A blog for people in organisations.
With useful tips from experts.
Change needs time
Change processes in companies often take a long time and are difficult. Why is this so? What is the magic of change and how important is a vision?
Courage, the miracle cure for the future?!
What is courage? How important is it individually in professional life and for corporate innovation? How is it encouraged in organisations and how can courage be trained?
Scrum – The Rules of the Game
Scrum is a game in which the rules of the game create meaning for certain actions. What is the essence of game rules and what do they do in organizations?
Is agility the solution to all problems?
Putting the focus on the customer, working together better and deciding faster – such statements are omnipresent. Can agility be the solution to such demands?
Modern personnel selection vs. skilled worker shortage
Many industries complain about a shortage of skilled workers. What can companies do in their personnel selection to address applicants better and win them over?
Developer 2019 – Facts and Figures
88,883 developers from 179 countries participated in Stack Overflow’s annual survey of methods, technologies and their working environment. A selection of the results.
The Groundhog says hello
A corporation does not use color printouts in order to reduce costs. Sounds good, but new processes and special rules, new roles and precautions are needed. A gloss.
Digital Awareness
The development of digital awareness is becoming increasingly important for both individuals and businesses. What are the challenges and opportunities?
Misunderstandings in Requirements Engineering
When working with specialist departments, there are often misunderstandings. What are the causes of these misunderstandings and how can they be avoided in practice?
Do you still manage processes?
Companies often define processes that offer little benefit. How does a meaningful process definition succeed and why does a rethinking of process management become necessary?
Project Marketing – Do good and talk about it
Project marketing tries to increase the acceptance of projects. When does project marketing take place, who is the centre of attention and what tips are there?
Agile documentation in software development
The source code is sufficient as documentation – this is not always a correct statement from developers. How does agile documentation succeed as part of software development?
Prototyping versus Walking Skeleton
Prototyping and Walking Skeleton are two methods to specify requirements and avoid mistakes. When does which option make sense?
Error Handling in Angular Applications
How can errors be logged and persisted in angular applications, how does an error message occur, and how does the export of the error list work? A suggestion.
On the way to an independent employment
In many areas independent work is becoming more and more important. Which factors are essential for this and how can you tell whether you fulfil these factors?
Mind Change in Project Management
The mindset and mind change in project management have a great influence on the success of a project. What if much more is possible than we can imagine?
Corporate culture in digital change
The corporate culture is very important in the development of companies towards digital organisations. What practical dimensions should be taken into account in the change process?
Conflicts at work
There are always conflicts at the workplace. How can internal communication be improved, what can participants contribute to the solution and which perspective helps?
CI/CD pipeline on a Raspberry Pi – Part 4
How can you set up a CI/CD pipeline on a Raspberry Pi? Part 4 of the experiment deals with the deployment, the test of the pipeline and a conclusion.
Democracy in strategic decisions
The development of corporate strategies is a complex challenge. Why does it make sense to include the diverse perspectives of employees?
Get out of the lab – into real life!
Innovation Labs are considered modern. Under what conditions is working under laboratory conditions useful and what challenges do companies have to master?
CI/CD pipeline on a Raspberry Pi – Part 3
How can you set up a CI/CD pipeline on a Raspberry Pi? Part 3 of the experiment deals with the preparation of the Jenkins server and a first build client project.
With Scrum through the crisis?
Do you know the five “R’s” in Scrum? They characterise the agile approach and – if applied correctly – can help organisations to overcome possible crisis.
Central IT versus Shadow IT
Shadow IT is growing continuously in numerous companies. This offers challenges and opportunities for central IT. How can optimal cooperation be achieved?
CI/CD pipeline on a Raspberry Pi – Part 2
How can you set up a CI/CD pipeline on a Raspberry Pi? Part 2 of the experiment is about setting up a build server.
New learning in projects
The topic of personnel development must be thought of differently in order to master the present and future challenges in projects. Why does “new learning” make sense?
UX Design in an agile environment
Combining methods and frameworks is complicated. Even the user-centered design of solutions does not automatically produce good results. How does UX Design work here?
CI/CD pipeline on a Raspberry Pi – Part 1
Can a Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipeline be set up on a Raspberry Pi? Which steps are necessary in which order? An experiment.
The agile speed lie
Agile methods are designed to bring speed to slow organisations. This is misleading and has little to do with agile motives. What is Scrum & Co. really about?
The expectation management
Dealing with our own expectations is usually a challenge that influences our relationship with ourselves and with our customers. How does good expectation management work?
From “dismissed” to error culture?
A culture of error is easily required, but simply using a buzzword cannot be the right way for companies. How can mistakes be handled correctly?
Performance Optimisation for WPF Applications – Part 2
How can the performance of a WPF application be optimised? Among other things, by removing visuals, reducing ResourceDictionary lookups, and offloading UI threads.
Better decisions with project portfolios
In project portfolio management, decisions on project investments are influenced by various factors. Which factors are these and how can a balance be achieved?
Scrum as a basis for “New Learning”
The half-life of knowledge is only 3 years. Why does Scrum offer a meaningful basis for “new learning”? And how important are digital media in teaching?
Promotion of women in companies
The promotion of women in companies often does not work as desired. What influence do existing structures have and how should employees be promoted in the future?
Performance Optimisation for WPF Applications – Part 1
How can the performance of a WPF application be optimised? Among other things with ObservableCollections in item control-based views and the reduction of binding overheads.
The Biggest Obstacles in Requirements Engineering
In theory, requirements engineering sounds simple, but in practice there are always obstacles. How can you identify and overcome them?
Digital Designer – a new IT profession?
Digitalisation demands a new approach to software development. The digital designer should take care of the design of the software. How useful is that?
Modern leadership: When nothing works as planned
The management of an organisation is complex. What is important in modern leadership, why is leadership a process and why can’t companies do without leaders?
The ideal project review
A project review is a retrospective of a project phase or project. What is the ideal approach in terms of structure, moderation and time?
SAFe – The next (r)evolution of our working world?
What distinguishes SAFe from other agile process models? What challenges does it address and what do you need to keep in mind when implementing it?
Of hares and deer
Communicating changes in IT projects is often difficult because the distinction between user groups is too rough. Who should be addressed and by whom?
When is a sales force agile?
Many sales forces want to become agile in order to offer added value to customers and increase satisfaction. But how do they succeed in making this agile change in sales practice?
Talent Management ≠Human Resources Development
How are talents identified in organisations? Can talents be managed as they develop? And who should oversee such developments: HR or specialist department?
Kanban in the public sector
How does Kanban work in the public sector? What are similarities and differences between Scrum and Kanban? And how does a successful introduction in teams work?
The customer behind the IP address
In the Internet age, companies often forget the person behind an IP address. They ask customers for assessments, but ignore their needs. How does it work better?
Collaboration Ă la Coffee Shop
Cooperation in organisations is becoming increasingly important, but the individualisation of employees is progressing. How does collaboration succeed in such a setting?
Success factor emotional competency
Emotional competence means understanding yourself and others better. It is indispensable for successful cooperation in projects. How can it be trained?
Sense and Nonsense of Unit Test Coverage
Coverage is an important aspect of unit testing. What types and problems are there, how important is a testing concept, and what should organisations pay attention to?
Feng Shui in project management
Feng Shui in project management is an intensive work in three steps, with which stagnating projects of any kind can be implemented more easily. How does it work?
Do not fail! Opportunity!
Failure has negative connotations in our society and can trigger real fears. The path to understanding failure as an opportunity is often very long. A report.
Change management is dead – long live continuous change
Change management is changing because changes cannot be ordered in the future. What can organisations do to implement changes?
How good is your solution?
Do the solutions developed deliver what you expected of them? And how can solutions be evaluated at all? The answer is: with a solution evaluation.
Digital Leadership – guidance in digital times
What does Digital Leadership mean? Why is leadership changing through digitisation? How should leadership take place and what is important for me in developing leadership skills?
Stop agility
The inflationary use of “agile” and “agility” and the associated belief in methods and recipes go too far. Stop the mania for agility! Stop agility!
The viral transformation
Lasting, sustainable changes in companies do not work at the push of a button. Viral transformation is needed – how can it succeed?
Design Sprint vs. Design Thinking
Design Thinking and Design Sprint can help to develop solutions. When is which approach suitable? What are the differences and how can they be combined?
The key to agility
In modern business management, agility is the key to success. But what does the trend word agility actually mean? A psychological look behind the hype.
Embedded GIS: Joint processing of attribute data and geodata
The integration of GIS products into individually programmed applications is possible, but inefficient and qualitatively not very convincing. Which paths can providers take?
Clear the way for a positive user experience
What does User Experience mean? What is the basic requirement for successful user experience design and how can users be inspired by products and software solutions?
Shapers of the future at work
Many companies try to meet dynamic changes with the diverse experiences and ideas of their employees. Why is diversity a key to innovation?
Hello, Service?!
No company will publicly admit that its own service is poor. What does good service depend on? And why is it worth having a different perspective on customers?
The forgotten project communication
Project communication is important for active and also for passive stakeholders. What happens when external project communication does not take place?
The problem of being proud
“Pride is not something you say.” Yet being proud can be a positive and valuable thing. What effect can it have on the performance of software teams and individuals?
The value of a company
Apple Inc. is the most expensive company ever. Does that also make the US corporation the most valuable company in the world? When is a company valuable? And for whom?
What prevents creativity in requirements analysis?
The migration of technologies or systems offers creative opportunities that are not always exploited. Fears prevent creativity – what can be done about it?
Low-code platforms in decentralised IT
In many companies there is a shadow IT that can hardly be contained. Low-code platforms are operated on the central IT and can bring light into the shadow IT.
Generation Talk
What are the differences in communication and understanding between Baby Boomers, Generation X, Y and Z? Which values, attitudes and goals influence communication?
Design Thinking in Product Development
What can you do if you don’t have time for a Design Thinking Workshop in product development? Use individual methods in a targeted manner.
What are low-code platforms?
How do low-code platforms work, what are the different concepts, what are the advantages of low-code and what is a Citizen Developer?
Emojis in communication
Emojis are often part of a written communication. Where can they be used in business and where should they be avoided? And what are the advantages, disadvantages and trends?
Why Scrum fails in your company
Companies expect small miracles from Scrum and fail with the application, because agile product development stands and falls with the support of the entire company.
Project manager in large projects
In large projects, a project manager often experiences stress. How does the mirror of truth help and how does personality development work for successful projects?
The best way to a decision
What is the best way to get decisions? How do you obtain binding and qualitatively good decisions from management and how do you promote the making of decisions?
Every day the GDPR gives its greetings
Data protection is important – but the new basic data protection regulation misses the mark – a personal assessment and approach.
What’s New Work?
The term New Work goes back to Frithof Bergmann. What did he mean at the time, what definition is common today and what could be a subjective interpretation?
The SWAT team in Scrum
How can the further development of a software with Scrum be harmonised with simultaneous software operation? A practical solution is the use of a SWAT team.
The Digital Humanist
Economic activity is accelerating. How can the challenges of the digital age be met? And what is the manifesto of the Digital Humanist?
ROI of Trust – What is trust worth?
What are the benefits of trust for companies? When is an investment in trust worthwhile, what does trust cost and how can measures and indicators be defined?
Best practices for requirements workshops
What best practices are there for the preparation, implementation and follow-up of requirements workshops? What questions help and how do you deal with conflicts?
The Black Box of Scrum Team Building
Scrum propagates self-organised teams. In which phases are teams formed, which 9 team roles exist and why should teams be understood as social systems?
Agility in public administration
“Agility and public administration don’t go together.” Read 13 theses and challenges on why agility is necessary in public administration.
The price is (almost) irrelevant
How important is the price in a purchase decision? A thesis with reference to the cost/performance ratio, the Kano Model, the break-even point and the limit value of the price.
The company as an ecosystem
The viable company of the future is an ecosystem. How can it be developed, what will employees pay attention to and why does a look into the past help?
Service as the core of the business
Services are becoming increasingly important for consumers and thus also for companies. What makes a service and how can companies improve their service orientation?
Reasonable limits for self-responsible teams
Which decisions should self-responsible teams be able to make and how does a technically clean design help in assembling self-responsible teams?
Balm for the soul of business
Cooperation can be redefined with value and performance contributions. Collaboration is created across company boundaries. 6 lessons about the work of future.
Requirements with or without Excel
MS Excel is the most frequently used software in requirements management. Why is that so? What are the advantages of using Excel and when does it not make sense to use it?
Checklists for projects
Checklists structure and document work steps in projects. They offer orientation and can be used in different project phases. What is to be observed?
The power of the subconscious
Feelings, thoughts and imprints influence human actions. If you want to change, the first thing you have to do is change your unconscious.
Project termination – a question of the future
Many companies find it difficult to terminate a project. What should organisations look for when they decide to abort a project?
The Frankenstein Principle in IT Analysis
Is there a pattern that all IT solutions follow over time and in accordance with current trends? The Frankenstein principle provides the answer.
Requirements without expert knowledge
Developers and architects are often the wrong people to contact when formulating requirements. But who are the right contacts?
Simplified Requirements Management
Requirements are often insufficiently managed in projects; the Simplified Requirements Management approach with its few rules helps here.
Subversively agile
Which five agile tools are best suited for use in classic companies and how do you introduce them subversively if necessary?
Machine ethics – a question of development
How does the error-free development of machines succeed? How do machines learn ethical behaviour? And what decisions can machines make?
Introversion or Extraversion
There are introverted and extraverted personality types. How can you optimally design the cooperation – also in software development?
Planning subject to reservation
Uncertainty is a characteristic in projects and technology is an essential factor for uncertainty. How can organisations still plan meaningfully?
Software selection in 10 steps
Do you know the most important factor of a software selection? What should you pay attention to during the software selection process and which steps make sense?
Project Management 2030
What will project management look like in 2030? How will the role of the project manager change? 11 theses about the project management of the future.
Exchanging requirements without loss
There are technical and procedural challenges when exchanging requirements. How can the loss-free exchange of requirements be achieved?
Change of project manager in an ongoing project
If a project threatens to fail, a new project manager could help. What should you be aware of when changing project managers?
Lego for companies
LEGO SERIOUS PLAY is a moderated method to solve problems, find ideas and develop teams in a playful way. What is important in practice?
The best process in requirements management
What is the best process in requirements management? What is the ideal procedure for requirements collection and which steps are essential?
The effectuation principle
How do successful entrepreneurs deal with uncertainty? How do you operate successfully on the market in the long term? Effectuation is the answer.
IT analysis as a creative process
Does IT analysis support creative thinking? And how can the phases of preparation, incubation, illumination and verification be integrated?
The agile migration of applications
How do you migrate an application? How can an agile, iterative approach be successful and what challenges do you have to pay attention to?
Be carful judging
Judgments often lead to misunderstandings. What should you be aware of and what can you do to permanently improve your communication?
Project start, on your marks, ready
In many projects the project start is too early and without preparation. How can an optimal project start be achieved and which aspects have to be considered?
The mindset of innovation
Innovation needs a mindset. Without this mindset, established companies fight for their existence. Read 5 reasons for the failure of innovations.
More success with composure
Successful project work requires a self-confident inner attitude. How do you stay calm, focused and confident in projects?
In 14 days to the customer specification
What is an agile customer specification and how do you create it in a team in only 14 days? Which steps and rules are important for an efficient creation?
The problem with problem descriptions
Problems without a precise description are a problem in development. How does a good problem description help to find the right solution?
The successful group communication
Leverage points are essential for successful group communication because they combine the advantages of large groups and small teams.
Inspection of the specification
Specifications often contain contradictions, gaps and errors. The task of an inspection is to uncover this. Six best practices help.
Avoid communication traps
In projects there are some communication traps. Read about generalisation as a perception filter and how to recognise generalisations.
Creativity in meetings – a comparison of methods
Meetings are often not effective. What can you do and what are the benefits of brainstorming, brainwriting and braindumping? A comparison of methods.
Intuition in Project Management
Intuition helps to make good decisions in a project. Why is intuition also an important resource against complexity and dynamics?