Huỳnh Bá Thanh Phong: Project Manager of the “Creative Studio” era

Sun* is the most important landmark in becoming a PM

Before becoming a PM in Sun*, Huỳnh Bá Thanh Phong is a telecom engineer, coding firmware for a Japanese company with 5 years of experience. According to Phong, he "mainly worked independently with only little teamwork, and he managed his own tasks." For him, the conservative box confined himself, and he felt a need for change. When Sun (Framgia at the time) posted a recruitment notice for a BrSE position, it felt like "destiny". 

From an independent position to a bridging position that is dominantly managerial, it was a great challenge to Huỳnh Bá Thanh Phong of that time. Instead of focusing on codes, Mr. Phong had to deal more with tasks like confirming spec, checking task progress, dealing with technical issues, reporting daily effort, monitoring product orientation.

“PM is not just about understanding internal work to discuss with the client, but also dealing with cropped up problems from members and teams. I had to do a lot of learning by myself on work and human managament.”, Mr. Phong said.

Looking back at his first project with Sun*, Mr. Phong said: “It was a complex project, I was torn between client, client's partner and the team. There was no delay in deadlines, but the cooperation was not in sync. I struggled a lot with project acceleration. Up till now, I still thought of it again and wondered how to improve that situation”.

As he was talking, I can still see him frowning in contemplation. A project from 3 years ago that still left him wonder must be a memorable lessons. Retrospecting and learning from experiences are the reasons why he was such a prestigious PM.

Each project is a work of my own

“Attitude defines how we act,” Phong shared about his work motto, “if you work with an attitude of an employee, you can never make a top-quality product. It is simply because you will never focus it all into it. I can never be pleased with things like that. It is my product, that is what I think whenever I work with clients.”

With the mindset of “creating our own product” instead of “being hired by client to make the product”, Mr. Phong is always deep in thoughts on how to accelerate progress with suitable consultation to improve the products instead of only follow the client's requirements. 

“Khi đưa gợi ý cho khách hàng cũng phải có cách để thuyết phục họ nhé! Ví dụ khi member đưa ra ý tưởng rất hay, không có nghĩa là PM sẽ gửi thẳng cho khách hàng. Vai trò của PM là phân tích xem có khả thi không, nếu có thì tốn bao nhiêu effort, nên thực hiện vào phase nào. Nói chung, suggestion phải là plan hoàn chỉnh chứ không chỉ là một gợi ý. Như vậy, khách hàng mới thấy hợp lý chứ, đúng không?” anh Phong hỏi lại tôi, như thể đây là buổi training về kỹ năng làm việc cho member chứ không phải một cuộc phỏng vấn - đúng phong cách cởi mở bấy lâu nay như anh đã từng.

Future goal is human management

After 3 years with Sun*, up till now, Huỳnh Bá Thanh Phong feels that he needs to 'up his game': "Human management is my orientation in the future. I believe that it will be challenging, because each people has their own personality, capability and future goal. The question is how to harmonize them all for smooth sailing.”

This PM's opinion in human management is liberation, and a leader must be in the members' shoes to understand them. "This is my member, not people who are arranged into a team by the company. For that reason, we must show them respect and sincerity”.

In order to be a "people" manager, Mr. Phong admitted that he had lots to learn. With his current mindset, this jolly PM will without a doubt reach out to his wish by being professional with clear goals and non-stop learning.