README for Kate Jones

At Cadence OneFive, my role is…

Project Manager with the Customer Success/Revenue team. My primary focus will be NYC real estate portfolio compliance planning and implementation support but I’ll also assist with national rollout and expansion efforts.

Who am I?

Generally

I grew up in Michigan, which offered the privilege of proximity to the magnificent Great Lakes. I moved to Philly for school and am still here after 16 years but Northern Michigan remains my favorite place in the world. Personality wise I am:

  • Midwestern in a beer and football type of way
  • Basic for my love of things like linens, vacuums, and the Bachelor franchise
  • Slightly misanthropic and unimpressed but I believe that the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice and that fighting for a progressive future is really important
  • Pretty chill but am the person at parties who talks about climate doom
  • Enjoy typical things like cooking, reading, research, history, building stuff, bonfires, nature, travel, etc.
  • Cats over dogs

At work

I studied architecture because I believe that making meaningful adjustments to our built environment is a critical part of getting a handle on climate change and achieving other forms of societal justice.

I’ve spent much of my career in the AEC sector working in a variety of roles and incidentally drifted toward project management based on my core competencies. I’ve always wanted to do work focused on climate change mitigation but the traditional AEC sector isn’t moving in that direction quickly or meaningfully enough. I spent the last couple of years adding complex technical project management experience to my skillset with the intention of making a lateral jump into climate tech. I’m so excited to finally be in this space and do work that feels meaningful and is aligned with my deepest concerns and values.

Goals

Learning goals

Having spent years working in large and traditional corporate structures, I’m really looking forward to working with a small but growing team and learning how to build out a successful organization while maintaining the core principles upon which it was founded.

Career goals

My overarching goal is to work in the climate tech space for the rest of my career. I don’t have traditional career goals in the sense that I’ve never worked toward having a specific title but I do want to branch out beyond project management. Working in strategy at a high level would be fun.

Ways of working together

  • Having spent years in a corporate environment, I have a disdain for unnecessary meetings but absolutely find value in regular brainstorming sessions and check-ins to keep everyone aligned.

  • I’ve worked in primarily remote roles since 2017 and am pretty good at collaborating from a distance and getting the information I need to push things forward. I always like to have things documented in writing (email, Slack, DMs, etc) so I can go back and reference.

  • If I’m working with you on something specific, I occasionally find it helpful to have a quick follow up call to ask clarifying questions that are too tedious to communicate in writing. I realize that people aren’t always or even often available for that kind of communication and I don’t want to interrupt anyone’s flow so if quick calls are off the table for you, please tell me and I’ll bug you using your preferred medium.

  • I really value the ability to self manage and, like everyone, need focused time to dig into my workload. That said, DM me any time and I’ll get back to you quickly.

You can lean on me to…

  • Get back to you quickly. I will always respond to mentions, calls, and DMs as soon as I see them, even if I need time to get back to you with a concrete answer
  • Talk through stuff offline
  • Be tenacious about follow up (sorry not sorry)
  • Help picking apart large things and sorting them into discrete parts

How to support me as we work together

  • Coming from a corporate, email-centric environment, I’m accustomed to getting information from individuals directly vs. asking on larger public threads. I love that C15 has eliminated the quicksand of email and is using Slack for communication but it might take me a minute to figure out which channels to use when and for what. I feel confident that I’ll pick up on how the group communicates pretty easily after observing for a period of time.

  • I am decidedly not a morning person but after years of conditioning, I’ve found ways to squeeze juice out of this part of the day. Like Martine, I think it’s helpful to get objectives synched (when necessary) in the first half of the day, but appreciate meetings and/or 1:1’s that start after 10am.

  • In some situations, I can ask a lot of detailed questions and provide extra context to make sure I’m thinking about things the right way and in alignment with team members. That tendency isn’t tied to needing extraordinary direction or affirmation, but to the way my brain processes information. If you think I’m chasing unnecessary details or providing useless context, feel free to tell me to zoom out, but please understand that the specifics help me to weave together a landscape.

I’m my best self on a team when…

With specific respect to group meetings, everyone likes to be prepared and feel like they have a command of what’s happening, what needs to happen, and why. Although I love the details, they can be burdensome in a group setting. In these situations, I’ve found that it’s helpful to communicate in big picture terms, reframing as many ways as necessary for everyone to be on the same page, and then reiterating. I have no problem being asked questions or speaking up in meetings and if I don’t have a complete answer in that particular moment, I’ll absolutely follow up when I do.

Feedback preferences

Direct, constructive feedback all the way. Medium is unimportant as long as the tone is productive. It’s also nice to hear when I’m doing something well but I don’t need to be coddled. I’ll assume that you think I’m doing a pretty good job unless you tell me otherwise and I’m always open to pointers, tips, and suggestions.

Technical preferences

I’ve worked with many tools over the years and don’t have any particular preferences. As a project manager, it’s always nice to have a tailored workflow management platform to operate from but I tend to organize my tasks independently in addition to collectively used software.

Schedule and availability

I’m in the EST and will generally start my days between 9-10am. Sometimes I feel sluggish around 2pm, especially if I eat lunch (I try to avoid) but meetings and calls usually snap me out of that. I’m the most focused and productive late morning to early afternoon and mid/late afternoon until early/mid evening.

All of that is to say: I’ll always be available during the typical 9-5 business day but really appreciate the flexibility to structure my work day in a way that allows me to take advantage of my most productive intervals.