Strategy, Operations & Delivery · Fractional Leader · Author
Working together by design.
I help companies and agencies turn strategy into work that works: clear priorities, processes that scale with growth, teams that truly collaborate.
Working together by design
Co-create.
The best solutions are built together with those who know the work, and with those who will do it every day.
Co-decide.
Clear, shared choices: explicit criteria, defined responsibilities, no decisions made in the corridors.
Co-deliver.
All the way to the result, side by side. And the method stays with the team, long after.
Over the years I have worked with and/or managed projects for
Heineken
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
IKEA
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
Lavazza
with LBI Iconmedialab
Campari
as a freelancer
Illy
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
Samsung
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
Google for La7
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
L’Oréal
with Different
Intesa Sanpaolo
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
NIVEA
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
Eataly
with Luiss Business School
The North Face
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
FIAT 500
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
Unilever
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
TIM
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
UniCredit
with GLAMM Interactive
Bayer
with Different
Mondadori
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
Intimissimi
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
Caterpillar CGT
with AKQA Italy
Mediolanum
with Different and H-ART
OVS
as a freelancer
Dainese
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
Pupa
with H-ART, now AKQA Italy
La Cucina Italiana
with LBI Iconmedialab
Julius Meinl
with CUOA
HERE Technologies
with AKQA Italy
Cerved
with LBI Iconmedialab
Pubblicità Progresso
with Different
Teuco Guzzini
with GLAMM, and freelance
Selle Royal
with Different
Matilde Vicenzi
with Different
Boscolo Tours
with LBI, and freelance
University of Padua
with AKQA Italy, and freelance
The context
When work stops flowing.
Growth, new initiatives, a change of strategy: at some point the way priorities are set and work is coordinated no longer holds. That’s where I come in.
01
Everything is urgent, nothing is a priority
Requests come from several functions, each with excellent reasons. Resources stay the same, and in the end whoever insists the most decides.
02
Something gets lost between business, IT and operations
Requirements, decisions and approvals keep changing hands. Everyone does their part, but no one owns the overall result.
03
What used to work is no longer enough
Habits and informal agreements held up with ten people. With fifty, or twice the projects, you need ways of working that protect quality and people.
Areas of work
Three areas, one goal: making things work.
I work where goals, organisation and day-to-day operations meet. We define the scope together, based on context and people.
01
Demand & PMO
Priorities and portfolio governance
Shared criteria to assess requests, clear responsibilities and a straight path from request to delivery.
02
Operating model
Organisation and operating processes
Roles, workflows and ways of collaborating across functions, designed with the people who will use them every day.
03
Creative Operations
Agency work, well managed
Briefs, planning, workload and project control: where creative quality meets financial sustainability.
How I work
From analysis to everyday work.
No ready-made recipes: I build each engagement with the people involved, one piece at a time.
01
Listen and understand
I gather information, listen to the functions involved and reconstruct how work and decisions really happen. We agree on a reading of the issues and choose where to start.
02
Design together
We define roles, processes, criteria and tools with those who will use them. No top-down models: the design includes responsibilities and the conditions to make it work in practice.
03
Test in the field
We apply the model to a concrete part of the work. We see what gets stuck, gather feedback and adjust before scaling it up.
04
Leave a mark
I support people in using it, documenting it and handing over responsibilities. The goal: when I leave, the ownership stays inside.
Ways of working
The right support, at the right time.
Every organisation has different needs, rhythms and challenges. That’s why I work with flexible formulas, built together.
Ongoing · part-time
Fractional Leadership
Ongoing operational support (weekly or monthly) as an extension of your internal team. Typical roles: Fractional Operations Lead, Fractional Delivery Manager, Fractional CX & Marketing Ops Lead.
From 2–4 weeks to partnerships
Operational Advisory
Strategic and operational support to improve processes, workflows, governance, deliverable quality and complexity management. From fast interventions to long-term partnerships.
Project
Organisational design
Designing governance, Demand & PMO, operating models and processes, involving the functions and preparing the pilot in the field.
4h · 8h · 2 days
Training
Targeted programmes for marketing, digital, tech and operations teams. A modular format mixing theory and workshops, focused on practical skills, toolkits and immediate application.
Half day · 1 day · sprint
Co-design & Design Thinking Workshops
Facilitated sessions, internal or with an agency’s clients, for strategic alignment, co-creating solutions, mapping journeys and processes, roadmaps and priorities.
Events · kick-offs · meet-ups
Speeches & Inspirational Talks
Engaging talks on project & operations excellence, customer experience, Agile mindset and cross-team collaboration.
The novel
Deliver or Die.
A thriller/mystery novel that teaches project management. Plan Island, eight women, a writing club and a “secret subject” assigned by Mr. G. Currently available in Italian.
Because even those who aren’t project managers manage time, budgets and goals every day.
A bit of my story
I have been incredibly lucky to see a thousand things being born — and to sweat every detail, like all early adopters.
From development when Google didn’t exist yet, to process redesign when it was called BPR and Design Thinking didn’t exist. From data mining as the new frontier, all the way to inventing project management for digital.
For more than 25 years I have reinvented myself every day, combining pieces of marketing, management, tech, numbers, data, strategy, design and creativity. In five words: I fix messes, creatively.
25+
years across digital, tech and marketing
50+
national and international brands
1
novel about project management
What people say
If you are looking for one of those people who, for skills, experience and empathy, are one in a million, Anna is one of the 7 on the planet.
Marco Vezzaro
Copywriter · Creative Director · Trainer
“In a short time she grasps business and process issues and proposes innovative improvements.”
Marco Valsecchi — Board member, CEO, CFO
“If you got a project and in the middle of the plan you need some miracle, do not believe in God, believe Anna!”
Anderson Schimuneck — Chief Design Officer
“One of the most talented and result-oriented minds I’ve had the occasion to work with.”
Marco Stefani — Cloud Technical Leader
Points of view
Thoughts on organisation and the way we work.
Recurring situations, implicit choices and their operational consequences. Worth looking at before touching roles, processes or tools.
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Urgent for whom? When priorities are set by whoever pushes hardest
Read →: Urgent for whom? When priorities are set by whoever pushes hardestIf everything is urgent, nothing is a priority. And if no one decides what can wait, pressure decides.
-
The hidden cost of “I’ll handle it”
Read →: The hidden cost of “I’ll handle it”In every project there’s someone who recovers, patches up, unblocks. It’s a precious talent. But when it becomes the system, it’s hiding a problem.
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Nobody wants to be the first to say “red”
Read →: Nobody wants to be the first to say “red”Teams often know about a risk long before it reaches the people who decide. The time in between is a matter of governance, not courage.
Manifesto
The principles that guide my work. In every circumstance.
Beliefs and values I bring to every project, team and collaboration.
Shall we work on the next project together?
If you have a project to propose, a question, or if I can help in any way, write to me.