Entrepreneur at SOAPARK
Dirk studied mathematics and computer science. Since completing his PhD, he has spent the greatest part of his professional life working for large enterprises. As the author of the bestselling book ‘Enterprise SOA – Service-Oriented Architecture Best Practices’, Dirk coined the term ‘SOA’ and the concepts behind it in 2004. Today almost all large organisations in the world apply service orientation as the foundation of their enterprise architecture. Since 2007, Dirk has been running his own company, SOAPARK, which specialises in strategy consulting in the area of digital transformation and SOA. Dirk's latest project is the Enterprise Transformation Circle EnTranCe - a community of experts sharing best practices in Enterprise Transformation.
Circles
- Collaboration, Fact-based IT Planning, Appreciation For People
While standardized methodologies and frameworks lay the groundwork, the true essence of project management lies in navigating the unpredictable. It's this ability to adeptly handle uncertainty that distinguishes success from projects that merely tick the boxes.
The challenge of project management is even greater when it is part of a transformation program. In this case, additional stakeholders and sibling projects multiply the complexity in communication and decision-making. A small detail for Project A can have a big impact on Project B.
You might believe that a conventional course or a textbook could suffice for such knowledge. Yet, the reality of managing complex projects in dynamic sectors like finance, industry, logistics, pharma, and the public sector often surpasses what academia offers. This is where our series of workshops transcends the norm.
Our workshops are crafted for leaders who are ready to explore beyond Project Management 101, covering critical, real-world topics such as:
- disentangling the intricacies of implementing agility (with a small “a”) in complex, multi-layered corporate structures;
- uncovering the depths of pivotal Project Management roles beyond the textbook definitions;
- implementing reflective practices to drive continuous improvement and strategic foresight.
…and many more topics that textbooks don't cover, but every seasoned manager encounters.
The advent of ChatGPT could breathe life into the practical use of AI and company data for the first time. Use cases may include
- Automated real-time decisions
- Significant reduction of process costs and throughput times
- Fact-based strategic management of the portfolio
- Increasing the quality of end customer service
- Leadership, Fact-based IT Planning, Fact-based Business Planning
Most companies operate with a static role description of the product owner. This does not take into account that there is a lot of variability needed in the real world:
- Involved people have different leadership skills and seniority
- Different needs for distribution of decision rights between IT and business
- Different business domains demand different degree of innovation and varying entanglement with other domains
- Guidance of development teams must be matched to experience level
Publications
