About Marko Pyhajarvi
Welcome to MarkoPyhajarvi.Com – a blog that helps project managers to succeed in their projects.
My name is Marko Pyhajarvi and I am a professional project manager. I have managed software and process development projects since 2005. Almost all my projects have been international with multicultural teams. I have both failed and succeeded with my projects, which has taught me a thing or another in project management. In this blog I share my experiences and knowledge in project management.
From software development to team leading
I have studied computer science in Helsinki University, Finland. I currently hold Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, and I am finishing my Master’s degree in computer science this year. I have +10 years of experience in software development, and +7 years of experience in team leading and project management.
I have worked as a software developer for companies such as Ericsson, and I am mostly familiar with Java and architecture development. After few years of development I found myself leading a software development team. I noticed that I feel most comfortable when leading or coaching development teams, so I decided to focus on leadership positions in my career.
Giant leap to the eye of the storm
2005 I was asked to lead a quality assurance team in Switzerland. I moved to Basel and joined Metso Endress+Hauser Technology AG, which was a subsidiary of the two corporations. Soon I was appointed to project management position in which my responsibility was to lead a software development team creating an industrial condition monitoring system. I found myself in the eye of the storm. As a beginner in project management I had lots of troubles, but thanks to my mentor, I learned the basics and we managed to release the product.
Between 2005 and 2007 I managed a multicultural team distributed into several countries. I was faced with classic challenges of a software development project, such as unclear requirements, unrealistic time schedule, context switching, management disagreements, etc. It was very turbulent ride, but I am happy I took the position, because it has taught me the basics of multicultural project management in a challenging environment.
Becoming a professional project manager
After my years in Switzerland I have continued managing multicultural projects in Finland. Although my first projects were big time learning experiences, during the last few years I have studied several different project management frameworks including PMI, PMMI as well as iterative and agile methods, such as Scrum and XP. I have mirrored my experiences to literature and various studies, and I have created my own understanding of how projects should be managed in order to meet goals within the given boundaries.
Currently I am leading one rather large software development project to an American customer. My team is divided between Helsinki (FIN) and Boulder (CO), and I report to program manager sitting in United States.
Towards bigger challenges
Future is always interesting. I am looking forward to gain experiences from even bigger projects in order to step into bigger boots. Challenge is my passion.
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