Improving Finnish wellbeing and safety

Kimmo Hast, Project Manager
National Police Board of Finland, Information Technology Centre of the Police
IT Engineer, currently also a student of Knowledge-based Management for the degree of Master of Applied Science

I work as a project manager in the programme for further development focusing on the situation awareness picture and field command system run jointly by various authorities.  The system being developed through the programme is an extensive entity to meet the needs by the Police, rescue services, social and healthcare system, the Finnish Border Guard, the Defence Forces and the Customs. The related development work is currently in a very active phase, and so the contents of my working days are very varied and can change, even at a very short notice. My usual working week includes a lot of meetings focusing on project management or the functionalities to be development, as well as workshops with various stakeholder groups. My work also involves joint planning and weekly meetings with the project groups, preparatory work for the steering groups as well as close cooperation with various system user groups.  The work is often very mobile by nature because this is, after all, a field command system, and we try, as far as possible, to test in genuine field conditions in various parts of Finland.

I am particularly pleased with the varied and versatile nature of my current work. There are rarely dull days at work. The finest feature is the opportunity to work in pleasant surroundings with great colleagues, added with the bonus of seeing the results of the cooperation in a very concrete way, for example, when new system versions are being commissioned. From the point of view of renewed professional skills and career development, it is important for me to develop my own competence actively, and to have a correct attitude to continuous learning. 

In my earlier career, I worked 15 years in mobile network and smart phone software development. I covered various roles (expert, project manager, team lead, etc.) and could develop a close view on the life cycle of various software products from the first line of code to the store shelf.  I sought employment at the PO IT centre in 2017, the time in which there were several career opportunities offered at the organisation. My interest in Police tasks, in particular, was based on the fact that I wanted to use my professional skills to participate in the system development that would help the work of the authorities, thereby contributing to the wellbeing and safety of citizens. For me, the significance of the work played – and still plays – a strong role.    

I started as a project manager at the POL IT centre and was involved in the control and management of the system server environments, and also had automation related responsibilities. In the course of time, I became more interested in administrative duties, and my field of tasks also gradually changed in that direction, providing me the excellent opportunity to develop professionally, in line with the objectives I had set for myself.

I started in my current role of project manager in 2019. This role allows me to participate in many aspects of work, and the spectrum of my duties is often very wide; in synthesis, I am mainly responsible for the implementation – from project management perspective – of the further development programme. I am also the team lead of the system development programme and provide guidance to suppliers. Through my career experience and further education, I have also become more interested in supervisory duties, and seeking these positions has, indeed, been part of my long-term personal objectives. I am also interested in working in positions which allow me to have a wider perspective of this administration, at the entire National Police Board level. In 2022, I had the opportunity to seek tasks which match these objectives perfectly, and as a result of an application process, I was appointed to cover the temporary position of project director of the information management responsibility area at the National Police Board. I started this work in early 2023.

In my experience, the National Police Board provides support for renewed professional skills and career development, and it is important for me to develop my own competence actively and engage in continuous learning. In my future role with team members under my direction, I will do my best to provide them with the chance to meet their professional objectives and work-related feeling of success.