On March 1, 2022, Gergana joined the SUSI&James team as a project manager. Thanks to her background in research, she is well-equipped to assess both client needs and process workflows in research-oriented projects. Given her enthusiasm for innovative topics, Gergana quickly found her place in our team.
“For me, SUSI&James means exciting projects with smart voice interaction and a great team.”
Gergana is a cheerful yet thoughtful person. In her daily life, she focuses on issues like sustainability and the environment by choosing plastic-free and natural products, ensuring her clothing is ethically produced, and so on. Gergana enjoys spending time with her family and tending to her insect-friendly garden. As an avid rock and jazz fan, Gergana occasionally attends concerts by her favorite artists. She also enjoys game nights and karaoke evenings with friends and likes to take on creative projects, such as refurbishing lamps and designing flyers and video invitations.
Our project manager is from Bulgaria. She came to Germany at the age of 20 and speaks three languages—German, English, and Bulgarian—on a daily basis with her family. Since all of her relatives live abroad, she is a very independent person. Gergana studied computer visual arts and wrote her thesis on virtual worlds and intercultural competence.
Her doctoral thesis is currently in its final stages and focuses on augmented reality technologies for use in education and nature. Even before joining SUSI&James, Gergana was responsible for coordinating innovative software projects, designing websites, and sharing knowledge, which consistently provided her with opportunities for professional growth. Gergana subsequently applied to SUSI&James for the position of project manager.
As a project manager, Gergana is always in contact with clients. She identifies their product requirements during client meetings and then prepares quotes for them.
“It’s important to me to work on interesting and innovative projects, take on personal responsibility, and help drive SUSI&James forward. And when our clients are satisfied and the team’s work is recognized, we’ve really achieved a lot.”
Once the project is finalized, Gergana is responsible for planning and organizing development sprints. She discusses the necessary tasks with the developers and coordinates their work. Since Gergana has a knack for organization, this task comes easily to her. She also models use cases and writes user stories to help the development team implement the client’s requirements.
In addition, Gergana creates presentations for her client meetings to keep clients up to date. She draws on her open and communicative nature during these discussions. This also makes it easy for Gergana to speak openly with the team when difficulties arise during project implementation and to work together on improvements. To avoid such issues as much as possible, Gergana conducts extensive testing and pays very close attention to product quality.
“So far, I’ve found all the projects I’ve worked on to be very interesting. In one project, our digital assistant SUSI speaks English and is being used internationally during driver testing. Another project has a stronger research focus, and that’s the one I’m particularly passionate about. I also get to suggest my own ideas and contribute to the process.”
We’d like to thank Gergana for the interview and are thrilled to have her on the team!
