Unplugged: Bringing Structure to Engineering Projects
Industrial engineering runs on precision but managing projects sometimes doesn’t. That’s why we sat down with Thomas Meyer, COO at Unplugged, a Norwegian company building wireless power and data modules for extreme environments.
With a team that handles everything from subsea robotics to offshore automation, Thomas Meyer shared how Teamhood gave them structure and helped to make progress visible across the board.
Unplugged: The Background
Unplugged is a Norwegian engineering company specializing in industrial-grade inductive modules for wireless power and data transfer. Their technology is designed for reliability in extreme environments – including deployment at depths of 3,000 meters underwater, with systems rated for up to 15 years of subsea service.
Beyond power transmission, Unplugged’s modules also support wireless data transfer, enabling both functions through the same inductive interface. These robust modules are used across a variety of industries, including offshore energy, subsea robotics, mobility, agriculture, and industrial automation.
In simple terms, Unplugged’s technology transmits both power and data wirelessly – akin to Wi-Fi, but subsea or in harsh industrial settings.
Currently, Unplugged is a small but agile team of seven, with plans for expansion in the coming year. As the company scales and manages an increasing number of projects, adopting the right project management tools is becoming increasingly essential.
Why Teamhood: The Problem
Thomas Meyer, Chief Operating Officer at Unplugged, runs point on production and project priorities. He observed early on that although the team met regularly, their meetings lacked structure, and they ended up discussing unrelated topics. This made it difficult to track progress or make decisions.
So, Thomas Meyer came to the conclusion that his team needs a better system – something that could bring focus to their planning without slowing them down.
I reviewed a lot of systems. What we needed was something intuitive – something that fits our workflow without being too heavy. A lot of tools were either too simple or far too complex for a small company.
Thomas Meyer
While software like Microsoft Project was very capable of solving Unplugged’s problems, it was overkill. The team was looking for something more intuitive and easier to use without the overhead that comes with more complex systems.
How Teamhood Made a Difference: Favorite Features
Kanban and Gantt
The foundation of Unplugged’s workflow in Teamhood became the Kanban and Gantt boards. These tools provided the visibility and structure they had been missing.
We use Kanban and Gantt all the time. That’s where everything happens for us – project tracking, task management, timelines. It’s simple and powerful.
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Thomas Meyer
Chief Operating Officer
Kanban and Gantt views helped Unplugged to bring structure into the meetings and create a more productive process for moving work forward.
Synchronization
One of the more surprising features for the Unplugged team was the ability to synchronize tasks across different boards.
I didn’t know you could sync tasks between boards. That was a great surprise. We’ve started using it more and more, especially since some of our production work directly impacts other projects. It’s helped us reduce duplication and confusion.
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Thomas Meyer
Chief Operating Officer
This feature turned out to be a hidden strength for Unplugged – they could better coordinate across teams without duplicating information.
Experimenting with Other Features
Initially, time-off tracking wasn’t part of their plan. But as resource planning became more critical, Unplugged saw the benefits of the feature.
The team also experimented with workload planning and recognized its long-term potential.
We tried the workload feature and saw that many people were overloaded. It was an eye-opener. If used properly, it’s a powerful tool. But it requires disciplined task input, which we didn’t always have.
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Thomas Meyer
Chief Operating Officer
Though Unplugged hasn’t fully adopted this tool yet, they see it as a promising direction for future optimization.
Reflections on Teamhood
Thomas Meyer appreciates that Teamhood doesn’t force a one-size-fits-all model. It lets teams grow into the platform at their own pace.
He emphasizes that the tool’s value has outweighed its limitations and is confident that it’s the right platform for their current stage of growth.
Some features are very advanced, like synchronization <…>. Overall, Teamhood has helped us bring structure to our processes.
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Thomas Meyer
Chief Operating Officer
Teamhood helped the Unplugged team to focus on the important parts of the projects, structure meetings, track progress, and make decisions.
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