Meet Ben Doyle, Delivery Manager at MV

So, why MV?

Having worked previously on internal IT projects for a large retail and commercial bank with a mutual ethos, the excitement of joining a company with a similar ethos within the FinTech sector was a big pull. What was also attractive was the opportunity to manage not only internal projects but also client facing external implementation projects as well, allowing me to work directly with client project teams. I joined MV at what was, and continues to be, an exciting time and the company has undergone a significant amount of change since my first day back in February 2019.

Moving from a large corporate environment to a smaller, more intimate company has given me the opportunity to understand all areas of the business, build strong working relationships across the entire organisation and add value. I feel there is a great opportunity to develop my project management career with a growing company who are not only willing to support but actively encouraging personal development.

What do you enjoy about working at MV?

MV have such an exciting strategy delivering a digital platform and ecosystem for the sector and becoming a digital technology partner for our clients. Being a part of that journey and making a positive contribution towards reaching our destination gives me a lot of satisfaction. We have such a great team here and working with colleagues that not only care about the success of MV, but importantly the success of our clients is really refreshing. There seems to be a great fit between us and our clients as we have an alignment of objectives and values which means we get to build really solid relationships. Above and beyond appears to be the norm around here and the 1MV culture means there is a real sense of us all working towards our digital mutual common goal.

The way MV is structured provides a great deal of variety, not only of different projects but different project teams. Each project is different and as a result no two days are the same for me. Managing multiple projects provides the opportunity to engage with different project team members each day to tackle different challenges.

We are fortunate to have a strong leadership team that are not only approachable but also engaging and empowering. The structure of our Leadership Team provides different perspective, insights, experience and thinking style, which in my opinion is invaluable.

What’s the best thing you have worked on at MV?

Even from early on there has always been an emphasis on empowering staff with real responsibility and within a month I took on the management of an inflight product development and implementation project. I was really pleased to get the opportunity straightaway to showcase, not only my project management skillset, but also my commercial awareness. I took the product forward with a second client and managed the entire engagement through from the initial proposal to delivery receiving positive feedback both internally and externally which was really rewarding.

I’m really pleased with the changes implemented to the Delivery Team’s processes to ensure better governance and collaboration to name a couple of benefits. One externally facing process I believe we’ve taken forward is the Master Release process and in particular the client facing communication approach. Through collaboration with the MV Product and Support Team, we implemented a Master Release communication approach that now provides detailed Release Notes, Incident Lists, Delivery Plans, UAT Execution Reports and Product Sheets for new functionality all in advance of a release becoming available to clients, which enables then to plan and make more informed decisions.

And, on a personal note, I was pleased to achieve the Prince2 Practitioner Certification and be given the opportunity to implement my learnings.

What keeps you happy outside of work?

I have an 18 month old son called Oscar who keeps my wife and I busy. He is particularly keen on ducks and horses currently, which means regular visits to the local pond and farm. The time spent at the pond and farm would previously have been spent on the golf course and his arrival has certainly had an impact on my golf handicap but I look forward to teaching him once he’s old enough. I think it’s fair to say I’m competitive and that’s probably the source of my passion for sport, both playing and watching. Playing, mainly football and golf but also squash through the winter.

Prior to the arrival of Oscar I enjoyed traveling and experiencing the different cultures of countries and their cities. It started with two years traveling around Australia after finishing University, a degree in Accountancy will do that to you. If I get the chance these days, I love to read. I have quite an eclectic taste so my choice of books is quite varied and includes classics, action and adventure, satire and autobiographies. I’ve just finished reading Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed, which focuses on the importance of cognitive diversity.