What working in an agile team is like and why writing things down is always the best solution
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WooliesX is an innovative division of Woolworths that aims to bring together cross-functional teams including technology, digital customer experience, marketing and financial services. We sat down for a chat with Philip Via Zoom, who is currently in a Hatch placement at WooliesX as a Marketing Coordinator.
You’re at the start of your career, how have you figured out what paths to take so far?
My idea of what kind of career I want is always changing. In high school, I wanted to do something related to psychology as I was personally interested in that and the idea of helping other people out. But this changed in my senior years when I got more into tech. So that’s what I went for at university.
I did a double degree at University of Information Systems and Commerce. I chose Information Systems, not just because of the job prospects coming out of university, but because I’d heard good things about the content you learn in it. I knew having the Commerce part of my degree would give me a lot more flexibility into the different areas I could explore.
Now I am just trying to get as much experience as I can in both the marketing and tech sides.
Was there anything you were nervous about before you started your Hatch role?
Definitely! The mindset that I had coming into this role was I had to make an amazing impression on my teammates and managers. I wanted to try and absorb so much information and be proactive as possible. But then I realised I needed to relax a little bit. And as a Hatch student, I could take as much time as I wanted to learn, talk to my teammates and settle in. Now I feel like I am part of the WooliesX Marketing family.
Thinking back on that now, what do you wish you could tell yourself?
You’ve got to be more patient and ask as many questions as possible.
What does an average day as a Marketing Coordinator at WooliesX look like?
My role is to facilitate all of the little pieces that go into a marketing campaign. So, at 10am we have a daily standup where everyone mentions what they’ve accomplished, what they’re working on today and how it achieves the goal that we’re working towards within the sprint timeframe of 2 weeks.
Then I’ll organise meetings to brief all the different parts of the business that are required to push out a marketing campaign. This might mean meeting with the creative team to brief them on how we want graphics or visuals for a campaign to look. Or the data team to talk about which audience we want to target and if we have any insights from previous campaigns that will shape how we do the next one.
I’ll then make sure all those pieces fit together to get the campaign ready to push out.
And has there been any particular campaigns you’ve really liked working on?
A campaign I got to see for Big W from start to finish. From the very beginning, I got to oversee the data, creative and all the digital channels we’d use to push out the campaign. Now I get to see it go live and I hope it performs well!
What skills are you using in your role that you think will be helpful throughout your career?
Stakeholder management and communication for sure. In a classroom setting, you get told different stakeholders use different types of business and technical language. But when you actually apply that in the workforce, it allows you to consolidate and see how you’re able to communicate effectively across different kinds of expertise and knowledge levels.
Working in a squad, everyone is from different backgrounds like data, marketing or creative. So you need to know what information will help them accomplish their tasks and how you communicate that. I know this will be very valuable in the future.
Through your Hatch role, have you been exposed to other areas besides Marketing that you’re interested in?
We’re encouraged to do cross-skilling to see how things fit together. Because I had the technical side to my degree, it was cool to be exposed to some of the things I learnt at university. Seeing some of the tools and coding languages I’m familiar with used in an actual work environment is great. It gives me a foot-in to see how a company like WooliesX uses it for their insights and decision-making.
What have you discovered about what you value in a work culture?
I definitely have found out what ways of working, work for me. I love the social aspect of WooliesX, especially in COVID, it’s been nice to be able to catch up with other team members and see how they’re going. If you’re able to connect with your team personally, it makes work easier and a lot more fun. Being part of that familial aspect is something I really value as well.
Any advice you would give someone starting a Marketing Coordinator role?
Write lists! You need to keep track of all the tasks you’re doing. In a marketing campaign, there are many different steps you need to walk through, in a particular order and make sure the quality is perfect. It’s not just about attention-to-detail but also effectively managing all the different tasks involved.
