. 

6. What are your passions/hobbies/interests?

I love live music – going to gigs and festivals fills me with joy, so I hope this is something that can resume soon! I’m also quite a crafty person, so on an evening you can find me cross-stitching whilst binging Netflix on my sofa. 

7. What’s your favourite thing to read in print/online?

I’m a big reader, and each year try and read more books than I did in the previous year (this year’s goal is 70 books!). I will read just about anything, but I love an Agatha Christie Whodunit, though in contemporary fiction at the moment I’m loving discovering Irish writers like Kathleen MacMahon and Naoise Dolan, both of whom are in the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist!

8. What music is currently trending on your playlist?

Whilst I used to try and keep up with lots of new indie bands, I have to say I’m a sucker for a good pop bop! Currently I’m obsessed with Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Good 4 U’ and Dodie’s ‘Hate Myself’. 

9. Tell us a random fact about you…

I wrote my master’s dissertation (all 15,000 words of it) about Taylor Swift!