STEP BY STEP
to a complex product.
Agile project management and product development in a digital context
Alexander Thies
// Project Manager // Scrum Master
// Concept Developer // Design Sprint Master
// Project Manager
// Scrum Master
// Concept Developer
// Design Sprint Master
I have been working as a freelance project manager scrum master and concept developer for 10 years. My main competence lies in the areas of agile project management, agile product development and process development and strategic advice.
Most recently I was significantly involved in the design and development of the Miles & More app for Lufthansa for almost 5 years and had the opportunity to lead an international team and manage complex digital projects.
Thanks to my career progression from art director to concept developer, scrum master and agile project manager, I also have extensive knowledge of the media industry and the workings of agencies and am happy to provide advice and counselling when it comes to setting up digital departments or establishing agile processes.
I have been working as a freelance project manager scrum master and concept developer for 10 years. My main competence lies in the areas of agile project management, agile product development and process development and strategic advice. Most recently I was significantly involved in the design and development of the Miles & More app for Lufthansa for almost 5 years and had the opportunity to lead an international team and manage complex digital projects.
Thanks to my career progression from art director to concept developer, scrum master and agile project manager, I also have extensive knowledge of the media industry and the workings of agencies and am happy to provide advice and counselling when it comes to setting up digital departments or establishing agile processes.
Let’s get in touch
and talk about your project!
What I do
Strategy & Consulting
more...
- digital product development
- implementaion of agile project management and agile processes in companies
- setup of agile & digital product departments
- marketing for digital products
- managing of communication between IT and marketing
- governance of remote project teams
Scrum Master
more...
- accompanying agile projects as a Scrum Master
- product development by applying the Design Sprint Framework
- set up of agile processing and project frameworks
- applying an iterative and incremental approach within digital project management
- governance of ticket-based IT workflows
- scrum coaching for employees and teams
Project Management
more...
- project initialization and project gouvernance
- product ownership & backlog management
- stakeholder management
- development of digital products - initialization & further development
- requirements engineering
- governance of IT, test management and marketing
Concept Development
more...
- applying the Design Sprint Framework
- from brainstorming to implementation
- wireframing & rapid prototyping
- product implementation and further development in cooperation with IT and marketing
How I work
- the user is always king
- focus on the essentials
- quality, time and cost goals must be achieved
- exploration and goals are not in conflict but are integrative components of the project process
- interdisciplinary project teams - has to be on the same page
- no prejudice
- permanent exchange between all departments involved
- early evaluation of all factors influencing the project
- application of collaborative tools for knowledge and process management
- transparency in project governance through digital tools
- independence of location & remote project governance if needed
- exploratory and analyzing - always close to the user
- story mapping to identify the MVP (Minimum Valuable Product)
- impact mapping for requirements analysis
- applying agile frameworks such as Scrum and Design Sprint
- user stories as basis of any requirement
- one for all, all for one – you achieve the best results as a team
- independent & self-organized teams are the basis of up to date project work
- motivation through freedom in the execution of the given sprint tasks (sprint backlog)
- integrative way of working
- open to other cultures
- use of internationally acknowlegded project frameworks
- english as the project language
- lightweight, contructive & value-adding
- iterative approach: development in controllable development cycles
- incremental approach: successive and constructive stages of product increments are put together gradually with each release to a comprehensive product
- MVP identification – "Minimum Viable Product" is were it all starts
- "Test & adapt" - results are permanently verified on prototypes and acceptance tests
Why agile?
Agile work has a number of advantages over "classic" approaches. For me, the main benefits are on making projects more realizable, more manageable and therefore faster. This not only increases team motivation immensely. Due to the much better transparency and the continuous delivery of verifiable product increments, the acceptance and satisfaction among customers and clients also increases significantly. This results in projects that are not only finished in time, but also meet the financial framework. An absolute win-win situation for everyone involved!
Overview advantages
- higher acceptance among users
- continuous innovation through regular product updates
- higher quality results through "test & adapt" approach
- Fast results through sprint iterations
- more efficient project management
- better transparency through ticket-controlled work
- flexible requirements and error management
- focus on customer centricity
- continuous improvement of the project team through personal responsibility and ongoing team retrospectives
- continuous product improvement through iterative development
- light weight working
- satisfied stakeholders
... to name just a few advantages.
Certificates
Scrum Master
Professional Scrum Master
SAFe for Teams
Certified SAFe® 5 Practitioner
Project Manager
certified project manager
Design Sprint Master
certified
Agile Requirement Specialist
certified
Requirement Engineer
Certified Professional Requirement Engineer
Credentials
What customers and colleagues say
One of the best UX and agile experts
"I have already implemented several digital projects with Alex Thies.
For me he is one of the best UX and agile experts:
always there with heart and mind, constructive, determined and an enrichment for every team!"
Chief Excutive Officer, CEO
heartbeats – The Agility Agency
A true agile servant leader
I've been working with Alex for over a year developing a complex white label e-commerce platform.
Project Manager
diconium digital solutions GmbH
Working with professionals
"He is a textbook technical director and he has internalized knowledge that only a happy team can be a successful team.
With him, a wild roller coaster ride through hell becomes a family outing with a happy ending."
Senior Manager
Open Reply Germany
a Reply AG company
High interdisciplinarity
"I have worked with Alex Thies in various set-ups in the course of several projects in the past years and have always known him as a very reliable, friendly, resilient colleague. He has a very proactive way of working, is solution-oriented and has a sure feeling of where he is most urgently needed.
In difficult project situations, his strong professional competence and high interdisciplinarity allows him to quickly find and implement satisfactory solutions. Despite the high workload it was always fun to work with Alex and I would very much like to rock the next project with him.“
Director Consulting Services Aviation & Retail
CGI Germany
Agile working - up to date
“Alex Thies particularly impressed me with his comprehensive understanding of agile development processes.
He has extensive knowledge of the latest methodologies and is also a very good consultant with regard to postgraduate trainings for our employees."
Manager IT
Customer Centric Applications
Miles & More GmbH
Understanding cultural differences
„Alex Thies is a great IT professional, and it’s been a great pleasure for me to have worked with him since 2015. He is a well-organized person who drives the project in a structured manner. With his great management skills he leaves no stone unturned to solve the impediments of the project by bridging across teams. He accelerates the project at tough times without losing his cool. He handles all the escalation in a constructive way such that he makes others to understand the problem and rectify it. In global work environment, he understands the cultural differences and makes people feel comfort to work with. He is such a jovial, lively person to work along.
Wishing him all great success for his future endeavors!“
Testmanager TATA Consultancy Services
Pragmatic, structured and absolutely goal-oriented
"What sets Alex Thies apart - aside from his broad know-how on digitization, transformation and marketing - is the ability to find, evaluate, and accompany their successful implementation in a pragmatic, structured and absolutely goal-oriented manner for projects even in critical situations."
Teamlead IT Project Management
Plan.Net Technology GmbH & Co. KG (Serviceplan Agenturgruppe)
Knoledge hub
"I could learn a lot from working with Alex because he has a high level of expertise. He passes on his knowledge patiently and kindly. ”
Manager IT
Customer Centric Applications
Miles & More GmbH
Experienced and able navigator
"Alex is an experienced team leader who navigates your project safely through the digtal seven seas even in the toughest swell. Without ever losing sight of his crew, even the highest waves would'nt knock over the project vessel. Once he set sail, it is important to him that everyone reaches the destination safe and sound.
Aye, aye!“
User Interface Designer
Vergleich.de Gesellschaft für Verbraucherinformation mbH
Master complex projects together
"We have worked with Alex Thies on complex projects for several years and have always been able to rely on his content expertise as well as his very good communication and organization skills."
Chief Excutive Officer, CEO
Open Reply Germany
The conductor
"As an experienced conductor of the digital world, Alex realizes digital projects at the highest level together with an ensemble of marketers, project managers, creatives, developers and testers - thanks to his technical understanding and his fine feeling for people and situations - always fair, reliable and efficient. He keeps an eye on his audience at all times - and it's delighted.
I was a member of one of his ensembles for an app project as a developer for 5 years and can only say:
Da Capo!“
Developer
Plan.Net Technology GmbH & Co. KG (Serviceplan Agenturgruppe)
Agility and focus
"Agility, focus on the essentials for the user as well as the business and at the same time complete transparency - that was what characterized the collaboration with Alex, which I greatly appreciated in joint projects!"
UX Consultant
Open Reply Germany
Mentor and companion
“Translating highly complex content into digital concepts requests a clear understanding of requirements, empathy towards stakeholders, passion and creative competence. This is exactly what characterizes the collaboration with Alexander Thies (Thies online marketing). For me personally, Alex was a mentor and companion in an intensive, structured induction phase as a channel manager. "
Manager Digital Marketing
Miles & More GmbH
Strong professional competence
"I have got to know Alex Thies during the development of the Miles & More app. His expertise and his technical understanding in particular contributed a lot to the development of our app. He was a valuable source of knowledge and support for the team. I was particularly impressed by his by his ongoing professional development in parallel to his job.”
Head of Digital Marketing
Miles & More GmbH
Entrepreneurial thinking and one of us
“Quick as a whip, unswerving , absolutely sturdy and entrepreneurial thinking. Alex Thies not only built our online unit with us, he is still one of us.“
Geschäftsführende Gesellschafterin
GROSSE LIEBE Kommunikationsagentur GmbH
Happy clients & supervised brands
- Development of the Miles & More app and "from scratch"
- Testing and operation
- further development
- Siemens
- Pitches
- BMW
- MINI
- O2
- Hermes
- Weleda
- Pitches
- Olympus
- Philips
- Tesa
- TUI Cruises
- Hapag Lloyd
- Hermes
- HEM
- Pitches
Contact
Let’s start your project!