インタビュー

Interview

Ida Hendra

General Manager

Born in Denpasar, Bali 30 years ago. I was originally trained as a researcher. I graduated with my Ph.D. from Tohoku University in Sendai Japan in the field of Computational Science (Molecular Dynamics). I never work in a real job before and being part of Grune is my first professional working experience. I learn basic web development for 3 months when I was an intern at Grune Office in Sendai. Now, I am working as General Manager for the Grune team in Indonesia. I am in charge of the company administration, hiring, human resource development, project management, and communication with the Japan team.

Why did you choose Grune?

A beautiful coincidence if I can say. Due to personal preference, I want to return to my home country in Bali, Indonesia after 5 years of staying in Japan. I was an instructor of the CEO (Yamashita San) to learn Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language) for about 1 year. He offered me to open a new office for Grune in Bali, Indonesia. At that time Grune already has an office in Yogyakarta City with employees of around 15 people. At first, I was hesitant to accept it because I did not have professional education or experience in the IT field. However, knowing that I can start something new and build my own team in Bali, finally I accepted the offer. I started Bali Office with 4 members in February 2019, and now we have a total of 15 members (developers and 3D artists) in Bali.

How is the Grune working atmosphere?

As a manager, It is my job to make sure we can achieve a conducive working environment. It was very challenging for me at first time but gradually we can be better step by step with continuous improvement. There are 3 approaches I believe are essential to provide a good working condition. 1. First, all members need to know exactly what they have to do. Thus, the task should be prepared in advance with a clear description. It encourages each member to have a specific goal every day. 2. A working flow must be clear (for example, how to use git). Therefore, simple yet concise documentation or standard operational procedures (SOP) must exist. 3. All members must be trained to have good communication skills. Good communication reduces the risk of miscommunication and wrong assumptions between each other. The way of communication should be clear and effective. With good communication, trust will grow between you and your co-worker. I think trust is very important to be a strong team.

What do you think about Japanese Members?

As typical Japanese, all Japanese member are very supportive and kind. They also willing to sacrifice time to learn English for better communication with Indonesian team.

How is the CEO?

I think Yamashita-San is a very interesting Japanese. I learn many things from him either about life or IT knowledge. One example that I want to share is the importance of enjoying your life. Of course, you should enjoy your work. However, sometimes work can be overwhelming and stressful. In that case, you have to find other aspects in life that make you happy every day. It can be your hobby or something else. Yamashita-San enjoys his hobby of surfing every day before he starts working. Another example is to grow yourself by accepting challenges or move out of your comfort zone. For example, he learns Bahasa (Indonesian Language) consistently and put effort to do it.

In your opinion what is the excellence of Grune?

Not many Japanese companies can work together smoothly with overseas partners. I think Grune has a "know-how" about overseas collaboration. Grune also can provide an international working environment for the member.

Why did you choose the IT field for your career?

IT is an interesting field. You can start with minimum capital. Just a notebook and internet connection. the question is whether you want to give it a try and willing to learn or not.

What kind of company would you like Grune to be in the future?

I think Grune should grow to be a company that can change people to be a better person, become professional regardless of they keep staying in Grune or not. I want Grune to be a company that can keep competitive salaries and various compensation to the member. In addition, I want Grune to be an IT company that build interesting products (Web System, Apps, VR/AR, etc).

What is your current responsibility for Grune?

As I mentioned above, I am working as General Manager for the Grune team in Indonesia. I am in charge of company administration, hiring, human resource development, project management, and communication with the Japan team. My background working as a scientist during my Ph.D. courses was a little bit lonely for me. Now I am working with a lot of people with intense communication and planning every day. Surprisingly, I actually enjoy managing people and doing project management. I want to build a strong and professional IT team. I hope Grune can grow to be an IT company with 50-100 people in the next 5 years.