Week 1 – The first getting to know you

On my first day, I was first greeted by my Business Unit Lead and introduced to the colleagues present in the Munich office, as well as given a tour of the premises. As digatus takes the Covid-19 regulations very seriously, only a small part of the team was present and they explained to me how the digital check-in and check-out for an office stay works. Next, I set up and connected my workstation, i.e. notebook, at one of the flexible workstations. The IT service desk was always on hand to help me with any questions.
After this was resolved, the employee spotlight was next. In these short videos, new employees briefly introduce themselves to the digatus team on the intranet, as unfortunately you cannot get to know each other personally at the moment. After a few attempts, the interview was in the can and could be further processed and distributed via the marketing team.

“Starting a new job is very exciting, as you get to know many new people and familiarize yourself with different projects.”

Kreshnik Arifi

Before getting down to the actual project work, I first familiarized myself with the processes and procedures at digatus. This is done by reading the onboarding guide and completing the tasks described there, such as creating the e-mail signature. In addition, a personal “buddy” is available in the first few weeks especially for newcomers, who – in addition to the personal supervisor – is available to help and advise. Afterwards, I started to familiarize myself with the daily project routine with the invitation to my first project meeting.
On the third day, a change of location was on the agenda, because I visited the location in Fürth. Arriving at the office, I got to know the local members of the project team and in the evening there was a small Mario Kart session in one of the conference rooms (of course, all Covid-19 guidelines were observed, distance was always maintained and masks were also worn).

Week 2 – The start of project work

Now the number of appointments increased and the tasks became more. I received access to the data room in an M&A project and was able to view all the information collected and thus support my colleagues in the first project. Translating and editing presentations, revising calculations and logging meetings were now the order of the day.
I also took part in my first virtual digatus Morning Show. Here, a morning Microsoft Teams room is available to all interested colleagues, which can be used to bridge the distance in the home office and maintain contact. The session was surprisingly interesting, as it wasn’t really about the work at digatus. A colleague talked about his experiences in boxing, how this business works and what you have to do for it.
At the end of the second week, I took part in the virtual offsite of my Business Unit IT M&A. This was an opportunity for the project managers to place their thoughts and wishes and to communicate what they imagine and what can be done better. Quasi a joint brainstorming to improve and simplify the work and the associated processes.

Week 3 – Arrived in the daily project routine

In my third week, I increasingly took part in my first IT due diligences. I supported my colleagues, informed myself about market prices for IT services and software products, and adapted tables and presentations. At the end of the week, we received a second project, which I joined. Now I could experience how it starts from the beginning. In the first meeting with the customer, we received the most important information and learned what the project was about and what timeline was planned. Building on this, I supported the creation of the questionnaire for the IT due diligence. We then discussed this with the customer and made it available to the seller (= seller of the target company).
On the same day, I got to know another colleague via a video call in order to support him in his internal project to optimize presentation templates in the future.

Week 4 – One exciting project follows the next

The first project was already very advanced at this point. The first expert calls had already been held and we were getting closer to the end of the IT due diligence and the start of the Transitional Service Agreement (TSA). In the meantime, another colleague had contacted me, who also needed support in his project. Of course, I gladly took this opportunity to further develop my skills in IT due diligence.

The daily work routine after 4 months

Some time has now passed and I am already in my fourth month at digatus. My current project is really picking up speed. For me, this means, among other things, supporting the team through data room analyses, creating reporting slides and cost estimates. I have also created a budget controller for a project in order to record all costs and thus have a good overview at all times. Furthermore, I have created the action list for the individual workstreams in our central project management tool, the status of which is updated weekly by the various team members.
Now we come to the end of my contribution. The first weeks and months were quite varied and characterized by many small and large challenges as well as new insights and personal learnings. By working on several projects at the same time, I was able to gain a lot of valuable experience in general project management as well as specifically in the area of IT due diligence. I am already very excited about what awaits me in the future!