Funny, isn’t it, how what we perceive as our weaknesses often turn out to be our biggest strengths.
“I’m a people pleaser,” admits Alex Wilson, Cranmore’s longest serving project manager, as if it’s a bad thing.
She tells Source Code being a PM was something she “fell in to”. She had been a successful events coordinator in NI’s hospitality sector after graduating with a business and event management degree.
Then she upped sticks to China in 2011 to teach English for a year, hinting in the telling of it that she was disappointed to then still be undecided about her future.
“They were all glued to their phones,” she says. “It was a shock. It wasn’t like that back at home at the time. But we’re now what they were then.”
Having detected how the wind was blowing, she did a Master’s in software development. That led her to Cranmore.
“I just thought at the time ‘this makes sense’,” she says. “I knew it would be good to be involved in tech, but I never made a conscious decision to leave the events world. I just thought I’d try it.”
It’s this Taoist, ‘go with the flow’ attitude that Alex seems to think of as a weakness. But it’s a strength, and a considerable one. Even Bruce Lee promoted being “like water”.
She tells us she’s more intuitive than methodical, leaning a lot on her instinct.
“I am such an overthinker,” she laments. “But I can sense what my colleagues are feeling. I know my customers’ personalities well.
“When I meet people, I can quickly tell how they’re likely to respond and how they want to be spoken to.
“Some like you to be direct. Others prefer a smile. I just know instinctively which.”
You’re dealing with highly intelligent people who have their quirks and are very focused
Alex Wilson
And it’s this skill, among others, that allows Alex to keep dev and customer moving forward as one, their plans flowing smoothly, like water.
“But don’t get me wrong,” she states. “I’m assertive when I need to be.”
And this strength is evident from the complex projects she delivers, from machine learning digital twins to on-siding women’s charities for an app tackling violence against women and girls.
Indeed, her people skills are not only admired but respected throughout Cranmore.
“My advice is to always stay calm,” she says. “There are big personalities in tech. You’re dealing with highly intelligent people who have their quirks and are very focused.
“So, it’s important to not have a big ego. Everyone else is doing the important stuff. You’re just making sure they do it in unison.”
Flexibility, studied self-awareness, sang-froid; it’s these things that make Alex such an effective PM.
And, she notes, these strengths have changed how she approaches life outside of work too.
“I’m much more organised since becoming a PM,” she says. “Everything is on a list – MOTs, doctors appointments, everything that ever happens is in there.
“So I would say I’m now extremely organised – but I had to work at it.”
What was it Confucius said about reeds that bend in the wind being stronger than the oaks that break in a storm?
