Head of Cloud Infrastructure
Head of Cloud Infrastructure
Team Tribe Cloud Infrastructure
Works in Utrecht, Maastricht, Amsterdam and from home
Lives in Voorburg
At VodafoneZiggo since 2021
Diana Geels-de Koos leads VodafoneZiggo's Cloud Infrastructure tribe with enthusiasm and an eye for her people. To make sure that they can invent the best Cloud Infra services, she creates an ideal work setting. One where you can be yourself, feel safe, grow and develop.
When Diana joined VodafoneZiggo, an important challenge awaited her: to bring together all the Cloud Infrastructure knowhow in the company under a single umbrella. “Cloud knowledge is scarce," explains Diana, "and the knowledge we had in house was distributed across several departments. I started out by making a new organisational design. Subsequently, I brought together just the right people and teams to form an agile tribe dedicated solely to Cloud Infrastructure. Tribes consist of a number of teams that work towards a mutual objective. In this case, to deliver excellent Cloud Infra services that add value for our stakeholders and to do so effectively and efficiently."
"You can compare Cloud Infra to the foundations of a house. You can't live in them, but they are vital to the construction of the home you'll eventually move into. In our case, the Cloud Infrastructure we design forms the foundations of all VodafoneZiggo's applications. The more robust and versatile the infrastructure, the more and better the services we can deliver to our customers. I therefore see it as one of my primary tasks as Head of Cloud Infra to continuously ask myself: how do stakeholders benefit from what we're doing? So, no micromanagement, but focus on added value for company and customer."
"Colleagues get a lot of freedom in my tribe. All the teams are assigned a scope, but they decide themselves how to go about their job. In practice, that means sitting down with a Product Owner and Scrum Master to devise a strategy and determine where the priorities lie to achieve an objective. That kind of independence stimulates people to think for themselves and consider critically how best to employ their talents to the advantage of the project or team. And if something goes wrong every now and then, it's not an issue. I've got your back. I’m quite willing to admit to my own mistakes, too, by the way."
"The most important thing is that everybody feels free to be themselves, to voice their opinion and to be imperfect. I make a point of that during meetings. Sometimes, the atmosphere can be a bit informal and it’s precisely then that it’s important to maintain sensitivity to people's vulnerability. So I always ask the team to listen carefully to what others have to contribute. That way, everybody can feel safe."
Diana has an eye for the people in her teams. "I think it's important that people feel that they're fulfilling the role that’s right for them. And that they can grow and develop. In a sense, it's more important even than business results. I strongly believe that people doing what they enjoy are more likely to transcend their original abilities and potential. That's far more valuable to an organisation in the long run. I also like to give people and their ideas a little nudge forward. To encourage and inspire them to get more out of themselves, or to make a plan even better. I don't focus on targets, but on improvement. Seeing a plan come together, or a cooperation succeed; that energises me."
"The people in my teams are committed to their work and colleagues. Whenever anyone needs help, others immediately step up. And on special occasions like birthdays, or when someone's leaving, people tend to organise presents and drinks. The team spirit also shows in the initiatives to mix a creative sauce into formal meetings. Our recent quarterly planning session, for instance, was spiced up by a fun quiz. And the teams go out of their way to schedule their diaries so that everybody is regularly physically at the office together."
"VodafoneZiggo feels like family. When I started here 18 months ago, I felt an instant warm welcome. Everybody is always eager to help, whatever department they're from. And what's also really sweet is the fact that VodafoneZiggo has a very distinct identity; the branding is outstanding and that makes it even more appealing to work here."
