Tome Pajkovski comes from Skopje, Macedonia, and he is co-owner and Project Manager of Devvironment, a WordPress Agency.
It gives me great pleasure to warmly welcome you to WordCamp Zagreb at the beginning of September. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am 28 years old geek. I love exploring and pushing my limits. I found WordPress 2 years ago and I have been working with it ever since. I love the open source spirit, giving back to the community. I am one of the proud founders of the meetup group in Skopje. Outside of WP, I like snowboarding, hiking, Stephen King and Game of Thrones.
From your short bio, it seems like you have a quite entrepreneurial spirit. As a Project Manager in Devvironment, your WordPress Agency, and speaking from experience, what personality traits and skills are needed to be a successful project manager?
Clear communication, accountability, and honesty are the traits I feel are the key to being successful project manager. You have to understand what the client wants to achieve and work with him on designing the best solution to suit his goals. Your added value is experience, and that is one reason why they have hired you in the first place. Of course, in this line of work, trust means a lot, so you have to work hard to always keep your word, and be accountable for your entire team. Honesty, for me, is one of the key ingredients of having a successful rapport with the client; no matter what happens, keep the client in the loop, and if something goes wrong, inform them right away. There is nothing worse than not knowing.
What’s the status of the WordPress community in Macedonia, are there active WordPress meetups and are you planning to host a WordCamp sometime in the future?
Yes, there is an active WordPress meetup in Skopje, and we are working on increasing the participation and build support of hosting the first WordCamp in Macedonia.
How much time it takes to forge a lasting relationship with the client, and how having a strong value proposition can help with this effort?
With some clients, you can click right away, but with some, it will take a long time. For me, the secret sauce is actually caring for your client’s business, keeping tabs on the progress, and helping them improve and prosper, while also, constantly keeping them in a loop. Adding extra value to their business by sharing interesting articles that may help them improve, suggesting improvements and best practices, and actually trying to measure the changes that are made, will make you indispensable.
Did you get your ticket?
If you haven’t already, get your ticket for WordCamp Zagreb today. Tickets are priced at 20€ (around 150 HRK) which will give you entrance to the conference, (first) access to workshops on Friday and to Contributor day on Sunday. You will also get the drinks, lunch, incredible t-shirt and other cool swag from our sponsors.