Workplaces: Yulia Mikeda, co-founder of Netology Group

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Visiting Lifehacker, one of the most spectacular women of the Runet - Yulia Spiridonova-Mikeda. Her husband Maxim Spiridonov is the face of Netology, but few people know that it was she who came up with the concept of the project. Julia will talk about what she is doing in the company now and how her work is organized in this interview.

What do you do in your work?

We are engaged in online education for children and adults. Our holding includes three projects: "" - courses for schoolchildren, "" - online training in business skills and Smart Learning - SAAS solutions for B2B and B2G.

All components of the product (content, methods, LMS platform) we do within the company. This is how we can influence quality and scale quickly.

It's funny that in our project I am the person who, perhaps, most often changed his occupation. As the co-founder of Netology, I was both the CEO, the head of the educational area, and the director of marketing. Now in "" I am in charge of HR-direction.

My task is to create such an environment in the company in which employees would effectively cope with tasks, grow and develop quickly. Now we are actively recruiting new guys to the team. I have to provide a stream of quality, initially "our" candidates.

What does your workplace look like?

My workspace is a laptop and a phone. This style of workspace has evolved from frequent travel and my love of minimalism.

A laptop is a portal to work. Everything is in the cloud: mail, instant messengers, documents, calendar.

The main laptop is an Apple MacBook Air 11 '' with an Intel Core i7 processor and a good 512GB of memory. It is lightweight, powerful and compact. The OS X Yosemite operating system was included. I'm not a great technical expert, but I can appreciate the functionality: I like the fact that I can not turn off and restart my laptop for weeks, open dozens of tabs at the same time, run a bunch of programs, and it won't even “beep”.

I have a set of Apple products (laptop, mini-tablet, phone). As a girl, I am greedy for design and "cute" interfaces. That said, I need speed and a powerful battery. I can come to work with my MacAir in my purse without charging and work a full day.

Due to the fact that I work from home a couple of days a week, I have two workspaces: an office and a home. I also have MacAir at home.

When everything is in the cloud, the main thing is that there is an entry point to the Internet, and the hardware is already secondary.

By the way, the theme of German, which I am now learning, is being added at home. Around the book, cards with words, so that there is constant training.

I use the phone, rather, as a duplicate screen for work. If I don't have a laptop at hand, I can work with it. I use the phone as a means of voice communication to a minimum.

What software are you using?

Working interface: Chrome browser (Safari is too laconic for me) and messengers - Skype, Viber, Hipchat. In my default browser, I have tabs pinned for quick access. There is corporate Google mail, Google calendar, our corporate knowledge base Confluence and various SUPs.

My main messenger is Skype. It is always on. Although it is not as flexible as Hipchat, which we also work with in the company, I am captivated by the high-quality video calling, screen sharing and group communication. Sometimes you need to connect someone to a Skype meeting by phone - it's quick and easy. We even installed a large screen in the management's office so that we could arrange video conferences via Skype if someone is not in Moscow.

Often people write on Facebook about business issues, so this social network is sometimes also a working interface.

Supporting services, without which my work is impossible, are Dropbox, Google Disk and Evernote. In Dropbox, I store unchanged information: photos, presentations, videos. Google Disk contains documents that require collaboration.

Despite the fact that everything is in the cloud, on MacAir I can work offline with mail and calendar through native programs. I also set up offline mode in Google Disk.

In general, I always have something to do on the road or when there is no light.:)

Evernote has thousands of notes from my work, school, and tons of personal notes. Ideas for development, what books to read, health tips, collections of online stores and the like. Notes are synced across all devices and are available offline.

How do you organize your time?

I like David Allen's technique, which is based on unloading the brain's RAM, sorting tasks and prioritizing. I like the principle of "eating a frog": every day to do some small task that has been worth it for a long time.

Since I solve strategic problems in the company, I pay special attention to the "important and non-urgent" tasks from the Eisenhower matrix. Often it is they who inhibit the growth and development of directions.

For planning tasks, we mainly use Jira internally, a very powerful system for product development. We use a scrum methodology, so Jira was perfect for us. Part of the marketing tasks, where mostly pipeline work, goes through Trello.

In Google Calendar, we at the company make appointments for each other, and I also manage a number of my personal tasks there.

How do you feel about delegation of authority?

Delegation is an important part of the job.

If the leader does not delegate, he interferes with the growth of his subordinates and his own, because he does not have time for strategic tasks.

Many employees love to be cared for, sometimes they come for advice on trifles. I always address all questions back: "What do you yourself think?", "What would you do?" Our company has a rule: problems - down, solutions - up. That is, you can only come to leadership with solutions, not problems.

I love the principle of "grab the flag - I am killed!" When you teach and teach a manager, he feels your insurance and does not take full responsibility, at some point you say to him: "That's it, now you are in charge here and are responsible for everything, I am no longer in the game." Immediately the person is toned.

What is your daily routine?

Regime and proper sleep are an important part of my productivity.

I sincerely envy people who can sleep little. Sometimes even nine hours is not enough for me.

I start working at 10-11 o'clock, I try to finish so that I can get home in time and organize a delicious dinner by candlelight. This is our family tradition.

What place does sport take in your life?

I go to the gym 2-3 times a week. Half the time is cardio, half is exercise machines. I don't like group classes, I train myself. I combine this with listening to German audio courses to make it even more useful.:)

On other days - yoga, Dikul's complex for the back, massage on Sundays. Recently, I got hooked on a sauna with diving into a contrasting ice pool - it relaxes very well, and most importantly, it reboots the brain.

How do you while away the time in traffic jams?

Although this is a bad example, I work non-stop. I answer e-mails via phone, sort tasks, plan a working day. Horror.:)

Sometimes I listen to music.

The Google Play Music app has closed all my music tasks.

In it, all the music of the world is available for 180 rubles a month. I love the function "Radio Based on the Artist" and the funny toy "I'm Lucky!".

Is there a place for paper in your work?

Paper, pens, folders, paper books, flash drives - all this is almost a rarity for me. I try to get rid of things that can be replaced with electronic counterparts.

Life hacking from Julia Mikeda

I love to cook, but there is often not enough time for this. Recently I discovered delivery services ("", "", ""), which bring ingredients to dishes (raw products) and recipes for them. Do it yourself from cooking. This is very convenient, as it saves time on going to the store and choosing the right recipe. Well, the effect of surprise is something new every day.

Books, which I can recommend reading:

• “The Zappos Rules. The Technologies of an Outstanding Internet Company”by Joseph A. Micelli - helped me figure out how to build a dream employer.
• Built to Last by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras details the reasons for the success of great companies.
• The Story of a City by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin is perhaps the most ironic and touching work about the depths of the Russian soul.

YouTube channels

• - Lots of useful content on business skills.
• - French, German, English, Italian from scratch in 16 lessons. It helps me a lot in learning German.
• - in my entire adult life, it seems, has not missed a single game.

Podcasts

Is there a dream configuration?

I'm waiting for ubiquitous LTE - on the streets and in transport. This will greatly increase productivity in dealing with work and personal issues.

The path in business, the path in the profession is not a straight ascending line. It is always a pulsating up and down curve. In spite of everything, go ahead. Never give up.

Look for a company with moral qualities that are close to you, with a strong spirit, where they will believe in you and give you the opportunity to realize your potential. Recently we have brought out the following slogan in "Netology-group": "Success is not a sprint, but a marathon."