Working in France

COO of Webplanner at 23: An interview with Jovia Nierenberg

June 13, 2011

Jovia Nierenberg is Chief Operating Officer at Experience in Software. That’s the company behind the new project management tool Webplanner. She’s only 23. I asked her about her life as a COO, what’s next for Webplanner and her advice for young women wanting to work in project management. Jovia, how did you end up being [...]

Pour le quartorze juillet

July 15, 2007

I’ve been working in London eight weeks now and I’m getting used to the early starts, the over-crowded public transport and the dirt that seems to cling to the inside of my nostrils every day. I occasionally hear French voices in the street, and it makes me more inclined not to let my own language [...]

Working away

March 12, 2007

“Can you be here for 9.30?” “Yes, that’s no problem,” I reply. “With the Eurostar it’s less than three hours.” This is the official line: from leaving the Eurostar terminal at Gare du Nord to arriving at Waterloo International is less than three hours. But who has a meeting at Waterloo station? Once you add [...]

It’s International Women’s Day

March 8, 2007

It’s international women’s day, a moment to reflect on the state of affairs for women around the globe. In my world, an office move has left us pretty badly off: we used to have two toilets between seven women and now we have four toilets between twenty-three. I’ve not had to queue yet but I’m [...]

Transferable (dancing) skills

February 5, 2007

I am a big believer in the value of transferable skills, which is why I find the French education system so hard to understand. Essentially, you need to take business studies and do a business degree to have any hope of getting a decent job in an office. For me, university was (and is – [...]

Projects without borders

October 19, 2006

One of the great things about living overseas is being able to understand another culture. For example, did you know the French don’t understand the British desire to mix orange juice and champagne in the same glass? At work, culture is never more pronounced than when international teams work together on projects. If you’re managing [...]

How not to communicate with customers #3

October 9, 2006

“I came in last week and and you wouldn’t let me collect my debit card,” says the man in front of me in the queue. “You said I had to put money in the account and then I could have the card.” “We sent it to your home in the UK on Friday,” says the [...]

Strikes and scope

March 27, 2006

The office is going into emergency mode at the moment in preparation for crippling strikes tomorrow. We’ve received flyers from the unions, an email from HR about how to get to work despite there being only 37% service on some lines. How the RATP have calculated their service that precisely I’m not sure, but given [...]