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Sharing from Mr. Quang Vu, Cốc Cốc Senior Project Manager.

 

“The first meeting that brought me to Cốc Cốc was between me and a very close friend since high school, Mr. Luu Dinh Thang (Former Senior Product Manager of Browser Team). Well, it was just a regular meeting of two friends, talking about our work at first. 

 

Back then, Thang was still a Cốc Cốc Product Manager, holding the responsibilities of developing the Cốc Cốc Browser. And got to hear about the new features that Cốc Cốc was working on from Thang, I was somewhat charmed by his enthusiastic stories.

 

I worked at FPT Software for 13 years, from a developer to a Project Manager through various projects of many scales, I experienced my career to the fullest in the Outsourcing field. But after hearing Thang’s sharing, and after that an invitation to join Cốc Cốc, where they’re making unique technology products only in Vietnam, I was so fascinated and eager to accept new challenges in my career. 

 

Just that, 4 years went by, and my Cốc Cốc crew and I had completed many projects such as Cốc Cốc Points, Cốc Cốc Referral, Cốc Cốc, and Cốc Cốc Careers website,... Projects that are full of experiences, and deliver the products that are my favorites – and also making me realize: Joining Cốc Cốc was a great choice of mine!”

 

 

I. THOSE “USE FIRST” PROJECTS AT CỐC CỐC

 

“At Cốc Cốc, a Project Manager (PM) will work with many projects that are “User First”. To demonstrate this, I can share more on the Cốc Cốc Points project, a bonus points system that rewards the users of Cốc Cốc Browser. This is the product that was built to entertain our users, making them interact more with many of Cốc Cốc products. And it’s one of my favorites, for two reasons:  

 

• The product creates a versatile platform, where I can make adjustments to its interaction programs – depending on the user’s needs. For example, if the users are now interested in the new Arabian Football League, then Cốc Cốc can update right away on the “Prediction Game” before the matches of the league start. 

 

• The next reason is that Cốc Cốc PM is more involved in the projects, directly receiving feedback from users. Working with the User Research & Support Team, I will always be updated on the user’s feedback, and quickly make product updates to enhance user’s experiences and keep them comeback to Cốc Cốc. 

 

 

At our core, Cốc Cốc is a product company and we put our users first (or we call it “User First”), so we focus more on the product quality for our Vietnamese users to have the best experience. That’s why, my project teams and I will always have these questions in mind: 

 

• What do our users need? 
• How will the idea help our users? 
• How complete is the product, before getting used by the users? How can we improve that product? 
• What do we need to do to make a long-lasting product for users? 

 

Thereby, Cốc Cốc's product projects can be considered as successful if the products are accepted by users for their convenience, and becomes close friends that accompany them in work and life. 

 

Besides that difference when I’m working at a product company, I see that the PM’s workload in Cốc Cốc can be the same as the PM’s workload in an Outsourcing company, but a Cốc Cốc PM can have more chance to “connect”. But overall, whatever the scale of the project is, a PM will always have to know how to balance these three aspects of a project: Cost – Deliver – Quality.” 

 

 

II. STANDING OUT AS THE “CONNECTOR”

 

“At Cốc Cốc, PM can stand out as the “connector” of teams and departments, within the scope of many projects in the company. Besides working with the User Research & Support team to make Cốc Cốc Points constantly meet the needs of users, I’m also working with other teams and departments, such as:  

 

• Cốc Cốc Marketing department, to make our products reach our real users better. 
• Human Resources department, to deliver a project that serves the need of searching for talents and spreading the values of Cốc Cốc’s working environment. That project is the Cốc Cốc Careers website. 
• I’ve mentioned many teams, and many departments, but nevertheless, there must be an honorable mention of my close colleagues, those who have been by my side on many projects: the Design team, the Desktop team, and part of the Product Engineering team. 

 

The difficulty when being a “connector” of these teams and departments, is that I “truly” have to understand each person and how each team/department works. 

 

First of all, each team/department will have a different process, and different priorities in work, which is why the PM needs to be flexible when planning for a project. 

 

The next spot is the human element. Each person has his/her own characteristic, so working with one will not be like working with another. Here, we can separate them into two groups of people that PM will have to work with:   

 

• Group one is the group of developers, those who make the product in the project. They will need a person who understands the direction of the project and can give they working advice when needed. Therefore, knowledge of programming will be a great advantage for PM when directly guiding the developers in the team.

• Group two is for the non-tech people on the project team. They could be from HR, Marketing, User Research & Support,... Therefore, a PM's ability to communicate and persuade is needed for the project can be processed smoothly. These people will need to be advised to understand the strength of the project team, limitations of the technology, and other involving information to know what to do. That’s why the PM usually actively communicate with them.  

 

And when the PM successfully “connects” and ensures the aspects needed for the project, the PM will definitely “deliver” the project.”

 

 

 

III. THE FUTURE OF PROJECT MANAGING

 

“The PM position has never ceased to be "hot", especially when the technology market is advancing and the projects are getting bigger and bigger, so the need to find experienced PMs is much higher.

 

High-demand positions need experienced and well-trained people. With Tech or Non-tech background for the PM position, I don't see that is much of a matter. If you are determined to pursue this direction, then you must learn and work hard. And advice for non-tech students: it is necessary to cultivate more programming and technological knowledge.

 

Here, I do have some suggestions for you to become a better PM:

 

1. Constantly researching technology trends, having a better grasp of the business’s direction, and improving people skills every day.

 

2. And you can read more books about project management, such as: 

• Project Managing For Dummies 
• PMP® Exam Prep, Eleventh Edition, Rita Mulcahy 
• Scrum, the art of doing twice in half time - J. Sutherland

 

3. Or participating in training courses, such as: 

• Project Managing courses of PMA academy. 
• Online Project Managing course with PMP/PMI - Agile academy. 
• And to reveal a little bit more, Cốc Cốc also has internal courses for PM, such as Scrum/Agile. If you have the chance, you can our the company and learn more with the PMs of Cốc Cốc! 

 

The Project Manager acts as a catalyst to quickly turn ideas into products. Therefore, I want to wish all of you who are pursuing the career to meet a lot of good ideas, and implement a lot of successful projects to become the best Project Managers in the future!” 

 

 

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Ask a Senior - The series Cốc Cốc “Seniors” share their expertise and direction of career development for youngsters, helping them to have more inspiration to build the career path up ahead.