Everyone in ICT works together

Jarno Veltrop, system engineer and scrum master

"In the last few years I have seen APG change from a club where IT staff were virtually hidden behind four computer screens to a human, energetic, customer-oriented ICT organization with specific projects. Well before coronavirus, we had an ICT home working plan in place and ready to be tested.

Leaving aside the distress caused by coronavirus, the lockdown was something of a ‘gift’ for us. While everyone was panicking, we got our chance to shine. Working from home on a large scale is great for ICT and for our carbon footprint. We deployed amazing tools for online collaboration, communication and training. Working (together) wherever you want is now possible – at home, in McDonalds, on the train or from any APG office in the world.

The lockdown was the first major ICT calamity in my 22-year career at APG. As long as the customer doesn’t notice anything, there’s nothing going on in his eyes, while behind the scenes all kinds of things are happening: keeping the machines running, making things more user-friendly, innovating and using Teams. Working from home and teleconferencing became the new normal virtually overnight. We added tools to our Teams software, such as whiteboards that allow participants to sketch things out together, plus channels and chat rooms to enable teams to communicate.

Everyone at ICT – young, old, experienced, inexperienced – works together and shares knowledge in order to arrive at stable, creative and safe solutions. All of us are focused on adding value for the business. Some of our ‘tech geeks’ are less accustomed to presenting what they do.  As scrum master I teach them to stand out from the others. They are given the opportunity to shine and say what they have come up with, or what they have avoided. I act as a mirror (this is the result of your behavior ...) and I coach them to look more widely and further than their own computer screens. It’s a continuous learning process. Day in and day out, we have to adapt. From costs to coronavirus, from stock market movements to the new pension agreement. Working in and conforming to an ever-changing world, that’s what I like best about working in ICT."

#doyouseeyourfuturewithAPG