Great events will cast their shadows before:

This year, there will be at least four more PM camps.

After the magnificent meeting at Stuttgart #pmcamp13str of   May, 3^rd/4^th, 2013 , we will meet again in Vienna for the #pmcamp13vie on  June, 21^st/22^nd, 2013, in Bad Homburg for the #pmcampRM on  27^th through 29^th, 2013, in Berlin for the #pmcamp13ber on September, 13^th through 15^th, 2013 and, as the year comes to an end for the “mother of all PM camps” #pmcamp13 in Dornbirn on  November, 14^th through 16^th, 2013.

Here is the definition:
A PM-Camp is nothing other than a Barcamp, where project managers, entrepreneurs, leaders, students and similarly minded people meet.

This is the reason why I am going to start a small IF blog series on barcamps in general and PM camp in particular.

Today you will read part 1:

Why I Go There!

I was born in 1950. My generation had a nice time to live in. In our Central European home, we experienced luxury as the human race did never before in its history. We were allowed to grow up in a free society. Suppression and force were at least reduced to a tolerable degree. For most of us, education was affordable. And, above all: there was no active war fought on our soil!

To be sure – not all was well. The consumption terror born during the time of the economic miracle was negative. We, too, fell victim to it. The only unnatural threat for our lives was on the streets, where motorized traffic caused many victims, injuries and deaths (in our circles, as well). Perversely, however, we accepted those as logical consequence of our so-called new freedom.

When all is said and done, I and my central European generation probably lived in a time when we were better off than humans had been at any other time. At least that is how I perceive it. I wish to express my gratitude for this and hand as much of my experience and knowledge as possible on to many people.

At the same time, my generation did more damage to this planet than any other generation before us. As I see it, we may not have done it intentionally, but we have certainly been most careless. Because the knowledge we have today (see Club of Rome and others) was already available.  Well, there is a lot we would have to make up for, but we will not succeed. For me, this means a duty to also write about the mistakes we made. After all, you can also learn from mistakes.

Consequently, I particularly enjoy doing presentations for young people. Currently, however, the best way to hand on experience and at the same time work on your constructs are barcamps.

This is why I like going to barcamps whenever my time permits it. And I particularly enjoy the PM Camp.

RMD
(Translated  by EG)

P.S.
I intend to continue in my series with topics such as
What are my experiences on a PM Camp!
What is my contribution at a PM Camp!

Don’t we all know quite well that:

“The more money you spend on education, the better the education will be”.

“The fewer children are in a classroom, the higher the success rate.”

“The more computers you use at schools, the more modern the education will be.”

And:

“With respect to what money is spent on education, Germany is far behind many others countries.”

These are four theses our educational elite support most strongly, repeating them in every show. The more “Precht-like” it looks, the better a hypothesis is.

Unfortunately, all four of these theses have been empirically proven wrong. Bavaria spends less money on each student than Berlin, still has a higher success rate, performance in mathematics is independent from how many students sit in the class, the effect of the computer on learning is negligible compared to all the other influential variables and – last not least – the FRG is somewhere in the middle when it comes to how much which country spends on education.

Personally, I have my doubts especially about the last statement, because the survey coming to this conclusion was done by the OECD. In order to correctly get an idea, you have to know that private educational agents, such as craftsmen’s or industrial factories will not even be noticed by those ladies and gentlemen in Paris. Actually, their statistics confuse the German “Meister” with the English “Master”, simply assuming it to be the equivalent.

So where will you find any useful information if you wish to familiarize yourself with the reality of learning and teaching in times of electoral campaigns?
Well, here is something I can recommend:

“Auf den Lehrer kommt es an” (It Depends on the Teacher) by Rainer Werner, who is teaching at the John-Lennon-Gymnasium Berlin.

It is probably no surprise that the most critical voices will tend to come out of Berlin or Bremen, because that is where the ideologists are most active.

wl
(Translated by EG)

*) “Precht-like” refers to the TV philosopher Richard David Precht. Incidentally, he was once even a guest of Jauch, where he advertised his very high-strung reform ideas for our schools. It turned out in the end that not much of them remained.

“Get in Shape!” held on March, 31st at the IF Academy is now over. It was a truly nice presentation by Johannes Schmidt. As soon as the video recording is finished, we will make it available to you.

After “Get In Shape!”, we will present

“Ubuntu & Android Usage in Business”

The test in practice – what can Windows alternatives really achieve? Features, problems and solutions. An overview.

On May, 16th, 2013, Alexander Jachmann of the IF-Tech AG will update us on the current state of affairs. It will, again, be very well worth watching, so write down the time! And the other scheduled presentations can also already be seen on the poster.

RMD
(Translated by EG)

When you have reached old age in the form of being more than 60, you will look back on your own life more and more often. And since I am rather happy with what I achieved and accomplished, I also once in a while think about the persons who helped me in life. Well, there are quite a few. Studying mathematics and computer science was certainly a good choice at the time. I learned a lot when I worked at Siemens. All through life, I kept meeting people who accompanied me for some of the way, thereby being a huge help. And it also seems that I married the right woman.

But some other things also helped a lot. For instance the fact that I learned accounting and business very early in life when attending the business-oriented Jacob Fugger Grammar School.

And something else, too, had a very beneficial effect on me: playing chess. It all started on those Sunday afternoons with my father. Even then, I had a lot of joy playing chess. But during the first few years of grammar school, when I started really getting into playing chess as a competitive sports in the club, my grades at school also quickly improved. Simply because chess had told me how to really concentrate.

But chess gave me a lot more than that. I would even go so far as to say I learned for life through playing chess. Difficult situations, both in private and business life, certainly have a lot of similarities with problems you face on the chess board. The problem solving strategies I learned while playing chess were useful for me in real life. Chess will help you to solve difficult problems “with intuition and strategy”.

I also made many new friends while playing and competing in chess. Dijana Dengler and Stefan Kindermann are two examples for like-minded people. Both of them are also chess players, although considerably better than I. Dijana holds a diploma degree in economy and is FIDE champion. She already took part in many Olympic Games. She made chess her mission and is chief coach of the Münchner Schachstiftung. The Münchner Schachstiftung is very successful when it comes to re-socialization of extremely disadvantaged children. An experience Street Worker of Landeshauptstadt München confirmed that chess is often the only means by which these children and adolescents can be reached.

Stefan is Chess Grand Master and managing director of the Münchner Schachakademie. He, too, took part at Chess Olympics and even once qualified for the world championships. He works as a coach and psychological counsellor, as well as author of several books. Together with Professor Dr. Robert K. Freiherr von Weizsäcker and Dijana, Stefan developed the Master Plan. He coaches leaders in seminars and workshops in this discipline.

And this here is also about the Master Plan. Because it transfers the strategies of chess into real life. And it helps you to make “decisions” by a prudent change of perspective towards an advantageous combination of ratio and intuition.

I keep experiencing how what I learned when playing chess also helps me in real life (both in private and business life, but they cannot be separated, anyway). It helps me to evaluate situations a little better. I find it easier to determine whether I am in a good or poor position. Based on this evaluation, I manage to come up with the right decision, instead of the wrong one, a little more often.

And I believe a small advantage like this can contribute hugely towards feeling well and having the chance to become a content person.

Since you can learn so much by playing chess, I am assuming that you can learn even more from the masters of this discipline. Consequently, I will go to an open seminar day “Master Plan” on Saturday, May, 11. The seminar is from 9:30 to 17:00 and the location is in central Munich, at Zweibrückenstraße 8. That is directly next to the Deutsches Museum.

I look forward to the seminar and, of course, also to all the people who will share the Mater Plan experience with me.

RMD
(Translated by EG)

P.S.
There is another seminar even earlier: on Friday, April, 26, 2013, at the same place. It costs € 580, including VAT. Meals for the day and a signed copy of the  “Königsweg” are also included. For information on the Master Plan, click here Website. Registration: here.

Since it is our upcoming event, here is the poster announcing the next IF Academy presentations. I am always happy to remind you of “upcoming events”:

Johannes Schmidt (TUM, IF-Lab/InterFace AG, Glassbox Games) will speak on Thursday, March, 21st, 2013, starting at 6 p.m. at the InterFace building in Unterhaching. His Topic
Get Under Way!

How video games and movement control want to get us away from being couch potatoes!

Of course, this invitation is not exclusively for f(e)male students. The event is free for all who want to come. After the event, we will again have a little “happy hour”.

For more information on the series of presentations by “(Fe)Male Computer Scientists for (Fe)Male Computer Scientists” click here. If you want to print the poster in high quality, just send an email to me  – I will gladly send you the print PDF version.

RMD

On March, 31st, 2013, Johannes Schmidt will be our speaker at the IF Academy. He studies Informatics at TU München, minoring in Medicine. “Additionally“, he also works at the InterFace AG IF lab.

He has also several years of experience as an entrepreneur and started Glassbox Games with a group of friends. The young team programmed all kinds of smaller video games and Apps for various platforms.

In order to try and learn new things, Glassbox Games was founded by the same group.  By now, Glassbox Games already won some smaller prizes and developed into a small enterprise. The goals have grown and now include serious entrepreneurial visions. And, of course, the Glassbox Games and InterFace AG are closely connected and on very friendly terms.

In his presentation, Johannes will focus on “movement control”. He will tell us about the historical development of this technology and show in a practical exercise how easily this technically really demanding topic can now be programmed.

Besides, he will introduce an IF lap project that reasonably integrates movement control. The presentation will conclude with a short outlook on what we might expect in this sector in the near future.

As always, the presentation will be held in our seminar zone. I strongly recommend it. Johannes will take us on a trip to a world that is alien to many of us, but it might suddenly become a very relevant part of ”common IT“. You really should have some basic understanding of it.…

We start at 6 p.m. – visitors are welcome from 5.30 p.m. After the presentation, there will again be a happy hour, called “beer and informatics”.
We look forward to welcoming many visitors from all age groups!

Of course, Glassbox Games also have their own Website and can be found on Facebook.

If you are interested in the tournament, click here.

RMD
(Translated by EG)

This is about quality control for IT projects. You have to obtain certificates. Here is an original question you get preparatory for an exam.

“Quality management of a product consists of quality assurance, quality planning and quality control. You are responsible for quality assurance in an IT-based project. Name three central tools you need for quality assurance…”

If you can answer this and most other questions of the same sort correctly, you are a certified quality manager.

So what is left for me to say? It is better if I shut up. But your comments would be very much appreciated.

RMD
(Translated by EG)

P.S.
I discovered the topic in a Google+ discussion.

We live in the age of information inflation. Through twitter, FB, Google+ and other sources, I get many recommendations for articles and videos available on the internet. This is something I very much appreciate, because I often learn amazing things.

Some of the things I learn actually support my prejudices, other things I am skeptical about, not wanting to believe them.

But I do not know if everything I receive, read and hear in this flood of information is correct.

Consequently, I like seeking the opinion of experts. However, those experts must be people I know and believe to be able to judge. I must get the impression that the expert I trust also is in the habit of asking questions about things in private life and that he or she is an enlightened person. And I must be certain that I am dealing with an autonomous person with no tendency towards dogmatism.

After having built up trust towards such a person, I give this person more credit than some article I read. And I am glad if I discover that what he or she says matches what the articles says. Because it means that my source is a good one.

RMD
(Translated by EG)

On January, 17th, 2013, the IF-Lab and IF Akademie at InterFace will start a new series of presentations (Vortragsreihe) at Unterhaching.

Thomas Baldus of IF Blueprint AG will be the first speaker at 6 p.m. (in the InterFace building, top floor, teaching area). He will speak about:

APPetite Whetted for Microsoft?!

How exactly does the new taste offensive look as it reaches our shores after its trans-Atlantic voyage?

For more information on the series of lectures, click here: IF-OPEN. Very important – this is not just about the lecture, but also very much about “meeting” during a presentation in the modern format with a “Happy Hour” after the event.

I look forward to a huge audience. Also, I am looking for speakers who would like to share their knowledge and fill the slots on other days. Here is our motto:

From practitioners for practitioners.
Or:
Informatics & Beer.

RMD

It is one of the lessons I learned that the quiet days of Christmas and the New Year are quite suitable for re-evaluating your own life compass. Where am I heading towards? I tried again this year. Incidentally, however, there is no tomorrow without today and no today without yesterday. Consequently, my pondering led me back to my roots. This is about things that particularly moved me during my course of life. And I remembered times long past. Now, in order to put a lid on them as well, I will publicly describe those times. Maybe others who experienced similar things can benefit, too.

When I was eight years old, they prepared me for Holy Communion – also known as First Holy Communion (Erstkommunion). After a fairly normal catholic upbringing (not very intense, more sanctimonious), I – along with other Catholics in my class – was massively instructed during religious education lessons at primary school.

We were in the third form. After Christmas, the preparations for the momentous event got really under way. The first step towards First Holy Communion was to make us all extremely familiar with the martyrdom of Christ. I remember highly sadistic self-adhesive pictures. We had to buy them and then illustrate hand-written texts in our “Passion Exercise Book”.

After Easter, the “bootcamp” gained momentum. First came confession. We had to practice intensely for this. Confession would make us clean. Since confession makes us free from all sin, it must happen shortly before the First Holy Communion. For example on Saturday afternoon if you intend to take the Holy Communion on Sunday. And then you have to do everything in order to prevent sinning during the night from Saturday to Sunday – for example against pinching a bit or having unchaste thoughts (in fact, at the age of eight the latter was not yet a problem). We also practiced doing penance after the confession. You had to say the Pater Noster and the rosary slowly and humbly.

The re-education continued. After the confession came the Holy Communion. We learned that, for a good Catholic, it is the highlight of the week. Even if the week was really bad, it does not matter. Because we live for the Sunday, when the Lord comes to visit us. For an eight-year-old, there were quite hard weeks in 1958. Except that mostly Sundays were no better, either.

But this was not a problem, because, after all, we only had to suffer the misery of this earth until death would deliver us. And then we, as chosen Catholics, would get to heaven. To be sure, it was not easy, because the devil was after us pure souls everywhere. Always and everywhere, sin and atonement were present. So first and foremost, we had to get through. Which is why there was confession and Holy Communion.

Then we practiced Holy Communion. You were not allowed to eat breakfast before the Holy Communion. Mental purity and physical abstinence were absolutely indispensable requirements if you wanted to host the Lord.

He came in the form of an oblate, the Host. The pastor put it onto our tongue. That was also something we practiced. We had to let the body of the Lord melt in our moths, because  “you cannot bite the body of the suffering Jesus with your teeth“ – said our religious instructions teacher.

Well, that is what it was like. Those were all things they pushed into our childish brains. For a certain span of time, they were even a success. Because when you are nine years old, you still believe what the grown-ups tell you.

Today, I am glad to have discovered shortly after my First Holy Communion that I cannot really find much use for the “punishing variant” of God. Neither did I, at the time, think of a ”loving one“. However, it did not take long for me to discover that God was easier to find between the massive trees that grew in the quiet of the Wittelsbacher City Park than in our Church of St. Antony. And my decision was made.  When I had confirmation – that is the second certification a true Catholic has to suffer – I already was in a state of inner rebellion. I only suffered the ceremony under protest.

That is how I experienced it. Today, I wonder what would have become of me if I had ”purified myself“ every Saturday and then “received the body of the Lord” on Sunday. How would I then have been supposed to suffer life?

Consequently, I am very happy to have put a lid on my Catholic past when I entered puberty.

RMD
(Translated by EG)