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Challenges everywhere you look: As a project manager, you're used to this kind of outlook - but this year could have been a little quieter. 2022 showed our customers - and ourselves - that nothing beats good, flexible planning and prioritization.
An interview with our CEO
Delivery bottlenecks, corona aftershocks, inflationary prime costs, staff shortages ... The list of sometimes predictable, often surprising events is long. And the demands on project management are high. At Can Do, we see it as our job to help you and your project management navigate difficult waters in the best possible way with our software. Now, at the end of a year full of challenges, we want to look back at the extent to which we succeeded. So the editors of this blog asked Can Do co-founder and CEO Thomas Schlereth how he sees 2022. You can also find out what he and Can Do are up to in 2023.
Thomas, what will you remember from this year?
First and foremost, that you can't foresee everything by a long shot - but you can prepare for almost everything. And you have to be. And also that every crisis situation is also an opportunity.
You seem to be fascinated by this topic even beyond Can Do. Can you really plan everything? And can everything be a project?
I wouldn't say that absolutely. But in fact, many companies could prepare better for imponderables and act more quickly in the face of changing conditions if they didn't just refer to their goals as "projects". But would also handle them in this way.
Can you give an example of this?
There are no surprises in that sense. Actually, everything is predictable, but only with a certain probability. Focus plays an important role here.
And how does that look at Can Do itself?
Even for us, not all projects go as planned. But if the simulations show that a project is getting out of hand, I can see very clearly what the consequences are. I can immediately simulate countermeasures and quickly decide, for example, that we interrupt an internal project in favor of a customer project. It's all a question of priorities!
At the management level, we very heavily work with milestones, which ultimately represent goals. Projects have intermediate milestones that must be measurable and never more than 4 weeks apart per project. This way, we always know which goals we want to achieve this month.
Reacting flexibly to changes without losing sight of the big picture: Do you have a practical example of this type of project and planning strategy?
Sure: We have made it our goal to win companies or industries as customers for Can Do that can particularly benefit from the advantages of our PM software. So we conducted a detailed analysis of the economic environment in general and the potential of Germany as a business location in particular. With the result that the industry of power generation and distribution is a target group on which we also want to focus. It is interesting to note that we drew this conclusion even before the war-related energy crisis. In the meantime, the need for robust project management in the energy industry is - unfortunately - more apparent than ever.
What else? What is there to say about Can Do's technical development and commercial direction in 2022?
This year, we made the entire system significantly more robust and faster. Our customers deployed the system more broadly and more extensively. We have customers with over 30,000 projects, so speed is extremely important. We are also making it easier and easier for key users who want to customize the system in the cloud to be able to do this themselves in convenient apps. Economically, we grew by more than 40% this year. As a result, we have of course had to adapt some processes and have also entered into collaborations with industry specialists. For 2023, we are now well prepared to handle the same growth - then internationally - with high quality and reliability.
So much for the development of Can Do. Let's move on to you: What was a highlight of the year for you personally, as co-founder and head of development?
From a business perspective, the clear acceptance in the market for our ramp-up concept, i.e. not to theoretically define a large installation forever in specifications and then implement it in a big bang, but to gradually roll out the system in an agile manner with a small group. This approach has led to us winning more new customers this year than in any other year. Technologically, we've seen this year that our cloud solution working with AWS is incredibly fast, stable and secure.
Hand on heart: looking back, what would you do differently?
I'm always happy when 51% of my decisions are right. That means 49% we should have done differently. Since there are many decisions, the list would go beyond the scope of this interview.
Looking back is inevitably followed by looking forward: What can you tell us about Can Do's plans for the next year?
In the area of public relations, we are changing the content we put out. No more advertising messages, but texts and videos that interest readers and really help them in their daily work, whether they use our product or not.
In development, we are working on some innovations also in the field of AI. Since we can't be sure beforehand whether such things will work, I can't reveal anything here. However, we will always implement requirements that we receive from our customer companies if they are useful for many users. We produce standard software, and we want to keep it that way.
Do you have a message for the readers at the turn of the year?
The transformation to an energy supply without fossil fuels and the digital transformation of the economy and society are the global tasks of the next few years. Both paths run together and are an opportunity instead of a danger. I am very happy to walk this exciting path with so many others.
Thank you, Thomas, for these insights!
Merry Christmas!
Thomas Schlereth and the entire Can Do team wish you a harmonious, peaceful end to the year. Enjoy the holidays in the circle of your loved ones and enter with a lot of momentum into a healthy, successful new year!
