Valeria Mellone

Project Manager
Mellone

How has your career progressed since joining RIMOND?

“I joined the RIMOND team in 2017, after completing a Master’s degree in BIM from the Polytechnic University of Milan.

Since the day of the interview, RIMOND gave me the impression of being a dynamic company that gave space to young people, and provided many opportunities to follow a wide range of projects across architecture, parametric modelling, BIM and construction.

Over the years, the impression I had during the interview has been confirmed: since joining RIMOND, I’ve had the opportunity to work on national and international projects, assuming increasing tasks and responsibilities.

I began my career with RIMOND by leading a team on a construction site in Dubai that provided technical support through BIM processes, to clash detection (geometric clash and processing sequences), time scheduling and quantities surveys. 

When I moved back to Italy, I was able to manage and coordinate projects ranging from residential, to hospitality and healthcare. I was able to liaise with clients, general contractors, suppliers and authorities.

From BIM coordinator, I became Project Leader and currently I hold the position of Project Manager in the Milan office”.

 

What skills do you need to be good at your job?

 “I think that coordinating a team and managing the contracts requires multiple skills: communication, leadership, technical expertise, being able to identify potential risks and problem solving.

The first skill of a PM is excellent communication: in fact, from project kick-off to stakeholder meetings the Project Manager is constantly communicating with the parties involved.  

It’s very important to know how to approach people, to create meaningful relationships with team members, competences and knowledge of each team member to successfully lead projects to completion. 

Naturally, scheduling and organizing the workload is one of most important tasks of s Project Manager: one of my responsibilities is to assign tasks to team members, provide constructive feedback, set goals, and evaluate individual and team performance.

In addition, having to coordinate multidisciplinary projects (architectural design, structural design, and MEP design), you have to be agile, versatile, and transversal. It’s fundamental to have the technical know-how to move projects toward completion. It is therefore important to be able to “speak the language” of the different specialists to be able to communicate more effectively with the teams and have a better understanding of a project’s inherent risks and potential roadblocks.

Another crucial skill that a PM should have is problem solving. It is essential to be proactive and to remain objective, to analyse the facts, and evaluate the options without bias. This is key in solving complex problems for organizations while delivering results on time and within budget”.