Today I would like to introduce my senior colleague, Ryoko Dojo, from the website operations team.
When I first met him, I got the impression that he was a quiet person who didn't say much.
On the other hand, he is also the type of person who has won the Monosus Award for two consecutive years since his days as a rookie, in which employees vote at Monosus at the end of each year to determine the person who has stood out that year.
Dojo (center) smiles as he receives the Newcomer Award at the Monosus Awards.
When I asked her about her career history, I found out that she was a former airport employee and a former detective, two types of work experience that are hard to find. (Recently, she has also written a post making use of her skills as a former detective.)
I would like to introduce this woman who is quiet yet full of hidden power.
Meeting "Dojo-san"
Working at a desk surrounded by photos of cats and postcards
When I first met her, I had no idea what she did for a living.
I'm not a coder, and I'm not a designer.
She seemed to be doing things that were quite different from the typical job of managing a website, like going out with a camera or doing crafts. However, everyone who talked to her seemed to be having fun.
When I asked about the job description at the time, I was told that I was mainly in charge of managing Facebook, planning and creating content. Having just joined the company, I had no idea how that related to a website.
Then one day, she
" Mr. Matsunaga, could you model for the character 'Mikire Ojisan' ?"
I was asked to do so.
"Mikire Ojisan"? What kind of man is he? She said she was a model, but I wondered if a web production company would do something like that, but it seemed interesting, so I accepted her as a character for a Facebook project, and that was my first job with her.
To take funny photos with her, we went to various places, including Shonan and the haunted tunnel in Ome. One that I remember most vividly was when we took photos at Shibuya Scramble Crossing right after the end of Japan's match at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. People passing by the intersection were shouting and high-fiving each other, and even though I was being pushed around, I somehow managed to take the photo I was aiming for. At that moment, I really felt her passion to create something good.
Dojo as a team leader
The dojo (center) where members check the progress of their projects.
After that, we didn't work together on many projects for a while, but one day, Dojo was assigned to the team where he was the team leader.
When we first joined the team, she was mainly the director and wire producer, and I was the coder and director, and she managed my schedule.
At the time, as a coder, I was submitting the man-hours required for coding, but there were several times when her estimated man-hours did not match my estimates, and we would argue, "We can't do it with the man-hours that Dojo has given us." Even in those times, instead of giving up and saying we couldn't do it because we didn't have enough time, she would work with me to think of other ways to do it, and we were able to actually get it done.
About two months after she joined the team, we started working on a project as director and I as coder.
This project had very complicated specifications, but the schedule was tight and the manuscript that had to be turned into a web page was constantly being added, so at the time of delivery we had to check all the specifications that had been added along the way.
Therefore, as the delivery date approached, she, as the director, would often spend almost the entire day checking the work, and I, as the coder, would have to deal with any missed corrections that came up.
Sometimes the work went on into the night, but seeing her steadily continuing to carry out long hours of checking work at the same pace and with the same quality, I was impressed by her motivation and strong sense of responsibility.
The coder (left, me) and Dojo (right) discussing the details of the project in advance.
During the busy season last year, a client pointed out something to me about the project.
At that time, she held a retrospective meeting that lasted a total of six hours over two days.
We looked at each mistake one by one, such as the director's poor communication or the coder's incorrect understanding of the specifications, and analyzed the cause of each.
Thanks to her perseverance in finding the cause, we were able to take measures to prevent the same mistake from happening again.
By continuing to hold these kinds of retrospective meetings every time a project was completed, we were able to improve the accuracy of our work flow, develop work templates, and reduce the number of mistakes that were pointed out.
I believe that thanks to her efforts, we have gained the trust of our customers.
Involving employees in club activities and company trips
Climbing club at the summit of Mt. Tonodake in Hadano, Tanzawa. The dojo is the second from the right.
Monosus has several activities that its members have started voluntarily.
Among these, she also serves as the captain of the mountain climbing club and the karaoke club.
When we asked each member of the dojo how each club was established, they told us that they quietly and enthusiastically asked any employees who happened to be there, regardless of their department, "Do you want to come?" and gradually expanded the number of participants.
It's a mystery as to why everyone follows her around, but perhaps it's her gentle manner when speaking to people and her consideration for others.
Although he is quiet, he treats people with a warm heart, and I imagine that his ability to observe others and have empathy for them is also due to the deductive skills he developed during his time as a detective.
She was also appointed to the company trip committee last year (2015), and turned her long-held desire to go to a deserted island into a company trip plan. (See " Thinking about company trips and "DIY with a ruler "").
In reality, due to weather conditions, we ended up going to Zamami Island instead of the uninhabited island of Amuro, but we still managed to make the company trip a reality by camping on an island.
Dojo (left) making a phone call to arrange camping
From an outsider's perspective, it must have seemed difficult to push the plan forward given the mixed reactions to the deserted island camping plan, but I was impressed by how casually she said, "It's sure to be fun if we all camped on an island together."
I believe it was her strong desire that allowed her to get the members involved and make what may have seemed like a reckless plan a reality.
I will recommend the project today as well.
Even though she is quiet, she notices people gathering around her.
I think that's because the strong desire to do something interesting spreads to the people around you.
I'm sure he will continue to involve his team in creating interesting web content that I would never think of, and coming up with unusual projects outside of work as well.
She will do whatever she says she will do.
Even if something seems reckless, we don't try to overcome it all at once, but rather move forward by solving each problem one by one.
I expect that he will continue to seek out new work and lead the team with his ability to steadily move projects forward without succumbing to pressure.
MATSUNAGA Satoru