Mikaela shines light on the product team behind revolutioniseSPORT
In recognition of International Women’s Day, we sat down with Mikaela Vaccher to chat about her role in product at SportsGrid and her responsibility to innovate the flagship product, revolutioniseSPORT.
Q: First question Mikaela, what is your role at SportsGrid and is there a quality you love most about it?
Mikaela: In my role as a Senior Product Owner, I work with the product team to embark on product development projects that meet internal, client, and industry needs—all in collaboration with SportsGrid’s support, engineering, and accounts teams. Our team works across the whole product development lifecycle including initial ideation and prototyping, proposals, development, quality assurance, release, and documentation.
Mikaela: One of the things I love most about my work is that it is fast-paced, novel, and creative. Some projects might be highly technical and complex, while others might be more graphic and design-oriented. However, they all require creativity to problem solve and find user-centred solutions.
Mikaela presenting a platform demonstration to interstate clients
Q: Do you have a professional achievement you are particularly proud of?
Mikaela: I am proud of the role I’ve played in continuing to empower our clients to enhance their utilisation of technology, reduce their workload, and implement best practices. With that said it's the individual interactions with clients I’ve had over the years where I can see the impact of our work that is particularly rewarding.
Q: Is there a significant challenge you have had to overcome in the role and what piece of advice helped you navigate those times?
Mikaela: One of the challenges I faced when I first started at SportsGrid many years ago was transitioning from a large company to what was then a start-up. When I joined the team, we had to pioneer everything—which was exciting—but it meant we needed to be very flexible, customisable, and agile to support our clients and the industry's needs. While we’ve grown and become highly resourced since then, I think we’ve managed to retain that flexibility and agility which I’ve now come to appreciate.
Mikaela: I know many women of my generation and earlier have had to learn how to champion themselves in male-dominated industries. So for me, my most valuable learnings have been to take things one step at a time and to always keep your eye on the long-term vision. Especially working in an agile product development environment I’ve come to understand the importance of working towards large endeavours incrementally.
Mikaela at Sport NSW Industry Conference in 2018
Q: What excites you about the future of the company and platform?
Mikaela: I love this question. I would say, the continual growth of our company and seeing what unknown possibilities lie ahead. With that said, we already have a lot of exciting projects in the works that I think are going to have a great impact on how clients and sports in general use technology in their operations. I think sport is a great way to support mental, emotional, social, and physical health. Especially for younger generations who have been heavily influenced by the accessibility of personal devices and social media. I would love to see our platform play a part in getting kids to spend less time indoors on devices and more time outside socialising.
Mikaela: I love working with our team. I feel empowered to be challenged, to grow, and to be part of driving innovation in our workplace, for our clients, and in the broader industry.
If you’re ready to join a vibrant team excited to simplify sport, stay tuned to our socials for upcoming job opportunities.