Interviewee: P3, not really PM
Role: portfolio-manager
Date: —
Interviewer: —
Interview Summary
Portfolio manager role
With only 2.2 FTE, all roles are very much rolled into one at the moment. I’m the director, we have a programme manager, and a caretaker who handles the technical side. There is no separate facilitator or portfolio manager — it’s all combined. we are both a physical location and a network organisation — connecting pupils to companies, arranging company visits, helping students find the right business for a research project. we’re also programme manager. Relationship management is therefore constant. What really helps is honouring commitments, good agenda-setting, following up on action points, and having a fixed meeting structure at director, team leader, and teacher level.
Definition of innovation goal of innovation
No response recorded.
Decision making
In terms of deciding which projects to pursue, we work mainly demand-driven. We don’t see a grant and then think up something for it — it’s the other way around. We hear what’s happening in the region, bring parties together, and then find out where the resources can come from. Sometimes a request comes from a school or an external organisation, but very often we are the driving force ourselves.
Overview of what info
Impact monitoring is mainly informal. After each hackathon we get together with the working group to evaluate. We also send out evaluation forms to pupils and teachers. But there is no tight structure for that yet. Grant objectives do force you to measure certain things — with Tech Kwadraat, for example, we want to bring 75% of pupils into contact with technology — but you can never really establish cause and effect from a single lesson kit. So the targets are always somewhat arbitrary. What we do track carefully are our own KPIs: how many pupils and classes are we receiving? Right now the priority is simply getting schools to find us in this new building. But it is a balancing act between quality and quantity — I would rather have two groups leave here bouncing off the walls than have twenty classes come through and not really get anything out of it.
Monitoring progress
We keep track of progress mainly through our meeting structure — a daily board five times a year, meetings with school directors and team leaders, fixed agendas that also serve as a reminder to check in on things. Grant accountability requirements also force you to monitor carefully. also interim of course. You also just want to know the progress. Or they have a question. we are organising company visits, and other communication varies per person — WhatsApp, Teams, calling, emailing — it can be all sorts of ways, really. We don’t have a fixed system for that with reports or colour codes or anything like that.
Sharing learnings knowledge
Knowledge sharing within the network goes surprisingly well — better than you might expect given that businesses are also each other’s competitors. In the battle for the labour market they’ve realised they really have to do it together. That long-term, responsible entrepreneurship mindset is genuinely characteristic of this region. With the innovation expedition outcomes we did explicitly check whether participants were comfortable sharing — and in general they were very willing.
Communications relations within community
What we are firm about is that everything should be very regional in character — down-to-earth, talk less do more, not too much high-minded language. You need local knowledge and a feel for the culture to pull that off. What’s very characteristic of our region is that 80% of businesses are SMEs. You can’t just send an email and expect it to be picked up. You have to make it as easy as possible, filter carefully who you approach with what, and get ambassadors working for you — people in our network who naturally make the connection.
Systematizing collaboration replicating structural approach
No response recorded.
Role in the innovation process
My own role is very varied. A lot of it is pushing — keeping parties moving, because for both businesses and schools this often feels like an extra job on top of their day-to-day work. Day-to-day building management, communications, PR, onboarding new partners, keeping local councillors and municipal civil servants informed — and that times seven municipalities, each with their own layers of management.
Tooling needs
In terms of tooling, we don’t have a proper CRM yet — just Excel overviews. With only 2.2 FTE, there’s a real vulnerability: if someone drops out, how do you pass on what they know? What we’d ultimately like is a login environment on our Techles website where teachers can download lesson materials but also share their own projects with each other — so that a real community of teachers develops and they start learning from each other. Because we provide the facilities, but we are not teachers ourselves. There are a huge number of follow-up actions involved, and a lot of that could probably be automated with a proper CRM system. We don’t have one, so it’s either in your head or on a list somewhere. The same goes for information management more broadly. Teams has become a jungle — files everywhere, channels nobody can find anymore, and in the end people go back to emailing. Bringing some order to that would benefit everyone. It is on our wish list, but not something we are going to tackle right now.
Time lost
keeping municipal civil servants informed and the network up to date— and that times seven municipalities, each with their own layers of management. I don’t have the illusion that you can keep your entire network continuously well informed, because it’s simply too much. We use a newsletter, LinkedIn, Instagram, personal contacts, the local newspaper — but you’re always operating multi-channel and you can’t reach everyone all the time. What takes disproportionate time is grant administration — tracking hours, co-financing forms, Chamber of Commerce numbers on everything.