Thinking Outside the Box
Sometimes the best solutions come from ideas that initially seem a bit crazy. Throughout my career, I’ve been involved in projects that pushed boundaries and challenged conventional thinking.
Unconventional Innovations
KanbanPlus for Construction: Who applies lean software development methodologies to construction projects? We did - and invented a new project management methodology in the process.
Ontology-Based Knowledge Graphs: Before “AI” was everywhere, we were building ontology-based knowledge graphs for IT stability. Ahead of its time? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely.
GDPR Before GDPR: Member of a taskforce pioneering corporate-wide data protection policies - methods that were later implemented in GDPR. Sometimes being early means being “crazy.”
Jugend forscht Winner: Award-winning research on the mode of action of a fungicide - because apparently studying fungicide mechanisms was my idea of fun as a teenager.
Early Exploration
Even the early career showed a pattern of curiosity:
- 1986: Research on nitrate dispersion modeling in groundwater at Engler-Bunte-Institute
- 1986: Research on bilirubin fraction influence in photometric procedures at Eppendorf Research Lab
The Crazy Ideas Approach
The best crazy ideas share common traits:
- They solve real problems in unexpected ways
- They’re backed by deep technical understanding
- They’re willing to challenge “how things are done”
- They eventually become “obviously the right approach”
Let’s talk about your crazy idea.