What goes on in the behind the scenes of the magnificent developments we see popping up from Devtraco Plus? What kind of unseen people, effort, skills and activities come together to make these buildings we love, happen?
We took some time to speak to two employees of Devtraco Plus, Michael Sodzi (Projects & Construction Manager) and Robert Owusu Sekyere (Sales & Marketing Associate), who gave us some insight into the work that goes in the background, to make Devtraco Plus what it is.
What is Devtraco Plus’ Work Culture?
Michael:
The main work culture here is innovation: to bring about solutions, fine-tune, and always come up with new ideas. You will have challenges, and once those challenges come, you need to sit down and think about it critically, and discuss it with your boss to come up with a good solution.
The second thing is team work: we work in one, seamless team. When you come here you cannot tell the difference between who is doing technical work, managerial work, or sales and marketing. Our tasks dovetail into each other’s, but there is no problem of waiting on another person before you can move. It is always well-coordinated.
Robert:
Because it's a small team, you are in constant communication with all of the team members. There won’t be a day where you want to reach out to construction or finance or facilities management and not be able to, because we see and work with each other each and every day.
How Does Your Day Begin?
Michael:
When I come in in the mornings, I first want to see all my friends, that is, my workmates, and greet them. The next thing I do is check my emails. I get a lot of emails from about 4:30pm till the next morning. Most of the challenges arise on the construction site, so there are issues we have to follow up on the following morning, which results in a lot of emails. I have to check them and then respond appropriately, or if I need to get a consultant involved, I need to find him. After my emails, if there are any new issues that come, up I note them and I go to Cyril (General Manager) and we discuss.
Robert:
My days are all similar, except for Monday mornings, because we have a general Monday Morning Meeting. I get here between 8:00am and 8:30am, put down my bag, pray, and set up my computer and other stuff. Sales and marketing is very unpredictable. You can’t have a plan and expect everything to go that way. What I usually do is, after I set up I go over all that I did the previous day, look through my to-do list because there might be backlog, and update it. Sometimes clients call, so I have to attend to the person during this period. If nothing like that happens, I follow it up with my next task. In the mornings I like to do the data churning because I'm doing digital marketing. I observe website and social media performance so I usually do those in the mornings when my brain is fresh (or late in the day). When I do things like that, the mornings pass very quickly.
What is the peak of your day like, and how does it wind down?
Michael:
Depending on the solutions that arise from the morning emails, I may need to go out of the office in the afternoon and onto the site to solve those problems.
I hardly go out for lunch. This is a habit from my previous work place, where I stayed for six years. My old boss always took his on-site trips around lunch time, and because I had to go with him, I was never able to eat. It eventually it became part and parcel of me, so I no longer think about the lunch. All I think about is work. Here, there is flexibility. You can eat anytime you want. I eat in the mornings, however so once I have that, that is it.
We have no specific closing time here. I usually focus on work till it is done. The evenings are just like the mornings. The work is such that you do not really have an off peak period. You constantly have to be on top of your game, especially because we are doing three projects at the same time. Work is constant.
Robert:
Lunch time differs for me. It is usually between 12 noon and 3pm. I spend some time to drive around and look for something to eat; that is a whole adventure on its own. After lunch I come back, go through what I have to do. Sales and marketing is very interactive and dynamic … a lot happens. I talk to my boss to check out a few things, talk with the team to brainstorm ideas, speak with agencies on a daily basis … there are so many things to put together.
When it gets to 4:30pm I start to wind down. 5:30pm is the official closing time and I stick to that, because if we do not, nobody is going to end up leaving.
What is your personal work philosophy?
Michael:
I would say that sharing knowledge and skills is the most important thing for me. As much as possible, I try to reach out. I have a lot, aside the project management skills that I possess. So when it comes to sharing knowledge and skills I try as much as possible to do that. Also, construction is such that mistakes are inevitable. Sometimes we make very serious mistakes and that is very painful. I make it a habit to identify what the issues are and to see what remedies there might be. These are the qualities that I hold on to very much, in my job.
Robert:
I like structured work, especially when there is so much going on. If you don't organize your work, you will end up not doing 70% of it, and then your productivity goes low. I like to see results, too. When I do something I want to see what the effect is. Let us take social media for example: if we change strategy, I expect that the results at the end of the day will be different from what we used to do get, prior.
What do you love most about your job?
Robert:
The variety of tasks. You have to do a lot of things, it is not one straight path. You do not just do one thing every day, and that is why I cannot do something like finance, or accounting. Being in touch with the different sides of business is my favorite, especially because it is a small team. That enables me to see the general overview of what is going on.
Michael:
Construction is a broad department. There are so many different types of people and skills, so the opportunity to work with all of them, is what I like best. Every time you go in there there's something new, and if you're somebody who wants to learn then I think it is a very good environment. There are different fields, and different work, and the contractors have some rich experience to learn from.
What is the best section of your work day? Mornings, lunch time or the evenings?
Michael:
The entire day is the same for me, I do not have a favorite period. It is true I work a lot, and because of what we have to do, failing to carry out your tasks brings problems. With construction, the time of decision is very important. Once a decision does not come in good time, the project will delay, so every time you need to do some work. But aside that we have a lot of fun during the day. Sometimes when we come in, all we discuss that morning is social. We are not in a kind of regime where there are mood swings and people are always moody. There is fun and work throughout the day, so the day is the same for me.
Robert:
My favorite part is when I get to sit down and analyze data. It is nice when the data turns up, and I realize that because of a few changes we made in some strategies here and there, it reflects in the results. It boils down to the “effect” thing we spoke of earlier.
What is the most challenging part of your day / job?
Michael:
My biggest challenge is in design issues. You could have a drawing at the start of a project but by the time you finish, the level of changes that come in are massive. It is not peculiar to the projects we work on, it is a general thing in the construction industry. Once you start you will find out that there are some issues which the designer may not have thought of, or you meet technical challenges in implementing them. Once you have these problems and they are not resolved in a timely manner, you have the contractors delaying your construction. Externally the façade of the building can remain the same, but when you go inside the arrangements may have changed.
The other thing is going onto a construction site seeing obvious faults that nobody else notices. It means I have to be constantly on the lookout. You need to be detail oriented in construction, if you are not, you do not get a good project.
Robert:
The state of the working environment can be a bit challenging sometimes. If there is no positive energy, or when someone constantly gives a bad attitude, you cannot really do much. It is a small team, like I said, so you cannot afford to do that because you will definitely need the person sometime soon during the day.
When you compare Devtraco Plus to your old job, what is the difference that makes you work better now?
Robert:
I used to work in a multi-national corporation, and the decision making process was my issue; it was very long even in the smallest things. Here, it is a small team so we can go straight to the General Manager, and decisions are made fast and easily. That's the biggest difference. That is even an opportunity for this team, when it gets bigger, to maintain this culture so that people do not have to wait too long for approval.
Michael:
The difference here is team effort. What happens here is, all of them go to the construction site once in a while, and some go on a daily basis, and when they find out faults, problems, issues, and very quickly they relay it to me, so it helps with my job. Once I know about the issues, Cyril is also here to help me in one way or the other so it makes me work better. Whereas in other working environments people will say “this is my job line and I do not go beyond that”, here everybody cares. Some will take pictures, send me emails, or call me and I would take it from there. Even though the task maybe difficult it makes it all easier.
Tell us about one moment you will always remember
Robert:
The Thursday of my first week here was my birthday, and because it was a new work place, I was not expecting anything. Around lunch time, Michael called me over to accompany him to Palmer’s Place (one of our developments) and because I was new, I just assumed he was taking me there to update me on some things. When we went there, he spent time examining dead palm fronds, checking pipes for leakages, and spending time on things that did not seem to relevant. I did not understand what he was doing. So when we came back, I realized they had prepared cakes and some other things for me. That was my birthday surprise.
Michael:
(Laughing) He was so surprised on that day, I cannot forget it. It was quite interesting. But that is something we normally do, once in a while we play some games. I do that a lot with my girls – I have two daughters – and we are always up to something. So that translates here.
Is there anything you would like to add?
Michael:
The team has grown and it is because of the atmosphere here. We support each other. No mistake is too big or too small. The only important thing is that mistakes must be identified and then we can look at remedial methods. We expect that we will learn from these mistakes as well.
Robert:
The most dangerous thing to do here is to assume. That is dangerous. You cannot think for people. So it is best to walk up to them and ask directly for clarification rather than assume they will do one thing or the other.
up to them and ask directly for clarification rather than assume they will do one thing or the other.