It’s hard to describe what a typical day at Nava is like because no two days are ever the same. Every day brings new projects, challenges, and opportunities. So we’re sharing a glimpse of what work is like for different people at Nava. Here’s what Michelle Garfinkel, a project manager, has been up to lately.
On a typical day at Nava
As a project manager, I’m responsible for keeping the team on track. A lot of my day-to-day work entails preparing for meetings with my team or government partners and responding to any action items. In addition to meetings, I prepare regular reports, enforce agile processes, and delegate any additional work needed by the team or government partners.
Nava practices agile development, which means we break our work into two-week sprints. I move the team through sprint planning at the beginning of each sprint, oversee tickets on Jira — our work management system — and help my team members with any road blocks. Agile processes can be challenging to implement consistently over time. A big part of my job is ensuring the team understands the process and is adhering to the standards we set together.
In addition to team management, I think of my role as a key source of clarity for the team and our government partners. For our partners, I need to be able to communicate, in plain language, project updates and answer any questions they may have. For the team, I explain if our government partner’s expectations change and how it impacts the team’s work. I have to be able to empathize with our stakeholders and team members to convey information in a way that is relevant to each person.
On embodying Nava’s values as a leader
As a leader, I really like Nava’s value of impact over ideology, which has to do with building long-term momentum. As projects scale over months or years, I want to ensure that everything is documented rather than living in people’s brains. Because people at Nava work in different time zones and we have project turnover, documentation helps everyone find the information they need, when they need it.
Every project manager has different styles, but I really lean into structure and clarity in my teams. These elements provide mental stability for myself and my team members.
On building a sustainable team
Building sustainable team operations is something I think about constantly as a project manager. When I’m starting with a new team, I first want to build trust between myself and the team members. This means having one-on-one meetings to get to know my team and their working styles before I start delegating tasks. I also want my team to understand the why behind every ask so they don’t feel like it's adding administrative burden.
Another key thing I do is leverage workflows and team processes that other project managers have already had success with. Engineers and designers might switch teams within a contract, so it can be helpful for teams to have similar operations. I am very fortunate that we have great project managers at Nava to work with and learn from.
On building relationships with government partners
My main method for building stakeholder trust is clarity and transparency. For example, providing an easy-to-understand report each sprint period to our government partners on work that’s been completed and what still needs more time ensures all partners are aligned. I’m honest when I don’t know something but tell the stakeholders I will find the answer, which I’ve found builds a lot of trust with government partners.
When explaining work to our partners, I always try to use plain language. To accomplish this, I spend a lot of time with my engineers asking them to explain (and re-explain) updates to me without jargon. Lastly, I like to use analogies to help explain complex concepts.
On life outside of Nava
Outside of work, I’m an artist working on various painting and drawing methods. My work focuses on the experience of remembering, forgetting, and that feeling of trying to remember something — like amnesia or dreams. It provides a lot of counterbalance to my project manager life, which is based on truths and objective metrics.
