About
Three things I believe – and where I learned them
If you work with leaders, you should have led.
At VZ Netzwerke, Germany’s home-grown answer to Facebook, I prepared the spin-off of software engineering into devbliss GmbH. As its managing director, I was then responsible for up to 80 staff and a budget of around €10 million. Budgets, people and delivery commitments were mine to answer for. I know them first-hand, not just from case studies.
A plan is a must. Clinging to it is not.
From 1994 to 1997 I worked for NATO in network operations at European headquarters, mainly in Heidelberg and Sarajevo. What I took away is an attitude I have needed in every organisation since: have a strategy and a plan, but be ready to respond to change at any time. The strategy holds the direction; the plan is allowed to change. Confuse the two, and you either cling stubbornly to the plan or throw the goal overboard at every surprise.
Organisations don’t change by roll-out.
In my first freelance engagements as a Scrum coach I saw what change depends on: not the framework, but leaders who are confident enough to lead differently. Every transformation since has confirmed it. That is why I went back to learning and earned my diploma as a values-based systemic business coach and consultant – for one-to-one, team and business coaching.
WerteWirker
The name is a coined German word: Werte means values, wirken means to have an impact. Leaders have their impact through a clear set of values. For me, values are what settles it when two goals collide. My work is to clarify that set of values with you, your team and your leaders, and to make sure it holds up day to day, at every level.
Two values guide me in this work: honesty and agency. Honesty means questioning the status quo, even when it is uncomfortable. Agency means you can act without me: my work has succeeded when you no longer need me. What that has to do with firefighting is explained on the homepage.
Where I’ve worked – and what I took from it
2022–present
Robert Bosch GmbH (client engagement)
Agile management coaching and sparring at programme and project level in the S/4HANA migration
What I took from it: What holds in a team holds in a programme: clarity beats speed.
2016–present
Interim management
Repeated engagements with line responsibility, in large corporations and mid-sized companies, including two six-month terms as interim Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) in automotive; the clients are confidential
What I took from it: If you lead for a limited time, you work towards the handover from day one.
2019–2022
Schwarz IT, Schwarz Group (client engagement)
Agile and systemic coach: roll-out of the product organisation, building enterprise architecture management, coaching leaders up to executive level
What I took from it: A new organisation is quickly drawn on the org chart. It only becomes real in day-to-day work once leaders live it.
2016–2019
Client engagements
Including MediaMarktSaturn, ISB AG, Techem, ERGO and an automotive group
What I took from it: Problems are more alike than they look from the inside. Usually the only unique thing is the way out.
2016
Founded my own company
WerteWirker GmbH since 2023
What I took from it: With your own name on the invoice, you only promise what you can deliver.
2012–2016
devbliss GmbH (Holtzbrinck)
Managing director; up to 80 staff, a budget of around €10 million
What I took from it: As managing director you are responsible for results, contracts and people all at once. None of it can be passed on.
2010–2012
VZ Netzwerke
Company-wide Scrum Master, then director of software engineering; prepared the spin-off of software engineering
What I took from it: What pressure feels like with millions of users watching.
2008–2010
Scrum and management coach
Clients included the Scout24 group, LV 1871 and Nokia gate5
What I took from it: A framework is a mirror, not a solution.
2005–2008
ComBOTS / Kizoo
Head of internal IT
What I took from it: Operations teaches humility: the only thing that counts is what’s running.
1998–2005
Trainer, lecturer and consultant
Clients included Deutsche Bank and Intershop
What I took from it: Being able to explain something is the most honest test of whether you have understood it.
1994–1997
NATO
Network operations at European headquarters, mainly in Heidelberg and Sarajevo
What I took from it: Eisenhower put it in a nutshell: “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
Qualifications
- Professional background in IT and software development
- Coach Akademie Schweiz (St.Galler Coaching Modell®), diplomas in values-based systemic coaching and consulting, business coaching and consulting, and team coaching and consulting
- Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), Scrum Alliance
- Methods I have used in practice: Scrum, Kanban, LeSS, SAFe and classic project management (PMI)
- German (native), English (fluent)
Where and how I work
I live in the southern Palatinate, in south-west Germany near the French border, and work remotely or on site across Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and elsewhere in the EU, in German and English. Some conversations go better on a walk than across a table. The longer story of my career is on the blog (in German): “Von beiden Seiten des Tisches”.
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