Career Path of a Project Manager at Vaelynn Studios
Andreas, a Project Manager at Vaelynn Studios, manages a large IT department supporting a massive, global organization, acting as both project manager and scrum master. Their role focuses on enabling development teams to "build the right thing, build it the right way, and build it efficiently," preventing unnecessary "gold plating" and ensuring timely project delivery.
Project Management, IT, Teamwork, Communication, Problem-Solving
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Andreas Lopez
Project Manager
Vaelynn Studios
Western Governor's University (WGU)
WGU Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Engineering, IT, Math & Data
Gaming
Cyber Security and IT
Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Immigrant, Worked 20+ Hours in School, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Working in IT project management for a large organization (50-100 people) within a global initiative (tens of thousands of people).
2. Utilizing Scrum methodology, including daily stand-ups, planning sessions, backlog grooming, and working closely with product managers and stakeholders.
3. Balancing the needs of developers with project constraints (time, budget, scope) and avoiding unnecessary work ('gold plating').
Transcript
What are your main responsibilities within your current role?
The responsibilities are what every project manager can relate to, specialized in the IT department. This means working inside a non-profit like ESCA, where the IT department governs a huge number of people.
For example, the IT department might consist of 50 to 100 people. The organization itself is a nationwide, even global, church initiative, reaching tens of thousands of people with hundreds of congregations. So, this small core team covers a vast number of people and all their diverse activities.
These activities include donation campaigns, fundraising, and much more, like day-to-day Bible reading and organizing local events. My role is to enable the development team on the IT side as both a project manager and a Scrum Master.
This involves following Scrum ceremonies, including daily stand-ups, planning sessions, and backlog grooming. I work with the product manager who determines what needs to be worked on. We also collaborate with stakeholders.
Essentially, I help the team stay organized on the inside, so developers know their tasks for the week and the next. You multiply this effort across each developer, ensuring everyone has the correct information.
This includes clarifying what needs to be done with specific application fields, detailing the current and future states, and defining requirements. We ensure the "definition of done" is clear, aiming to build the right thing, the right way, and efficiently.
This efficiency translates to delivering on time, on budget, and within scope. We avoid "gold plating," which is adding extra, unnecessary work to make something slightly better. Once the work is completed and finished, we deliver and move on to the next task.