Team Highlights

Introducing – Sarah Vaughan, Head of Production

We are delighted to welcome Sarah Vaughan into the Filter family. Here we get an insight into her role, her experience and all things project management.

Describe your role in no more than 100 words

My role is to make sure all of the pieces of the jigsaw fit together so that we deliver quality projects on time and to scope and budget. I work with clients to understand their roadmaps and then with the team to plan, design, build, test and release projects to meet those objectives. Day-to-day I create plans, manage priorities, dependencies, risks and issues and ensure the relevant governance and controls are in place. I also have a close relationship with our clients making sure they are up to date with progress.

What’s your working background?

I started out working in Payroll before being seconded to a role in IT as a Business Analyst on a Payroll system re-platform. From there I stayed in IT and progressed into Project & Programme Management where I have spent the last decade working on digital transformation programmes for some industry leading retail, hospitality and travel companies. My role with Filter is my first agency role, so I am excited to be working on the other side for a change.

Describe a successful project you have worked on

The project I am most proud of is the re-platform and re-launch of a client’s corporate website. They had very little digital expertise and trusted me and my team to select and implement the new platform. We had a small project team that all worked brilliantly together and helped each other out when needed.

What’s the most challenging project you have managed?

In a previous role I worked on a very complex digital integration programme involving multiple systems. My workstream alone involved managing nine sprint teams who were based in three countries all with inter-dependencies. It took a lot of coaching to get the teams onboard with a structured approach to delivery, but in the end, we got there, and the programme went live.

What project management methods do you use?

I am qualified in PRINCE2 and in the past have delivered projects using waterfall, agile and a combination of the two. My preference is the hybrid approach where we can pick and choose from both styles to suit the needs of the project.

What are your favourite project management tools to work with?

I like tools that are collaborative with great visual dashboards and workflow built in. Asana is my current go to, but I also like Trello and Jira, plus you can’t beat a good Excel spreadsheet for a plan on a page.

The team at Filter work from home. How do you manage your projects and communicate across the wider project team?

Through a combination of making sure the team are keeping the online tools up to date, so I always have the latest status, regular communication with daily stand-ups, video calls and slack conversations. I also like to have at least weekly checkpoints in place with each client.