Who are you and what do you do? Who are your partners?
My name is Thomas Reschenhofer and I have been working at the Chair of Software Engineering of Business Information Systems at the Technical University of Munich since October 2013. My doctoral thesis is in the field of user-oriented analysis of complex linked data.
At Software Campus I work together with Deutschen Post DHL.
What do you expect from Software Campus?
Software Campus offers many interesting training and contact opportunities.
On the one hand, the seminars, which are usually held by very experienced trainers, provide the opportunity to acquire very important basic theoretical knowledge, which in particular develops social and leadership skills. These skills can also be immediately applied to your own project, thereby gaining valuable practical experience.
On the other hand, the collaboration with DP DHL provides interesting insights into the everyday life of such a large corporation. Here I have the opportunity to get into contact with departments at different locations and to talk to my mentor about personal and project-related matters. Especially the shared reflection of the Software Campus seminars helped me to understand how the partly theoretical models can be used in practice.
What is the content of your IT project and how could it be applied in the future?
Based on my doctoral thesis my project is called “Spreadsheet 2.0“. Spreadsheets (the best-known representative of this group is probably Microsoft Excel) are generally established as THE tool for end users, allowing them to manage, analyze, and visualize data independently.
Within the framework of my project, I will work out how the paradigm of spreadsheets can be raised to “the next level”. This includes concrete answers to the questions “How can end users analyze not only simple data, but also complex linked data (e.g. graphs and hierarchies)”, “How can several people, teams, or departments collaboratively work on a spreadsheet?”, and “How can the administration of a spreadsheet be simplified (e.g. separation of data and logic, versioning of data and logic, …)”.
With most companies today using spreadsheets for all kinds of tasks, the answer to the question “How can Spreadsheets 2.0 be applied in the future?” is clear…
What did you like most about Software Campus so far?
There are basically two things: First, I liked the fact that most of the trainers at Software Campus Seminars are or were very experienced leaders themselves and were thus able to spice up the theoretical content with a few personal anecdotes. On the other hand, I believe that the personal mentoring by an experienced manager of the industry partner is a unique opportunity to come into direct contact with this otherwise distant world of management.
In your opinion, what skills do top executives need to have today in order to be successful?
In my opinion, one of the most important roles of a top manager is that of a connoisseur of human nature: they must be able to understand their employees, recognize their problems and identify their inner drive. Based on this, they can develop individual strategies to motivate and develop each of their employees in the best possible way and in the best interests of both sides.
