Dr. Dominic Lindner, Autor bei agile Companies

Medium-sized companies 4.0 21. March 2021

Printing masks with your logo – is it still worth it?

The COVID-19 pandemic will keep us busy. The vaccinations are running slowly and the lockdown has just been extended until after Easter 2021. So we still have to spend some time wearing masks. Even after the pandemic, we may still have to wear masks. Politics and science are currently intensively negotiating this. Printed mask with company logo A logo on the mask can make an impression and helps to show the company present. The employees of your company also show solidarity and actively promote the brand. I also had such a mask made for my blog. Examples of providers are www.masken-bedrucken.de and many more. The company offers masks from 9.90 euros and there is even the option of printing FFP2 masks. In my region of Bavaria in particular, these have been mandatory in shops and public transport for several weeks. I think it is worth having a logo printed on…

Careers in IT 21. March 2021

You don’t get a raise for a better job – it really works!

“Money alone does not make you happy, but it is better to cry in a taxi than in the tram.” (Marcel Reich-Ranicki). The salary is and will remain an important factor in professional life and the “Labor Market Study 2018” by the personnel service provider Robert Half asked 1,000 office workers about factors behind the raise. The results are: Change of job to a new employer: 30%Company-wide salary increase: 16%Internal job change or promotion: 16%New collective agreement and company bonus: 10%Target achievement: 9%Duration of employment: 8%Additional tasks: 4% The results of the study show that the majority of workers received a raise when they changed jobs. I have also examined other studies and these are almost the only and best way to get a raise. In view of the other factors, an employee also seems to have almost no influence on the salary. In particular, we cannot actively control company…

Careers in IT 21. March 2021

Staff position – curse or blessing?

A staff unit is usually made up of specialists who have no management or instruction powers and who act in an advisory capacity or in representation. You are assigned to a manager and work on overarching topics. Often young high potentials (preferably with a doctorate) or experienced employees are offered such a position. But what does the staff position mean for your career? Opportunities staff unit – close to the board The staff unit can help to ensure that you receive a lot of information from an assigned manager and, above all, from the Make top management known can. This network in particular is a strong asset. Also the Experience with overarching projects – across departmental boundaries – helps you to build strong references. For example, I restructured 300 employees in the staff unit. References like these are a great boost for your own career. Furthermore, you can do very…

Medium-sized companies 4.0 21. March 2021

Using storytelling and video production correctly for companies – this is how it works!

Companies are encouraged to convey messages to customers in a meaningful and entertaining way. One way to do this is to convey messages through videos and tell a story in them that touches customers. Videos are trending – in one Study by the BiTS-Business and Information Technology School 1000 test persons aged 18 and over from Germany were examined. A special focus was on learning with and without videos. Over 70% of the subjects were able to absorb content much better with short explanatory videos than with conventional written documents. One way to make videos even better is storytelling. Storytelling According to Wikipedia is storytelling: “a narrative method with which explicit, but above all implicit knowledge is passed on in the form of leitmotifs, symbols, metaphors or other means of rhetoric.” Storytelling is telling stories and conveying business information through metaphors or personal experiences. In short, these are structured as…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

Spotify Squads in companies – two ways of implementation

Spotify is on everyone’s lips with an agile model made up of squads. Squads are loose groups that have a specific purpose and work in an agile manner. Each squad has an elected squad leader who represents the interests of the team. The squadlead is a “weak” professional leadership role – in my experience, technical knowledge is very important. He is an escalation authority and reports to a TribeLead, Teamlead or department head. All squads have a full IT infrastructure to work autonomously. In the course of my role as a consultant to the board of directors, I worked out a model for a company to sensibly establish squads in the company with both classic hierarchies and agile departments. Of course, an agile coach can now say: It is not intended that way – but agile concepts always apply to the current situation – and that is often the classic…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

How do I test the performance of managers in uncertain environments? – With methodology to success

How do I check if someone is driving properly in the fog? In the same way, you can currently imagine your job as a project manager, manager or department head in times of Corona. For a long time I have been accompanying managers in times of complexity through my advice and consultation hours. Especially at higher management levels, it is important to assess managers quickly and correctly. Imagine: when a manager does not seem to agree on a job and has been approaching a project or organizational development incorrectly or not at all for months. Not only his performance incl. Salary does not generate any benefit, but also the team with often up to 20 employees. High costs in the case of misjudgments by executives I would like to start with a concrete example: I recently had my telephone consultation again and the following happened: A department head had a…

Careers in IT 21. March 2021

New job in times of Corona – this is how you use contacts!

We all know: No job is forever and, especially in modern and complex environments, people like to say: “after 3 years you can and after 5 years you have to change!” Corona is also currently accelerating uncertainty and even leading to job loss for employees. Now the stress starts – write applications and work your way from rejection to rejection until it works. Is it always like that? No, because it is not necessary for people who work permanently on your network and therefore often do not have to apply at all. In addition to this blog, I also work full-time for the company and I have never had to apply to my four previous employers. There was always an offer through good contacts to make decisions about the company. Because an old popular saying already says “Relationships only hurt those who don’t have any”. In this article I would…

Agile organization 21. March 2021

Change organizational structure: This is how it works in self-organization

“The only constant in the universe is this change . “( Heraclitus of Ephesus). Team and department structures change regularly, especially in companies. Be it in agile Scrum organizations or Spotify models (Squads). But how can such changes be simplified in such a way that the organization can almost always renew and change itself? The problem is that, especially in agile organizations, changes represent chaos for management and the HR department (self-organization -> HR department loses track of things) and are often almost impossible in classic organizations due to the sheer number of regulations. So how can an organization change itself in a self-learning manner and this in coordination with management and HR? In this article I will only devote myself to the organizational structure. Of course, you still have to anchor processes and culture in a meaningful way. I have the following reading tips for this: Changes according to…

Bachelor thesis / master thesis 21. March 2021

Distance learning: facts and figures as well as my new position as an honorary lecturer

Studying can be a major success factor in a professional career. It is already clear from the salary. The FAZ examined a salary analysis of over 200,000 salaries Salary.de and looked at the comparison between training and studies. The statement: In principle, studying pays off compared to vocational training if you look at income over your entire working life; On average, academics only overtake former apprentices at the age of 31. In sectors such as IT or sales, it sometimes takes up to 33 years of age. So it turns out that although you do without a salary for a few years, from the age of 31 to 33 you earn more money for the rest of your life. Job insecurity has been increasing, especially since Corona, and distance universities are booming. But what exactly does it look like? Current study on distance learning To get a better insight I…

Careers in IT 21. March 2021

From team leader / staff position to department head – this is how the step succeeds

Many want to take the step into top management and become department heads. But the way is not easy. As a team leader, I suddenly no longer manage 8 but 80 employees and taking on the leadership of executives becomes relevant. Strategic topics are also on the agenda, which is new for many team leaders. Conversely, strategic topics are nothing new for the staff units, but leadership. Such a climb is worth it, according to Stepstone – While a Team leader in IT Earned 65,000 to a maximum of 76,000 euros a year – comes in Head of department in IT to 76,000 to 90,000 euros. The rise brings a lot of salary again and I think that the magical 100,000 is also possible after 4-5 years. In 2019 I was also able to rise to the position of department head and would like to report how I managed to…