Great People: Introducing Amanda Milton

The Delivery Team at Great State might be one of the hardest working groups of people you'll ever meet.

With multiple plates spinning at any one time, they're on the ground making sure everyone is okay: clients, creatives, strategists and engineers. They're perfectionists with an eye for detail, they're responsible for delivering our projects on time, on budget and to the highest possible standards.

We couldn't think of a more capable pair of hands to manage the whole operation than Mandy. She's seen it all, done it all and she loves what she does. So without further ado, introducing, Mandy!

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Mandy and I’m the Delivery Lead for the Defence clients at Great State. I work with the Client Services and Delivery teams to make sure we deliver projects in the best possible way to meet the needs of our clients and hit their objectives.

How did you get to be here?

It’s been a fairly long journey! My career started in a traditional offline world, working for a top 10 London advertising agency – that was eye-opening for a girl from Bristol I can tell you! I first started working in digital back in 1997 when the agency I worked at then started tinkering with HTML and Flash. After that, I was hooked - I loved that everything was new and constantly evolving and that we were learning as we went - I realised I rather enjoyed flying by the seat of my pants! Since then I've had a number of roles in operations and delivery, and I’ve been with Great State now for some 13 years in different guises.

What are you working on right now?

My main focus is our current flagship project for the Royal Navy – rebuilding their public facing website. It’s a really exciting project incorporating a full redesign including a brand new design system that the Navy will roll out on other channels. We have a pretty vast team working on this one so ensuring everything is on track and supporting the Delivery Team is my number one priority.

How do you know when you’ve produced something great?

It’s really important to make sure that all the right people are engaged in the project at the right moments, both our teams and the clients. It goes without saying that projects need to come in on budget and to the highest level of fidelity; that is the absolute focus of delivery.

How do you help clients understand and overcome problems they face?

It’s vital to have a deep understanding of the organisation you’re working with, and also empathy for your clients’ challenges and concerns. I endeavour to help them by working through their issues to find solutions and ways in which our team can assist. It’s not only my job, trying to help people is just the way I’m built.

Money matters! How do you create value for clients?

I always try and make sure we balance creating new innovative approaches to projects with what we already have in place. We want to bring new thinking, but sometimes there is value in looking at what can be reused which will still meet the brief. Also I want to reiterate the point I made earlier about ensuring the right people are on the project – that’s vital in ensuring our knowledge and experience is capitalised on.

What excites you about your work?

Working at Great State is a privilege. I love the people and culture, it may be hard work but it’s fun and I get a buzz from working with our clients. I’m lucky to have had a long relationship with the folks at the Royal Navy, it’s always different and challenging. I never get bored of stepping into the Historic Dockyard with the tantalising possibility of glimpsing an aircraft carrier!

What excites you in life

The opportunity to always learn – I’ve been in my career for a long time, but with constant innovation and new people coming through, there’s always something fresh and shiny to keep me on my toes. I feel the same in my personal life too – I like to spend time with younger people, I love their positivity, optimism and ideas.

What is the future of tech looking like to you?

I feel like you never know what’s round the corner and that new ways of doing things are only weeks or months away. A little like when I first started in digital in '97 - I never knew how things might evolve – it’s still the same today and it's still exciting!

Want to learn more about the way we deliver work at Great State? Get in touch.