A Day in the Life
of a Principal Consultant
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Meet Lexi Leedom
Hi! I am Lexi Leedom a Principal Consultant at Analysis Prime. I have been with the company a little over nine months and previously worked as an accountant in the pharmaceutical industry. My background is primarily in accounting and finance for manufacturing corporations, but I have spent some time working in non-profits as well. As a Principal on the Delivery team, I get to work in a diverse set of industries which affords me the privilege of seeing many different business processes, their challenges, and the opportunity to help overcome them. Working remotely from my home in Chapel Hill North Carolina allows me the flexibility and independence to do my best work for each client while maintaining a great sense of balance in my personal life. My days are much different now than they were in a corporate setting; here is a peek into an average day…
An Average Day in my Job
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6:00AM: I wake up and run around frantically getting my young kids dressed, fed and ready for daycare. Once everyone is full, presentable, and out the door with my husband, I take a few minutes to enjoy my tea while checking my email and calendar for the day. I then begin my daily Yoga practice to get my mind and body ready for the day ahead.
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8:30AM: Stretched, caffeinated, and centered I am now ready to sit down and begin my work. Depending on the phase of the project I am in, I may spend the morning preparing for client meetings, documenting processes, or developing solutions. If I am not interacting with a client, I like to listen to music and get into the flow of work.
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11:00AM: Today I have a blueprinting call with a new client where we will work to understand their current process, take note of gaps and pain points, and recommend ways that SAC can improve and bring value to their organization. As a principal, having a strong functional understanding is equally as important as being strong technically; you not only need to be able to build a solution, but also help the client improve and strengthen the processes you are providing a solution for.
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12:00PM: I will often have a chat with a colleague where we will catch up on new developments in our projects, or bounce ideas off one another while we think through problems and solutions. I enjoy interacting with my coworkers on these calls as it makes me feel connected to a community despite working from home.
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12:30PM: My dogs remind me to get up and move around by insisting that it is time for their daily walk. I will listen to a podcast, or call and chat with my parents while I take the pups for a hike on the trails in my neighborhood. When we get home, I grab a bite to eat and maybe another cup of tea before settling back into an afternoon of work.
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1:30PM: I get a message from a client that they would like to change the math behind a part of their planning process. I hop on a call with them, discuss the purpose of the change and document the decision. I then open their tenant and begin to update the logic based on their revised requirements. It is not a major change, so it doesn’t take long to update and test before I reach back out to the client for them to verify the new behavior is as expected. Ad hoc requests like this keep me on my toes!
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3:00PM: I have a bi-weekly meeting with my manager who is located in Missouri, where we touch base and catch up on how things are progressing on my projects and how I am doing personally. He always ensures that I am getting enough time with my family and offers advice on projects and my career. I always end these calls feeling very supported.
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3:30PM: I spend the rest of the afternoon continuing the work I began in the morning, whether it is development, documentation or design thinking.
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5:00PM: My family gets home with a burst of energy and noise that carries on through the evening. My kids tell me about their days and run around with the dogs while my husband and I make dinner.
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8:30PM: Once the kids are in bed, I will check my email to make sure I haven’t missed any important items in the last few hours. I occasionally put in some additional work if I am in crunch time for a project, but usually spend the evening continuing my own education about the ever-changing tool that I spend my days working in. In all honestly, I frequently don’t make it much later than my kids do before falling asleep!
