Five minutes with Lee

As part of our Culture of Success Programme we’re going behind the scenes at Pocketworks HQ in our new Five Minutes with… features; celebrating our staff, what they do and what makes them unique.  

Five minutes with… Lee

I’m Lee, Pocketworks’ Head of Client Partnerships. However, it’s fair to say I’ve been pretty much everything here, from UX Designer to Product Owner and Business Analyst to HR, although I’ve never written a line of code! 

The truth is I have always done what the business needed at the time, but as we have grown, and over the course of this year, my role has evolved into focussing on the long term futures we have with our clients. 

Every project we start with a new client is with the aim of a long and successful journey together, and in testament to that, three of our earliest apps from 2012 are still in regular production to this day, one of which turning over £30 million a year . I love creating and maintaining strong relationships generally in life, and this is no different with our clients, many of whom I class as friends now. Together we build the vision for their future steps, after the next step of their current roadmap.

When we first join the company we pick a Star Wars avatar, mine is Boba Fett. Ever since I was a kid I just thought he was so cool , he is also trusted by great powers to observe quietly and then get the job done when the time is right. I think my role probably reflects this a bit now; I’ve finally become Boba ! 

My favourite app is Timehop . It connects to all of my different photo streams from over the years and each day I get a snapshot of what I was doing one year ago, two years ago and so on. In a time where most of our pictures are saved digitally and we don’t have shelves of photo albums ready to browse and get nostalgic over, it’s brilliant for reminding you of what you were up to this time in history. It evokes memories of moments you felt deserved a photo at the time but had not thought about for a while, and usually brings a smile to my face!

However, while I enjoy the fun of Timehop, if I could create any app it would be a lot more practical, and one I bet lots of people can relate to. An app to automatically put my parking on for me when I get out of the car in Leeds. That way I’d avoid ever getting another damn parking ticket! In fact, we are actually talking about potentially building this app and publishing it as a subscription service so watch this space… 

My greatest achievement is my six-year-old son, Charlie. I love nothing more than spending time with him and my favourite people in the world, who I am lucky enough to have around me. Other than that I have blown the dust off my guitars again, and if Man United are playing I will always be found in front of a TV somewhere.

If I could have a superpower I’d like the ability to go back in time . I don’t generally do regrets but there are a few things I could have handled differently that I would change, without screwing up the space-time continuum of course!

Speaking of time, I feel like I’ve been here forever. And, I imagine in five years time I’ll no doubt still be winding up our MD Tobin in a future iteration of Pocketworks! 

If I were a biscuit I’d probably be one of those fancy lemon and ginger ones you get in hotel rooms. I don’t really have a sweet tooth but chances are I would be relaxing on holiday or away on a cool work trip somewhere if I was to be eating one of those, so to me they epitomise holidays and adventures !