Dr. Dominic Lindner, Autor bei agile Companies

IT organization 21. March 2021

Build IT product organization – this is how it works!

For many IT companies, the classic credo “The customer is king” applies. This often means that these companies are constantly trying to optimize their productivity or the quality of their IT products. However, in addition to fast and good delivery conditions, the nature of the offer should not be disregarded. Because for an IT company to be successful, it is first and foremost about reacting correctly to the customer. This means knowing exactly the needs and requirements of your own target group and responding to them in a targeted manner. In order to achieve this, one thing is needed above all: an efficient IT product organization. With the proliferation and understanding of Agility as well as the steadily increasing Implementation of agile strategies , many IT companies have already recognized the importance and benefits of an IT product organization. But also for those companies that are just about to introduce…

Careers in IT 21. March 2021

Career start in consulting – should I or should I not?

Especially for young academics shortly before or immediately after graduation, starting a career in consulting is becoming an increasingly popular option. But why is that? What tasks can you expect in these companies and for whom is a job as a consultant even suitable? Career start in consulting – what are the tasks? Starting a career in consulting is particularly popular because the work is so diverse. Especially now in the age of Consulting 4.0 . Every order and every customer is different. The working days of a consultant differ enormously. Tasks, colleagues and the place of work are constantly changing. But even if the setting changes again and again, the framework remains the same. The main tasks include: Development and implementation of new business models, strategies or systems Optimizing processes Calculation of cost savings Optimization of existing resources Restructuring of departments Preparation of reports and concepts Realignment of the…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

Working out loud – that’s behind the trend term!

Large companies such as Daimler or Bosch in particular have been promoting the trend of “Working out Loud” for a while now. In the course of New Work and digitalization this seems the next level Agile organization to be. But what does it actually mean? Just another fad or a serious concept? What is Working out Loud about? The term “working out loud” has actually been around for almost a decade. The term first appeared in 2010 in a blog article by IT consultant Bryce Williams. Williams dealt in his text with the idea of publicly sharing work and knowledge so that added value is created for everyone. To do this, he created the term “Working out Loud” (WOL) from the previously known concepts of social collaboration and collaborative learning. After WOL was discussed in more detail by John Stepper in his book 5 years later, it quickly found acceptance…

Digital change 21. March 2021

Automation – these are the advantages for companies

Automation as process optimization through technology has become an important topic for companies. Ultimately, among other things, it can also significantly increase agility in companies. However, since automation can look different for every company, every department, every employee and every process, there are many advantages during implementation. Advantages of automation for companies Companies can use automation in very different areas, from purchasing to IT to human resources work, there are processes whose human effort can be replaced by artificial intelligence. What initially only sounds like labor savings, but has other pluses to offer. Saving of time and effort Above all, automation means an increase in productivity and efficiency. Many manual processes otherwise carried out by workers are no longer necessary due to the increased use of machines. This speeds up processes and work steps to a large extent while at the same time reducing the amount of work involved. As…

Digital leadership 21. March 2021

Become a manager – this is how promotion works!

Many students and professionals dream of a vertical leadership career. Even when studying or training, the vertical career was often preferred to the horizontal career and many dreamed of one day leading their own employees as a team or department manager. But the way there is difficult. Because, on the one hand, leadership is increasingly being dissolved in the course of agile methods, so that teams make decisions themselves and Scrum Masters and Product Owners tend to support them. So there are fewer real disciplinary leadership roles than there were a few years ago. On the other hand, these few spots are often still over Vitamin B awarded or it is often assessment centers (mainly in large companies) necessary, which take a lot of time. Of course, some factors such as vitamin B, skill, luck, and much more are necessary for a leadership role. You must also mature into a…

Careers in IT 21. March 2021

Assistant positions – stepping stone or career kink?

Are you a student and your studies are coming to an end or do you already have a little work experience but want to start all over again? Assistant positions seem to be an extremely good way to work your way up in a company. But what exactly are the requirements and tasks for such a position and what are the advantages and disadvantages? Requirements for assistants As an assistant you are above all one thing: the link between management and the departments below. This transferred power is not always easy to use. After all, there are often disagreements between these two parties, which may even be carried out over your back. This means that in an assistant position, above all, you must have a strong assertiveness. But other other soft skills are also extremely important in assistant positions: reliability Commitment & willingness to work independent work and analytical thinking…

Digital leadership 21. March 2021

Digital Leadership – Tips for Virtual Teams

For less than 8 months I have been responsible for a small team now consisting of 9 people who work completely virtually at 3 locations for 4 customers who couldn’t be more different. The team can decide for themselves when and how they can work from home and at which of the three locations they want to work. Although each team member lives at one of the three locations, people often commute between the locations. However, our customers are not represented at the locations, which is not important as we work for them remotely. While two customers work more traditionally according to ITIL, the others are based on the DevOps method. For this team to be successful, a new type of leadership and collaboration is important. In addition to the technical requirements such as VPN and software tools such as Jira and video conferencing, collaboration on a human level was…

Digital transformation 21. March 2021

Agile marketing – what’s behind the trend?

In addition to content marketing, the term “agile marketing” is also being used more and more frequently. But what exactly is it and who does this trend benefit? While some think of the well-known move by the cookie manufacturer Oreo during the power failure at the American Super Bowl 2013, this marketing strategy is still unknown territory for others. Oreo had tweeted the sentence “You can still dunk in the dark” during the half-hour break in the game and was then represented in the news for days. What is agile marketing and what is it? In this context, agile means first of all that advertising strategies are much more flexible and unbound. Oreo did not develop a planning-intensive strategy in advance, but instead reacted spontaneously to an unpredictable situation. So agile marketing is first and foremost a very dynamic concept and not as run-in as the traditional marketing processes .…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

Agile business organization – tips for the transformation!

You have been playing with the idea for a long time more agility in your company bring to? Do you want to know how agility is structured? Here is a guide to what to look out for if you want to introduce an agile business organization. 5 pillars for agile business organization Agility arises from the realization of 5 important dimensions. If you observe these measures, an agile business organization can be implemented much more easily in your company. Or they make it through to lead even more agile . Target image In order to introduce agility and, in particular, an agile company organization, a vision is required first of all. What should be changed? Just project or product management or the entire company? As a manager, you should therefore ask yourself to what extent the company should become more agile. This applies above all to the areas of personnel…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

Scrum in corporations – how do I avoid agile Taylorism?

I blog a lot about medium-sized companies and thus also about the specific problems they have. However, I do not want to neglect the specific problems of large corporations. To this day I am interested in the specific problems with scaling Scrum on a large scale. Managers from three different corporations wrote to me via my blog asking me to come over. Of course I gladly accepted this invitation. The aim was an intensive professional exchange (4h). The agenda of the workshop was as follows: What is the current status of the scaling of Scrum in corporations? What are the challenges? How could this be solved? tip : You are welcome to read additionally what the Differences between medium-sized companies and corporations are. Scaling agility in corporations The last time I was really active as an agile consultant in corporations in 2015, the first teams were organized according to agile…