Issac Lam

Ever wondered what a typical day as a Product Strategy Graduate at nbn is like? Well look no further. Here Isaac describes his typical day while working from home during COVID-19…

8.00 AM

Morning light sneaks in through the cracks of my blinds, rudely hitting my eyelids at 300 million metres per second. Groggily I check my phone and see 8:05! Momentary panic is quickly replaced by calm as I remember working from home no longer necessitates rising before 8am. One swift movement puts a pillow on my face giving me another 30 minutes of low-quality non-REM sleep.

8.30 AM

Rolling out of bed, I reach my desk and turn on my work laptop – signifying the official start to the workday.

Opening up Microsoft Outlook, I check my calendar for what meetings I have, making sure everything is adequately prepared. After, I catch up on emails and make note of what needs to be actioned later if a quick reply isn’t possible. Around this time, I also find the daily issue of CommsDay and have a quick browse on industry news.  

9.00 AM

After checking overnight emails and my calendar, I have a good idea of what my day looks like. Deadlines permitting, I like to work on 2 or 3 different projects/pieces of work in between meetings. For today, a consultation paper and market sizing research is top of mind, taking up most of my attention.

10.00 AM

Around this time, I had maybe 1 or 2 meetings, and spent the rest of the time chipping away at a piece of work. For this particular day, an hour might translate roughly into a couple hundred words on the consultation paper. I leverage a few sources to squeeze out those paragraphs like pricing lists, contractual agreements, previous papers and slide packs. Any questions or uncertainties that arise, I jot down on a sticky note for later reference to discuss with my manager.

12.30 PM

Lunch time! Good time to catch up with others in the grad cohort (pictured below) over a video call. Mute when chewing though of course!

1.30 PM

Everyone knows that during lunch time there’s an embargo on meetings. As a result, you can probably expect a meeting to start at the end of lunch. A meeting with the legal/regulatory team clarifies a couple of points in the paper, giving me some clarification on next steps.

2.30 PM

After squeezing out a couple of more paragraphs and plateauing, I recognise the time to switch it up a little bit.

3.00 PM

Time to put in on the market research which consists mainly of trawling through prior research, clarifying with subject matter experts and desktop research (Google). Output is onto PowerPoint, allowing for some formatting and design to exercise some creative flair. As this was a more collaborative project, sometimes I will be in a video call with a co-worker to get real-time feedback and rebounding of ideas. 

5.00 PM

Ctrl+S. If nothing pressing is looming in the next couple of days, it’s time to finish up. After a few gratuitous clicks of window closing, I shut the laptop down. It’s time to hit the gym after 8 hours glued to my seat.