Being a project manager in any organization is challenging, but when the work is done with dedication, all the things will flow and the customers will be happy. “Every project manager should go into any project with an open mind,” notes 8x8’s Byron Evans, because everyone is different; everyone has a unique point of view personality. So a project manager needs to be willing to listen to everyone and be both responsive and an active listener in order to assess the needs of customers and the co-worker so that a product is delivered properly.

“My work is my passion.”

8x8: Tell us more about yourself and about your work experience.

Byron Evans (BE): My entire career has been in the domain of telecommunications. For more than 20 years I worked at another company deploying networks that actually supports what 8x8 is doing.

8x8: How long have you been working at 8x8? Tell us more about your journey through the years.

BE: I have been here for five years. I’ve held the role of project manager from the beginning. I have had some great experiences here; most of the projects are phenomenal. The vast differences between the customers we work for are truly amazing, from food services to transportation, and beyond.

8x8: What qualities should a good project manager have?

BE: The number one quality for a project manager is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence and understanding will either make or break a project. You have to be able to talk to the customers at their level. You have to be able to deliver bad news in a way that reassures the customer that you understand what is going on and you own the resolution to it.

In addition to emotional intelligence and understanding, it is important to have time management skills to be able to balance all of the phases of a project and balance the work with the team and with the customers.

8x8: How do you describe the experience of being a project manager at 8x8?

BE: It is much easier to do great work here than at the previous companies that I have worked for. At 8x8, everyone understands the goal. It is like a big family here. Everyone is running through whatever it takes to make a project happen successfully. That is the most amazing thing in working at 8x8: how open and close we are across the teams.

8x8: What does the Professional Services team do and what are the steps in a project?

BE: The Professional Services team gets the idea or the dream of customers and we deliver that. The customer says: "I need my vision done in 30 days,” so we, as a PS team, make sure that the idea is delivered in 30 days even if we need to deal with much bigger projects.

We complete the intake, the project managers review the documentation, set internal meetings with the sales and project support teams, and we discuss any item that we may not have covered in the first place. We carry out the kickoff meeting with the customers. What I like to do as a project manager is to carefully review the documentation, because a huge part of the process is to gather information from the customers. Our biggest challenge is that the customers do not realize the depth of detail that we need.

Following the kickoff, we have our design and planning sessions. After gathering all the information and understanding the documentation we provide prescriptive consulting to help frame the customers’ dream or desires into a final product.

8x8: What are your main tasks on a daily basis?

BE: On a daily basis the project manager is reviewing the project open actions item, the PM is making sure that the tasks are being completed on time, either internally or externally. If the customers have deliverables to you or to your team to get that project moving forward the project manager should verify the status of all these aspects.

Also for a project manager, part of the daily tasks is checking in with their team. Besides asking for deliverables, it’s important to ask how they are doing. We have to utilize our emotional intelligence, we have to make sure that our team is taken care of as well.

8x8: Can you give an example of a difficult project you managed and how you successfully resolved any issues?

BE: A large national brand with hundreds of locations had a requirement to be live on 8x8 within 30 days. The challenges faced were identifying the build requirements, build, equipment deployment, and porting. The project had to be broken into different segments with a focus on each one from myself. Processes were developed and deployed across the project team to ensure information was shared while independent steps were taken. The project was successfully completed within the timeframe provided by the customer.

8x8: How can you ensure effective communication and collaboration within a remote project team?

BE: Our project team is 100% remote. No one is together in an offline environment, and that comes with its own challenges too. However, we have deployed the tools needed to make the communication as efficient as possible. We have our smartsheets, our Google documentation, and 8x8 as our communications solution. Even if we are across the country, we are working in the same location online. Everyone is on the same page because we always check with each other and with our chat groups.

8x8: If you could describe the company for the customers in a few words and the reasons why they should choose us, what would you say?

BE: Every step we take, every move we make is for our customers, so the phrase of being customer-obsessed is 100% applicable to 8x8. Our main topic is the customers because we know that without them we would not be where we are today.

Learn more about 8x8's award-winning Professional Services offering here.