When big dreams become true
Picture a 7-year-old girl playing a tuba. An instrument so big, that the little girl had to sit on several thick yellow pages books to be able to look over the tuba and play the instrument. But with her drive and confidence she succeeded. Even then was Pernilla Klemendz, Swedish specialist for Optimized operations, drawn to big projects.
Years later and Pernilla has just returned from maternity leave and can’t wait to be back in business. She also can’t wait for summer. “I’m a real summer girl. Not a great combination when you live in Sweden, so you understand why I love to travel. To Australia, China, South Africa to name a few. On my wish list is the Inca trail in South America and another dream is a horse-riding holiday in Africa. When riding a horse, you zone out everything around you. Only being in the moment. I love it! And how cool is it to be able to do that in beautiful nature. My fiancée is already taking horseback riding classes. But with a little boy in our lives, we prefer to have more relaxing holidays as a start.”
My strength as a project manager is to be nice, encouraging and – if needed – tough.
Solution architect to project manager
For over ten years Pernilla works in the IT industry. Started as a solution architect with various projects in Finance and Operations, she soon discovered she was bringing a different mindset to the table. “I like to be in control, and I had all kind of ideas how to help the customer. I discussed with my manager my personal development ideas, and I got the opportunity to work as a project manager for larger enterprises. Especially the opportunity to dive into more complex projects on the long term attracts me.”
Two industries that has no secrets for Pernilla anymore are Manufacturing and the Machinery & Equipment industry. For a customer in the latest category, Pernilla illustrates: “It was a bumpy start, but then I took over the role of project manager. It was a huge project, a though timeline, and as many as 50 colleagues were contributing in total. We build a completely new ERP system, focusing on finance and operations, but also customer engagement and Power BI. We installed the whole platform and took it to the cloud. My strength as a project manager is to be nice, encouraging and – if needed – tough. I’m proud of the result, a future-proof platform.”
We are better together as Fellowmind
The journey to One Fellowmind is an exciting journey. By joining forces, we are now being heard. And getting recommendations by Microsoft is also a great plus. The opportunity of working together with new colleagues is a personal benefit. It feels good to be part of a successful company, while also keeping a small mindset. For example, I still have a say in what I do, and the direction where we’re going as a team. Really important are to me the flat hierarchy and the team spirit. Like after working hours, we connect with nice events, and play table tennis in the office in Malmö.
Always expect the unexpected
“I have been involved in so many demo sessions, projects, and my most important learning is that you always need a backup plan. You need to be flexible as a consultant. So, my motto is ‘always expect the unexpected’."
