A summary in 3 P's: Procurement, Projects, and People Management
Having left school I went to work in a small IT company. After working in their warehouse and returns department for almost 5 years an opportunity came up to join the Prison Service. I worked there for 5 years in an administrative role moving around from Health and Safety into Procurement. They were looking to restructure and although my role was still there, everyone around me could change so I thought I'd try something totally new and in 2012 joined Network Rail as a Operational Planner (train planner).
I started in Capacity Planning planning passenger train schedules, moved to planning specialised test services and helping plan some freight. After a couple of years moved across into a different function called Route Services where I went from planning the train schedules themselves to pulling together the overall plan for how the testing was going to happen; checking the routes (giving them to the planners to plan the train schedules), making sure the trains were equipped, maintained, and staffed to do the testing.
Then I moved into what's now called the Advanced Timetable Team looking at the Capability and Capacity of our railway. I progressed through the team starting as an Analyst looking at small managed projects for what the railway needs to look like to meet the growth demand of the future. I was promoted to a Senior Analyst where I looked after 3-4 analysts and their projects and did some of the highly technical work.
Since 2017 I've managed a team of Analysts and Senior Analysts. I've moved around a bit within the team and I'm currently part of the Southern and Anglia team, where we look at anything from 2-20 years into the future, serving a number of big London terminal stations and stretching from Weymouth to Great Yarmouth.
Advanced Timetable Analysis Manager for Southern and Anglia
Within a large team of over 100 people, we're broken down into different regional planning areas. Within the Southern and Anglia team there are 14 people and I manage a team of 10 analysts that provide evidence using specialist train planning systems like ATTUne, TPS (Train Planning System), and RailSys to support industry decision making which influences the future railway from 2-20+ years.
I have a manager that's responsible for the more senior stakeholder management and overall understanding of changes in the area and there are 2 Lead Advanced Timetable Analysts that support me and my team with the detailed technical side of the work.
I divide my time between people management activities like 1-2-1s, and project management which is mostly through stakeholder and customer meetings. I have an understanding of what strategic objectives need to be delivered in Southern and Anglia in the next 12 months and plan the projects of my team accordingly. We also get asked by colleagues in train planning to look at how the timetable will change if either the physical track changes, or the number or type of trains changes. This needs to be added to the mix of demands to see what we can do when to make sure that our industry commitments are met.
Alongside my day job I'm also an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Champion which means that I work to make sure Network Rail is a welcoming place to work and where everyone is given the right environment to thrive.
You get to make a difference
I've been a part of projects where I can now go out and sit on a train that didn't exist before, on a track that wasn't there, that both exist because I had a part in making it happen. There aren't many jobs where you can actively see the difference you're making to communities with something you've directly had a hand in doing.
Always ask. The worst someone can say is No.
Some of the best opportunities I've had are where I've taken a punt and asked.
Want to go and shadow someone? Ask for it. Want some feedback or coaching? Ask for it. Want to learn something new? ask for it.
The worst someone can do is say no, and often the answer will be yes even if it might take some time.
Seeing other people grow
It sounds cheesy, but I'm really proud of the people that have worked for me that have then grown and developed to move onto other roles in the rail industry. Working with them to find out what they want to do more of, and what they'd like to do less of, and then exploring what's the right fit for them.
Developing a plan to get them where they want to be, seeing them succeed and then thrive is absolutely the most rewarding feeling.
