From Tutor to Project Manager

Viljami Osada, a Master’s student of Service Innovation and Design, has started as a project manager in the 3AMK Digital Wellbeing Sprint. The Digital Wellbeing Sprint, or DWS for shorter, is a Design Sprint that focuses on societal problems concerning healthcare and wellbeing. Viljami was a student tutor in the last year’s sprint, and decided to apply for a project manager this year.

– I wanted more practical experience while trying to transition in my career, as I don’t have a lot of experience with practical service design

Viljami has a background in print publishing and digital media, but he is pursuing a new goal in his career in service design. Digital Wellbeing Sprint is only one example of the great experience that studying in an UAS can give. By selecting courses and projects that allow gathering practical experience students can really get a jumpstart on their career.

– During my studies I’ve had the opportunity to choose other courses and projects that have been invaluable to me in that sense. Intensive courses like the Digital Wellbeing Sprint offer an excellent opportunity to work in multidisciplinary teams with a user-centered approach.

Experience as a tutor

Master’s students can apply to be tutors in the Digital Wellbeing Sprint. Tutors facilitate the groups in their innovation process and so gain practical knowledge of the Sprint process as well as team working skills which are always needed in the work life.

– It was a good experience! I got to meet a lot of interesting people and it was very educational. There was an atmosphere of open communication that helped the team in their tasks. I really enjoyed working with them. I would say that I started out as looking for practical experience and I achieved that in a way that I hadn’t thought of beforehand.

The Digital Wellbeing Sprint uses The Sprint method as its method of learning. The Sprint is created by Jake Knapp during his years in Google, and it was a big success from the start. It has been recognized globally and has been used by thousands of teams in different sized companies. It is an extremely efficient method that brings out a lot of new and fresh ideas while creating better operation methods. Being familiar with the Sprint method might come in handy in the future for any of us, as the work life is continuously modernizing and tools like these are becoming more and more popular.

First steps as a project manager

Viljami started as a project manager in the DWS in January, and the first weeks have been very busy as the course kick-off is coming closer and closer.

– Perhaps unsurprisingly it has been a bit fuzzy in the beginning but I’m sure it will clear up as we go along. I have a feeling that this year’s Sprint will be a good experience for everyone involved. I look forward to getting everyone together at the end of May!

Viljami tells that that he was told already in the last year’s DWS, that one of the tutors could be the project manager for the next year’s Sprint. He decided to apply, because he wanted to continue with the theme of gaining even more practical experience.

– Working as a project manager myself gives me a feeling of respect for the last ones, because it has a lot of work even before the tutors are chosen just to make sure everything goes smoothly

DWS 2023

The Digital Wellbeing Sprint 2023 is held on the end of May, and Master’s students from 3AMK-universities can apply either as tutors or as students. Both roles are credited with 5 ECTS.

– I think which ever method of participation one would choose, it will be beneficial from the perspective of service design. Working with diverse groups of people will always reveal new perspectives and new ideas about things that you might have thought you were quite knowledgeable about before. Wellbeing is also something that is very topical, especially post-covid. I think that a lot of people would find participating in this Sprint very interesting and fruitful!

You can find DWS on Facebook and for more information and enrollment links, visit 3AMK.fi.

Image by Ina Hoekstra from Pixabay.