Dr. Dominic Lindner, Autor bei agile Companies

Digital change 21. March 2021

The digital twin – what is it?

Have you already seen the term “the digital twin”? The digital twin plays an important role, especially in the course of Industry 4.0-based processes. Basically, it describes nothing more than the depiction of a real object in the digital world. However, since this can only be mapped online in the form of data and algorithms, a copy of a real object is created in this way, so to speak – the digital twin. Importance of the digital twin The digital twin is used to digitally map tangible or intangible products, such as products, services or even entire processes. This is either for later use or for a real-time based analysis. It happens because the digital twin is coupled with the existing world via sensors. This can, for example, affect the environment or the use of machines. As certain scenarios can be played through digitally, these can serve as a basis…

Bachelor thesis / master thesis 21. March 2021

Writing a bachelor thesis: Guideline in a nutshell!

I often get calls from students who are just starting a bachelor thesis and absolutely do not know: How should I proceed? What should I do? I have written numerous articles on this and would now like to give an overview of what you should read in which order. The standard case – you’d better not deviate In my experience, 90% of theses in business administration or business informatics use the same procedure. This is: Read something (literature analysis)ask practitioners how relevant this is (survey or interviews) andderive something from it (evaluation). Although this procedure is quite standard, it is well suited for starting research, as there are numerous examples. It is almost always special cases that put students in completely stressful situations. Never forget: unlike researchers such as PhD students, you are not trained in research methods. I took examples from a 10-day seminar before I did my first…

Big data 21. March 2021

Chatbots in companies – these are the possibilities

Chatbots are on everyone’s lips and could significantly change the working world in companies. The use of chatbots, for example, offers a complete revolution in customer service for companies. On the other hand, this could also lead to massive job losses and also make numerous job profiles such as the call center agent no longer necessary. In the following article I would like to shed light on the current and following possibilities of chatbots. Klarmobil chatbot The first thing I did was look at the Klarmobil chatbot. According to the mobile operator, 1000 customers use the chatbot every week and ask almost 6 questions. In addition to the classic customer advisor, the bot answers a set of standard questions similar to the FAQ. WetterOnline chatbot I found another great use case at WetterOnline. There I can give the bot special instructions. These are for example show me the weather on…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

Agile transformation – tips for change in the company according to Lewin and Kotters change model

I have been asked a lot about strategies of agile change lately and managers in strategy development and students in their thesis want to be able to grasp these better. I can reassure you in the first step. This “agile” is not new rocket science or calls for a fundamentally new strategy. Agility is roughly the same as any other change that you have been implementing in the company for years. So you can also introduce agility with the currently known classic change models. Almost every model has its origin in the considerations of Kurt Lewin, who in 1943 classified a change in three phases. Basically, two forces work in organizations: own security strivings and habits that demand the maintenance of the status quonew technologies, executives new competitors who demand changes Kurt Lewin then established in 1947 that change only takes place as soon as the force of necessity for…

Bachelor thesis / master thesis 21. March 2021

Finding a topic for a doctoral thesis – this is how I did it!

I am often asked for tips and tricks for finding a topic in my doctorate or for a thesis. I have already written some guidelines for finding a topic. However, some of my readers are also interested in my personal story. I would therefore like to explain them in the following. By the way, my topic is: Effects of digitization on SMEs with knowledge-intensive services – results of empirical studies. Reading tip: Find a topic for a thesis In the first step, I thought about: What do I actually want to do? Then I read literature and, in the third step, interviewed practitioners. So, on the one hand, I wanted to make sure that there was enough literature and, on the other hand, that the topic would interest someone. Then I will say a few words about the implementation. Step 0: Preparation – “What do I actually want” and organization.…

Bachelor thesis / master thesis 21. March 2021

Thesis: Is it worth editing?

For many students, the thesis marks the last important milestone before they successfully complete their studies. Even if writing a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral thesis usually does not have a significant influence on the final overall grade of the degree, many prospective graduates still want to achieve a good performance. In this context, many students wonder whether editing is worthwhile. As a symbolic end of the course, the thesis is often of great importance. It is not only followed by many important steps, such as the graduation ceremony and the ceremonial handover of the diploma, but it is also often used as a business card when looking for a job. Ultimately, your work shows how you express yourself, how well you explain, and how efficiently you can work independently. What is proofreading? Editing is about checking, adapting and improving a text with regard to aspects such as content or writing…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

Scrum of Scrums in the B2B service area #project freedom

“What leeway do you have in your projects to try out other approaches and to consciously go new, simple paths? To what extent do companies give project managers, scrum masters and product owners as well as consultants a free hand in choosing the procedure, in project planning, in communication or in the type of cooperation in the team (keyword self-organization)? And with which approaches are you successful? ” This is what the project magazine asks in the latest blog parade with the topic ” More success through new freedoms in the project “. I am happy to take part in this blog parade and answer the questions asked from my point of view. I am part of a team (with 5 people) that provides infrastructure services for a major customer. The product is a mixture of hardware and software such as a car, airplane or an ICE. So that the…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

Agile transformation – tips for change in the company according to Streich and Rogers

I have been asked a lot lately about strategies for change in the company and how agility can be carried in 100% of the areas of the company. My first answer is of course: 100% agile is unlikely to exist and agility doesn’t actually need a special change strategy. Agility can be seen in exactly the same way as the introduction of a product, or it can be introduced in the classic way according to Kotter’s change strategy. Every model has its origin in the considerations of Kurt Lewin, who classified a change in three phases in 1943. Basically, two forces work in organizations: own security strivings and habits that demand the maintenance of the status quonew technologies, executives new competitors who demand changes Kurt Lewin then established in 1947 that change only takes place as soon as the force of necessity for change is stronger than that of habit.…

Bachelor thesis / master thesis 21. March 2021

Deductive vs Inductive Research – How to Work on a Subject Without Literature

There are two ways of thinking in research. On the one hand, researchers can transfer knowledge from practice into theory or transfer knowledge from theory into practice. The following figure shows these two ways of thinking. First I would like to show the more usual procedure for a thesis and then how you can pull through a topic without literature. Reading tip: Build research design Deduction: The standard for theses Deduction means transferring information from theory into practice. In other words, deduction means concretely to derive / derive. For example, you know: goldfish live in water. I have a goldfish. So this goldfish has to live in the water too. Reading tip: Find literature I would like to show you this using the example of change strategies in companies. You can find out more in the literature: What change strategies are there (Kotter, Lewin, …). Now you ask experts: How…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

The goal and meaning of agility – differences in corporations and SMEs

Agility is a big topic in almost every company and I often have conversations with decision-makers or students who are looking for a topic related to agility for their thesis. In the numerous conversations I noticed, one thing struck me: When it comes to agility, it’s always a question of perspective. I differentiate between corporations and SMEs (small and medium-sized companies – up to 249 employees and 50 million sales). For a long time I thought about how exactly the differences could be and couldn’t come up with a meaningful answer myself. Piercy, N., & Rich, N. (2015) examined in the study: “The relationship between lean operations and sustainable operations” in 5 case studies the connection between agility and stability in companies. It struck me that the study did not directly examine my question, but showed me two exciting goals of agility: Introduction of agility with the aim of increasing…