What do I write about?
I write articles on leadership, change, organizational design, and lean-agile software development. Whenever I have a topic that is bothering me, and I have time, I write and submit an article. That means I usually don't follow a regular interval.
What's my professional background?
I was a software developer, management consultant, product owner, agile coach, team lead, and department lead. Today, I work as an engineering manager responsible for a team that develops a software product for the aviation industry. I worked at small, medium, and large enterprises. You can find me on LinkedIn.
As a software developer, product owner, and later an agile coach in the software development industry, I am well-versed in Extreme Programming (XP), Scrum, Kanban, LeSS, and, unfortunately, also SAFe. Additionally, I have expertise in Atlassian Jira and Confluence, which complement my product management and leadership skills.
I delved deeply into the domain of leadership during my university studies and wrote my diploma thesis on this topic. Since then, I have devoured many books on the subject. And, of course, I am a leadership practitioner, as I hold a leadership position. However, I don't see leadership bound to a given role or position. Everyone is a leader, since leadership means taking responsibility and striving to make the world better.
Why am I writing on Medium?
I use writing articles to reflect my thoughts. Whenever you have to make something explicit by writing it down, you see some things you did not consider in the first place. Writing completes your train of thought, protecting you from lying to yourself.
Typically, my articles should be shorter to attract a broader audience and increase their reach. Sometimes I take on uncomfortable positions without a happy ending, which isn't a great driver of greater reach. I am aware of that. I have deliberately chosen to stick with it, as my motivation for writing is neither financial gain nor widespread reach.
Who am I?
I am a father and a husband, loving my wife and children.
How I use AI.
Today, we must be honest and transparent about how we use AI. Whether it is in private, in public, or in professional life. And of course, as an IT professional, I am interested in and open to AI. However, I am aware that everything generated by AI is only correct to a certain likelihood. And I am sure that it will be, or even better, it already is, how we work. Therefore, let me explain how I use AI when writing articles.
In 2022, I started using Grammarly to correct spelling and grammar. As Grammarly progressed, it also refined my wording. At this time, as I am not a native English speaker, I feared that my English skills were declining. However, the opposite is true: my grammar and vocabulary improved, whether in writing or speech.
By 2026, I had first used Google Gemini to prompt a train of thought and generate a Medium article (see Being Forced Beyond the Biological Body). However, the result was boring to read and partly incomplete, so I rewrote 80% of the article and added several key points. Anyway, what turns out to be valuable output is asking an AI to review and challenge my articles. This is what I will do in the future, using AI as a tool for improvement.
In the end, for me, it is important that the train of thought comes from me and that I do not just copy-and-paste. Thus, you will never read any random AI slop in my articles.
One last thing.
It makes me happy if my articles help you learn or reflect on yourself. If so, you may follow me and leave a clap. And, even more importantly, please leave a comment, as I am highly interested in discussing topics. If you have constructive criticism, please allow me to learn from you and leave a comment as well.
