Project Management Journey at Borda
My adventure with Borda started in 2016 when I joined Borda as a Project Management Office (PMO) intern. At Borda, what impressed me most was Borda’s focus on healthcare and mission to improve the quality of healthcare services and make hospitals more operationally efficient by bringing operational awareness and insights through actionable IoT data. PMO plays an important role in achieving this mission. That’s why after I graduated from my university in July 2017, I decided to continue my professional life in Borda (which is still ongoing) as a full-time Project Management specialist.
When I started as a Project Management specialist, I learned how a project should be managed in the light of standards in a short time with the guidance of my team. In my first project, I learned to read the dynamics of the project. I also realized the impact and importance of stakeholder analysis on the success of the project. Then, I undertook a project when I had not completed my one year in the sector yet, and I had my first meetings with the hospital managers during this process and learned the job by taking responsibility and not being afraid of making mistakes. That was a great opportunity for me. Borda always presents such opportunities to young people at the beginning of their professional life and allows them to learn by taking the initiative. After working as a project management specialist for 2,5 years, I was promoted to project manager.
During these 5 years, I gained new knowledge and experience every day, and I continue to win. In this process, I had the opportunity to experience different project management methods in many projects I took part in. I have not had repetitive experiences in any of the projects; each project means new solutions and new experiences for me.
The role of PMO at Borda
The PMO’s role begins after the sales contract is signed. Project teams are formed for each hospital project. For each hospital project, project teams do the project initiation process with the customer, then they proceed to the planning stage and complete this process by planning in many areas such as the scope, stakeholder analysis, communication methods with the stakeholders, as well as planning the tasks to be done with their due dates. After these, the implementation process is started. In this process, firstly, hardware and software installations are completed, and then tests are performed. When all product tests are done, the project acceptance stage is started with the customer. If all the conditions are met, acceptance is completed. Then, trainings are organized for the end-users, and they are informed how the system should be used. After the training, users are observed for a while, supported when necessary, and received feedback. After the whole process is completed, the project goes to the closing stage, all documents related to the project are archived, closing reports are prepared, and the project is transferred to the Borda Customer Success department for the transition to operation.
As the PMO team, we manage internal projects as well as domestic and international customer projects. The projects we manage within the company are mostly about developing new products. In addition, we can manage projects to create new internal processes. For these 2 types of projects, I would like to talk about the projects that I have experienced briefly.
Project examples
The Ankara City Hospital project was the largest domestic project I have undertaken. This project’s scope included making operation room process measurements and increasing efficiency, instant and real-time tracking of fixed assets and ensuring their safety, and keeping the inventory up to date with regular counting. To implement these products, we used the 5-stage traditional project management technique recommended by PMI. We usually use the same method as this technique is suitable for most customer (external) projects. Besides, in the planning phase, we have a project schedule template that includes all the steps and can be narrowed down to the project’s scope and prepared by years of experience. As I mentioned at the beginning of my article, we completed the project by following initiation, planning, implementation, control & monitoring, and closing stages.
The first internal project I did was to establish an online education system. We realized this project to collect detailed explanations of our products used in hospitals and training explaining how they are used in a single online platform. We started the planning phase of this project from scratch. After analyzing all the activities in the project in detail and a long and high-quality planning phase we moved on to the implementation phase of the project. In the implementation phase of the project, which lasted about one year, we set up a training flow for the products we determined and performed tasks such as shooting professional videos, making voiceovers, and preparing written materials. We created standards guides for all of these, and we wanted new content to be created to follow the same standards after the project. We celebrated the project’s closing with a presentation and a great party 😊
To date, we have worked to increase the quality of healthcare services in a total of 20.000-bed capacity and a 50.000.000 m2 area at home and abroad.
Our Team ❤
We work as a family rather than a team. Of course, there were moments when I struggled throughout my entire working time. I encountered such projects that I got up with the support of my team just as I was about to fall, and we have accomplished good things together and continue to do so. Project management is a team job, and we give full credit to the definition of the team at PMO.
I am pleased to be a member of Borda and the PMO family. I wake up with excitement to every new workday as I am a partner in Borda’s exciting journey and contribute to the steps it takes to realize its mission.
If you would like to join our journey:
