(Project Management MSc, 2008)
I was awarded a medal from the Prime Minister of the UK for my exceptional services at the London Olympics. I received another medal from the President of Pakistan for my extraordinary services while working with the United Nations and both achievements are the greatest honours of my life to date.
What initially kindled your interest in project management? What opportunities did you see?
As soon as I finished my master’s in Information Technology, I started my career with the United Nations in 2005 as there was a catastrophic earthquake in Pakistan, India and the Kashmir region which claimed the lives of almost 100,000 people, including a few of my family members. I was tasked with leading the development, implementation, and evaluation of multi-million-dollar projects, including relief work wherein I used my management and interpersonal skills to achieve optimum results. This specific opportunity piqued my interest in project management, and I decided to come to the United Kingdom and pursue a master’s degree in Project Management from Queen Mary.
How did your master’s in Project Management at Queen Mary allow you to explore this interest?
Queen Mary University is one of the best universities in London and part of the Russell Group; getting an offer from such a prestigious institution was an honour for me. As I had exposure to working on high profile projects already, I decided to take my career to the next level. In 2005 London was crowned as the venue for the Olympics so I decided to pursue my higher education at Queen Mary and set myself a goal of working within the Olympics management team. I was selected as Technology Team Leader for the London Olympics, and I headed a team of 25 volunteers. This assignment earned me a medal from David Cameron, the Prime Minister at the time.
You have previously talked about how the Graduate Route Visa is one of the best pathways that international students can take to access Higher Education in the UK. Could you tell us about your journey to Queen Mary via taking this route?
The only reason I was able to stay in the UK after my graduation was through a Graduate Route Visa which allowed me to remain for 2 years to gain some professional experience and/or find myself a job. Due to my Graduate Route Visa status, I immediately got a job offer from a technology company based in Hertfordshire to join their team as a Project Manager. This company subsequently helped me secure a highly skilled visa, but I was only able to get this exposure to work in the first place due to the Graduate Route Visa.
The only reason I was able to stay in the UK after my graduation was through a Graduate Route Visa which allowed me to remain for 2 years to gain some professional experience and/or find myself a job. I immediately got a job offer from a technology company based in Hertfordshire to join their team as a Project Manager.
What are your fondest memories of your time at Queen Mary?
I will NEVER forget the beautiful time that my friends and I had together at Queen Mary. We lived in Stock Court Halls near Stepney Green station and every evening we used to walk to Mile End and beside the canal. Cooking our food together, eating out at amazing restaurants, university coffee shops and student union elections are some of my loveliest memories of Queen Mary and I miss those times dearly.
Congratulations on being awarded a medal from the Prime Minister of the UK and the President of Pakistan. Could you tell us how you felt when you learnt that you were receiving this great honour?
I was awarded a medal from the Prime Minister of the UK for my exceptional services at the London Olympics and I couldn’t sleep the night I found out my name was on the list. I received another medal from the President of Pakistan for my extraordinary services while working with the United Nations and both achievements are the greatest honours of my life to date.
What other achievements are you most proud of?
I was project manager for one of the most advanced projects in the NHS called Medic Bleep; this project saw myself and my team replace traditional old-style bleeps with state-of-the-art secure phone apps. This application has changed the life of doctors, nurses, and medics seeing as they can communicate with relevant colleagues urgently without compromising the integrity of patient data. I am very proud of this project.
Since graduating from Queen Mary, your career trajectory has been quite impressive. You secured a position at TekOne where you worked as a Delivery Manager to support multiple IT infrastructure projects and then moved to the NHS to work on cutting edge technology projects such as Medic Bleep. To what do you attribute your success and what advice would you give to young people who want to pursue similar paths?
I started from the bottom but made my way to the top. My career in different sections of the NHS has involved working on complex, high-value technology projects. An example of this is my role as part of the Global Digital Exemplar team (£33 million funds) at West Suffolk NHS Trust. In this role I delivered transformational aspects of their GDE Program, specifically the Medic Bleep Project, which is a pioneer Bleep replacement project in the history of the NHS; Clinical Pathways changes; Video Consultation and Artificial Intelligence projects. I have worked on a Robotics Process improvement project and introduced Artificial Intelligence for operational efficiency along with rolling out the Lorenzo Patient Administration system which resulted in savings of 50,000 man-hours and £400K. Since the start of the pandemic, I have been working as Assistant Director of Programmes (Head of the Covid19 Workforce PMO) and managing multiple aspects of the Covid19 incident response.
What is the best thing about your current work?
Having been deployed into the Covid19 Workforce Cell PMO team since the start of the pandemic, I have made a significant contribution to the NHS England Workforce Cell (including setting up PMO from scratch), covering all aspects of programme governance, tracking delivery, and reporting and assurance to senior stakeholders and SRO. Along with setting up cell structure, risk management, governance and reporting workflows, our teams have been working at an immense pace, in a highly demanding and challenging environment in this unprecedented situation. My role has also been to ensure that while specific actions are delivered, we also focus on the overall aims and outcomes of this emergency program and get the NHS into recovery mode. Currently, I am working with the Director of Workforce Cell on a recently announced public inquiry by the Prime Minster.
I was project manager for one of the most advanced projects in the NHS called Medic Bleep; this project saw myself and my team replace traditional old-style bleeps with state-of-the-art secure phone apps. This application has changed the life of doctors, nurses, and medics!
Having studied and worked in several different countries – including the United Kingdom and Pakistan – how would you describe the global opportunity for project management professionals?
In my professional opinion, project management is a good career with high salaries and plenty of variety. The reason project management is such a good career and project managers are in such high demand is that every company will always initiate projects to increase revenue, minimise cost, and boost efficiency. That’s why, according to a recent report from PMI, there’s such a drastic shortage of project managers relative to demand. This same report found that on an annual basis, employers will need to fill nearly 2.2 million new project-oriented roles each year through to 2027. Further, the report found $208 billion is at risk due to this anticipated project management shortage. At the same time, the report notes that while the demand for project management roles is increasing, the number of PM professionals is decreasing. The need for project managers and the lack of qualified ones (basic supply and demand) makes project management positions attractive as higher demand leads to higher salaries and there’s a lot of opportunity for growth and advancement. In addition to this, many industries can benefit from project managers, so you can likely work in an industry that matches your interests and skill set.
Where do you see yourself in 2030?
That’s a very interesting question. Every couple of years I set myself goals and so far, I have achieved all my targets ahead of time. I set my first target to be Head of PMO by 2025 and I achieved this target almost 4 and a half years earlier. By 2030, I have set myself a target of being National Level Director or head of a specific function within NHS England.
Finally, outside of your work, what are your other passions and interests?
Outside of work, I like to play golf, watch movies, and hang out with family and friends. I am passionate about space exploration and in my free time, I volunteer for NASA under the citizen science program. NASA’s citizen science projects are collaborations between scientists and interested members of the public. Through these collaborations, volunteers (known as citizen scientists) have helped make thousands of important scientific discoveries.
If you would like to get in touch with Atif or engage them in your work, please contact the Alumni Engagement team at alumni@qmul.ac.uk.