Dr. Wolfgang Reinhardt

Product & Innovation Officer

Intro

What I am all about.

I'm an open-minded, highly engaged, innovative, motivating, communicative, and creative person that likes to envision new products, services, and ways of interacting with people.

I like to think outside the box, challenge the old ways, and discuss optimizations for every single person, no matter if she's an internal colleague or customer.

I like to spin a web between the people I work with to make them as productive as possible and reach fantastic results.

I'm looking for positions in product companies that have a clear product vision and strategy. I love being the evangelist of the product vision both internally and externally. I love building products that have a scalable business model and are appealing to a clearly defined market.

Expertise

Batman would be jealous.
01

Leadership

I love making good people better by providing them room for experiments and failure. I lead by example and consider myself a colleague not a boss. I wrote down the principles of my leadership style further down on this page.

02

Product Management

I helped creating several new products, some as greenfield, others as brownfield approach. Some of the products I helped creating served small focussed communities of practice whereas others are general purpose platforms with thousands of daily users.

03

Agile Methodologies

Since my very first projects, I educated my teams about the benefits of being agile. I successfully changed the development and project organization of companies for the better and do seriously embrace agile. I am also Certified Scrum Product Owner and Scrum Master.

04

Portfolio Management

I acted as portfolio manager for several teams for which a common portfolio strategy and alignment was needed. Taking care that the puzzle pieces of various development teams come together in one awesome result is what motivates me.

05

User Experience

I always try to keep my users in mind when brainstorming about UI changes with my UX leads. Awesome UX is key to the adoption of products, so I involve myself in UX labs, POCs and listen to the feedback of users of my products.

06

Project Management

I've successfully led various projects. From small to large, from local to international, from non-profit to international groups of companies. I've led rollout projects and had the chance to define golden master blueprints for my customers.

Skills

Progress bars, anyone?
98%

Software Development Life Cycle

98%

Advanced problem solving

98%

Product Portfolio Management

98%

Analytical skills

98%

Leadership & Teambuilding

98%

Jira & Confluence

95%

Project planning & management

95%

Product strategy

95%

Agile software development

95%

Strategic thinking

90%

Productboard & AHA

95%

Releasenotes.io

90%

Social Media

90%

Business process re-engineering

Leadership Style

I love working with highly ambitious people.

I generally let my team members decide how they want to complete tasks. I would rather ask for their opinion than explain how I want problems to be solved. I rather provide guidance instead of orders.

I believe in having a strong social bond with the people on my teams because I think a friendly relationship creates an open, trusting, and secure working environment.

I am open and transparent about my decisions as it makes them more comprehensible for my teams.

I aim to be predictable for my teams to build trust and work in an anxiety-free atmosphere.

I encourage my employees to cooperate and collaborate instead of competing.

I educate my teams to develop high ambitions for working, results, and presentation of their outcome.

I prefer not to constrain my teams to a fixed set of rules. As situations and problems change, they must make their own decisions and help improve and adapt practices. Instead, I prefer developing a common set of values on which we as a team operate and base our decisions.

I keep external pressure (project timelines, for example) away from the developers. More pressure will not help them perform "better", so forwarding pressure will counteract the intended result.

I protect the team's chemistry even if that means extra time and energy must be invested.

I listen to my teams' feedback to improve my leadership style, decisions I've made, and guidance I've given.

Experience

Yes. I've been around.
08/2015 – Present

WPS Management GmbH

Chief Product Officer

Berlin & Paderborn, Germany

  • Spearhead the strategic software portfolio management and operational oversight of the development organization to ensure streamlined operations.
  • Develop, manage, and communicate software portfolio roadmaps for four product lines.
  • Partner with C-level executives to align deliverables with business needs.
  • Provide leadership for a team of five product owners, 40+ software developers, UX professionals, and other technical professionals.
  • Work with business leaders to identify quarterly and yearly objects and convert those into plans for technical solutions, programs, and projects.
  • Lead seven cross-functional teams to develop multiple projects using an agile framework.
  • Undertake market research and analysis to identify consumer needs and gaps in the market and propose innovative solutions to fill those needs.
  • Oversee the entire product development life cycle, including organizing timelines, managing budgets, developing roadmaps, and launching products.
  • Communicate strategies and product specifications to teams and senior management to ensure successful product launches.

08/2015 – Present

WPS Management GmbH

Member of the Management Board

Berlin & Paderborn, Germany

  • Represent the software development organization at C-level.
  • Liaise with stakeholders and partners to develop strategies and operational efficiencies to increase organizational profitability.
  • Hold regular meetings and support the management team with creating departmental budgets, roadmaps, and project updates.

10/2011 – 12/2019

Dr. Wolfgang Reinhardt IT Consulting

Business and IT Consulting

Paderborn, Germany

  • Developed, evolved, supported, and trained Business-Object-Centered Content Management Systems based on the Django framework.
  • Designed and implemented individual software applications for SMEs.
  • Consulted SMEs during the introduction of database and CRM systems.
  • Consulted SMEs with regards to the adoption of social media platforms.

11/2011 – 12/2016

European Association of Technology Enhanced Learning

Secretary

Hannover, Germany
Milton Keynes, UK

  • Organized virtual and physical member meetings.
  • Organized general assemblies.
  • Membership and website management; management of social media activities.

03/2014 – 07/2015

wallmedien AG

Head of New Products

Paderborn, Germany

  • Introduced Scrum as an agile methodology in all software development teams.
  • Responsible for the organization, optimization, and standardization of software development methodologies.
  • Oversaw the entire product development life cycle, including timeline management, budget management, roadmap definition, and evolution, and launched new products.
  • Communicated strategies and product specifications to teams and senior management to ensure successful product launches.
  • Provided leadership to software developers, business unit leaders, and senior management during the agile transformation.

11/2013 – 03/2015

wallmedien AG

Solution Expert Reporting

Paderborn, Germany

  • Internal solution expert for the Microsoft SSRS and SSAS-based reporting solution for procurement-related data.

01/2013 – 07/2015

wallmedien AG

Project & Rollout Manager

Paderborn, Germany

  • Supervised and hold accountability for multiple complex projects in the B2B procurement domain, multitasking according to task urgency.
  • Implemented and rolled out e-Procurement solutions of the wallmedien and partner portfolio.
  • Managed and developed accounts.
  • Listened actively to the clients' needs, used insights to create workable project schedules, and communicated timelines and specifications clearly to colleagues.
  • Employed a variety of project management skills, including planning, budgeting, scheduling, estimating, and monitoring, to manage IT development projects using both waterfall and agile methodology.
  • Allocated resources to team members based on their task assignments.
  • Used IT tools to prepare reports, create presentation slides and develop spreadsheets to account for project costs and schedules.
  • Exhibited strong attention to detail when developing project estimates and helping clients determine how much to budget for each project phase.
  • Utilized effective communication skills to motivate team members and give project status updates to clients.

03/2007 – 12/2012

University of Paderborn

Coach (Train the Tutors)

Paderborn, Germany

  • Developed curricula that used different teaching methodologies to inspire an interest in tutoring other students.
  • Organized many-on-one and one-on-one tutoring sessions and created learning timelines.
  • Utilized technology to deliver virtual tutoring training.

03/2005 – 12/2012

University of Paderborn

Research Associate

Paderborn, Germany

  • Research associate in the research group "Computer Science Education".
  • Developed curricula that used different teaching methodologies to inspire an interest in computer science, agile software development, and social media.
  • Adapted teaching methods to meet needs of different abilities and learning styles while fostering student engagement.
  • Conducted computer, phone-based, and in-person research interviews and assessments with subjects.
  • Ensured accurate, complete, and timely data entry and data analyses.
  • Employed a variety of project management skills including planning, budgeting, scheduling, estimating, and monitoring, to manage IT development projects.
  • Supervision of approx. 80 Bachelor, Diploma, and Master Theses.
  • Application for research grants on national and European level.
  • Execution of research projects on national and European level.

11/2006 – 12/2011

Umits Ltd.

CEO

Paderborn, Germany

  • Responsible for revenue control, costing, and sales.
  • Developed, evolved, supported, and trained Business-Object-Centered Content Management Systems based on the Django framework.
  • Designed and implemented of individual software applications for SMEs.
  • Consulted SMEs during the introduction of database and CRM systems.
  • Consulted SMEs in regards to the adoption of social media platforms.

10/2008 – 12/2010

Die Sprachwerkstatt GmbH

Mentor

Paderborn, Germany

  • Mentor for students in the field of Information and Communication Technologies.

10/2006 – 03/2007

Peter Gläsel Stiftung

Consultant

Detmold, Germany

  • Freelance consultant for Typo3 and content production.

08/2003 – 03/2007

Die Sprachwerkstatt GmbH

Lecturer

Paderborn, Germany

  • Lecturer for Microsoft Office Suite.

09/2005 – 03/2006

Magh & Boppert GmbH

Software Architect

Paderborn, Germany

  • Freelance Software Architect and Developer (Java, JavaScript).

08/2002 – 10/2002

Hotel Golf Village

IT Administrator

Guadeloupe, France

  • IT-Administrator and Developer (Excel, VBA, HTML).

Education

Lazy isn't in my vocabulary.
2010 – 2012

Open Universiteit

Ph.D.

Heerlen, The Netherlands

My focus was on Computer-Supported Collaborative Work; especially on how distributed teams can align their work using Social Media tools.

Thesis title: Awareness Support for Knowledge Workers in Research Networks.

2005 – 2006

University of Paderborn

Diploma (Computer Science)

Paderborn, Germany

My focus was on computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) and software development methodologies.

Thesis title: Impact of Agile Software Development Methodologies on Competence Development in Computer Science Education - Analysis and Evaluation of Empirical Studies on Pair Programming.

2001 – 2005

University of Paderborn

Bachelor of Computer Science

Paderborn, Germany

My focus was on computer science, software development, media production, e-learning, and mobile learning.

Thesis title: Integration of External Application Features in CSCW Systems Using Web Services.

Awards

Happy times!

BME Innovation Award 2016

In 2016, we won the prestigious BME Innovation Award with our customer Robert Bosch GmbH (using wescale.com as integration platform for B2B Procuremnt). Read more.


BME Award "Excellence in e-Solutions" 2016

In 2016, we won the prestigious BME Award "Excellence in e-Solutions" with our customer ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE. Read more.


BME Award "Excellence in e-Solutions" 2014

In 2014, we won the prestigious BME Award "Excellence in e-Solutions" with our customer Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG. Read more.


Teaching Award 2013

In 2013, I won the Teaching award for the rising generation of educators of the University of Paderborn (German: Lehrpreis für den wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs) for a series of seminars fostering the collaboration between students of different universities and disciplies.


Teaching innovation award 2011

In 2011, we won the Award for innovation and quality in teaching of the University of Paderborn (German: Förderpreis für Innovation und Qualität in der Lehre) for our work on PINGO.


Best paper award at DeLFI 2010

In 2010, we won the Best Paper Award at the DeLFI Conference 2010.


Best paper award at ICIQ 2009

In 2010, we won the Best Paper Award at the the 14. Conference on Information Quality.


1st Place in Viktor Klemperer competition 2001

In 2001, I won the 1st place in the Viktor Klemperer competition for tolerance and democracy.