A day in the life
My name is Peta and I joined dandolo as an Operations Manager in March 2023.
Prior to joining dandolo, I worked primarily in operational roles supporting small and large architectural practices in Melbourne. I was excited by the opportunity to join a company like dandolo who is making a real positive impact through their work but also, they are a company who truly lives their values.
dandolo is not an overly process heavy workplace so starting here I had to be mindful on making sure that everything we implemented was fit for purpose and often co designed with the team.
Here's what a typical Monday might look like
7:00am
I have a successful drop off for my two kids at early learning today with little to no tears involved. I jump back in the car, smash a smoothie and enjoy listening to breakfasters on RRR.
8:00am
I arrive at the office early and really appreciate dandolo’s approach to flexible hours as I find I get my best work done before anyone else arrives. I put my coffee cup out for coffee run, open the blinds to let in the beautiful light to our open space and check my Teams and emails.
9:00am
Most people have arrived by now and I get distracted from the multiple hugs and merry discussions about our weekends. I look over at the couches and wonder if it’s too early to sloth out with my laptop before I realise my back would appreciate a few more hours at a standing desk.
10:00am
We have a team meeting every Monday with a rotating chair. Today’s chair is Kerstin and for her diversity spotlight she shares information on the report ‘The Productivity Fast Track: Accelerating growth through better skills recognition’, which was interesting. We take turns sharing our highlights from the last week and then Project Managers provide updates on resourcing.
11:00am
We move straight into our fortnightly Managers and Directors meeting which I chair and take notes. Today was a great session as we were able to reflect on the Neurodiversity for Managers training, we completed the week before and how we would turn those learnings into everyday practice at dandolo. We wrap up early and I use the time to write up notes and actions for next week.
12:00pm
My FAVOURITE time of the day! LUNCH TIME. I work from the office 2 days a week and I LOVE food so will often grab lunch from one of the endless possibilities of restaurants around our office. Today I opt for Curry Bowl which is delicious.
1:00pm
Its weekly ‘chicken time’, which is the weekly WIP meeting for the operations team. We use the 30 mins to talk about priorities for the week and any stretches on our internal capacity. It’s also just a nice to time to get together as a team and debrief on the week that has been.
1:30pm
I am finally out of meetings (for now), and the couches are free so I head on over, kick off my shoes and settle in for a comfy afternoon. We are currently in the process of refreshing our branding and website, which I am project managing, so I use this time to check in on the content development with the team and email our designers Lekker to provide feedback on our new style guide and to workshop delivery timelines.
2:30pm
..still on the couch… we have a new starter joining in a few weeks so I kick off his onboarding planning. This involves checking in with our Associate Director Stacey on who his coach and buddy will be. Once I have this confirmed I work through setting up his induction and training meetings for his first week. I then move onto setting up all of his access to our various systems and tools and finally organising his laptop, iPad and mobile phone.
3:30pm
Being in operations I am regularly getting lots of little requests from the team. I use this last 30 minutes of may day to make sure everything is resolved or assigned to a member of the ops team and then I do a quick run through of my list to make sure everything is captured from the day.
4:00pm
It’s time for me to head home and race to pick the kids up from early learning. Again I really appreciate dandolo's approach to flexible working as it means I get to spend more time with my family.