AI, Adventure, and Agile: Jussi's Journey at Veracell

Jussi's role in the project is to ensure everything goes as planned, keep everyone involved up-to-date and take care of what nobody else does.

“I enjoy working together with people. Supporting colleagues, creating a safe atmosphere to work in, and maintaining good team spirit are high on my list of priorities. Both team members and clients appreciate my calmness, systematic work approach, and prompt communication.”

Jussi’s journey to becoming a project manager was somewhat a coincidence. A former colleagues tipped him off about an open project management position in user research and design, leading eventually to managing all kinds of web projects. His most recent major project was leading a one year web application project for the Saudi Energy Efficiency Center (SEEC), primarily remotely with a geographically decentralised and culturally diverse team of up to 10 people in Europe, Middle East and Southeast Asia.

“The project was really interesting and taught a lot about many things. A Finnish podcast called Koodarikuiskaaja invited me to share my findings and happily also people not in the web business have enjoyed the episode.”

In addition to leading projects and teams, Jussi is also a certified Scrum Master and Scrum Product Owner. He wants to go deeper into these skills and hopefully someday run ‘by the book’ Scrum, which he hasn’t had the opportunity to due to client or project constraints.

In his free time, Jussi enjoys sports and outdoor activities. Climbing in all its forms takes up time throughout the year, while summer activities include e.g. Finnish baseball, kayaking, and hiking. Winter brings cross-country and downhill skiing, tour skating, floorball, and racket sports. “I’m also interested in culture: theatre, concerts, and museums, but unfortunately there’s not enough time for everything” he laughs.

The connection with Veracell came through Krista, a former colleague. “Veracell needed someone with my skills, so it was easy to join a competent team and an interesting project,” he explains.

Currently working with Veracell through his own consulting company, sirdar.fi, Jussi remains open to opportunities.

“I’m happy to help companies as a consultant, but employment with a company meaningful to me or in a particularly interesting role that supports my development is also a valid option. For example, opportunities related to environment, fact-based communication, health, and well-being interest me, but I could also see myself in a startup.”