Unconventional Victories

Reflections from a year with a Project Management Apprentice

Since starting Polar Notion in 2012, we’ve pushed ourselves to step outside of traditional thinking and explore creative solutions. This approach has served us well in solving problems for client, but also in building a team.

Rather than hiring the most talented person for each role, we have opted to focus on attitude and train the requisite skills over time. Finding great humans and shaping them into great craftsmen. Our first few attempts where with software engineers. Hiring code school graduates, we’ve built out an apprenticeship model allowing us to develop their skills over time. Eventually we extended this style of hiring into designers too.

This approach has served us well and set the tone of our organization. Rather than past experience, we where looking for potential.

In mid 2017, we decided to take a similar approach with Project Management. Instead of hiring a seasoned Project Manager or Certified Scrum Master, we broke down the requirements of the position and searched for someone with the behaviors that matched the our needs. Personable, assertive, adaptable, and detail-oriented rose to the top. “When you’re out with friends, who books the Uber before you get outside” was a question I found myself asking.

It was roughly a year ago that we offered the position to a young college graduate, Alie Heenan. You can read more about her one year reflections, but suffice it to say we are thrilled with the results. Like anything new and untested, the early months had their rocky moments. Combining our ever-evolving process with a group of ever-evolving professionals has it’s tension and pressure. Alie worked through the difficulty and continues to rise to the challenge.

The humility and empathy she has brought to the position has aligned well with our human-centered perspective and been well received by our clients. As her technical comprehension increases, we’re understanding more of what it means to be ‘effectively human’.

Now having trained entry level professionals in software engineering, design, and project management, we’re eager to see what’s next.

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