Ralf Bürger Email and Phone Number

Since end of 2019 I am focused on a new methodical approach to design "Processes as Requirements" (PaR), supported by IESE Fraunhofer, Ease Solutions and KoDeCs.This approach brings processes where they belong: into the teams - in an agile and systematic way, scalable from a simple single process up to a complete process platform for product line engineering. It is based on the simple idea to treat regulatory standards and processes as what they are: requirements "how" to do the "what"… Show more Since end of 2019 I am focused on a new methodical approach to design "Processes as Requirements" (PaR), supported by IESE Fraunhofer, Ease Solutions and KoDeCs.This approach brings processes where they belong: into the teams - in an agile and systematic way, scalable from a simple single process up to a complete process platform for product line engineering. It is based on the simple idea to treat regulatory standards and processes as what they are: requirements "how" to do the "what" (the product requirements). Checks for compliance, completeness and maturity become easier, as well as improving the processes by the teams for the next projects or for the process platform.I published "PaR - The Booklet" beginning 2021 and "PaR - The Book" end of 2022. Implementations in Jama, R4J for Jira, and Polarion are already done. Check the website https://ProcessesAsRequirements.info to stay tuned and to get in touch with me or the community. Show less

Helping EGLV (Emschergenossenschaft/Lippeverband) and Neusta Analytics & Insights to build a platform for time series data from thousands of industrial sites and sensors, including data science AI aspects (on Hetida Designer, e.g. for predictive maintenance), big data management (based on Confluent, Greenplum, OpenShift., qualifying >100k records per second), OPC-UA interfaces, a zoo of apps on top, etc.I managed to get a grip one the project by applying PaR for the standards… Show more Helping EGLV (Emschergenossenschaft/Lippeverband) and Neusta Analytics & Insights to build a platform for time series data from thousands of industrial sites and sensors, including data science AI aspects (on Hetida Designer, e.g. for predictive maintenance), big data management (based on Confluent, Greenplum, OpenShift., qualifying >100k records per second), OPC-UA interfaces, a zoo of apps on top, etc.I managed to get a grip one the project by applying PaR for the standards, processes, and product requirements with R4J, and to change the project style into an agile fashion of a combined Scrum/Kanban approach (Jira, Confluence).We are now having Sprints for T-shirt sizes L/XL with management attention on the one hand and a flow of T-shirt sizes S/M on the other hand. The platform will reach full scale end of this decade to last for much longer - a project for generations. Show less

For GKN Driveline I developed a process (Methodpark Stages) with work instruction for ASPICE SWE.1 (PTC Integrity) in a project for a large German OEM. I coached the software requirements analysis team skills, achieved the requested maturity level in the project, and prepared everything to reuse it in other projects.

After 10 years (2001-2011) with the automotive supplier HELLA I realized that it was time for them to switch from single customer projects to platform based product development. More and more OEMs needed similar products, which could be variants of a reference. Therefore I created the Variant Development Process (VDP), supporting agile development of software features and hardware components from a variable reference system architecture within a platform, reusing them in a scaled agile fashion… Show more After 10 years (2001-2011) with the automotive supplier HELLA I realized that it was time for them to switch from single customer projects to platform based product development. More and more OEMs needed similar products, which could be variants of a reference. Therefore I created the Variant Development Process (VDP), supporting agile development of software features and hardware components from a variable reference system architecture within a platform, reusing them in a scaled agile fashion into customer projects, and finally configuring and adapting them to the individual needs. The VDP needed to be standards compliant and I designed it in Methodpark Stages according to VDA A-SPICE and to the upcoming ISO 26550, respecting Scrum and later also Nexus. With a team of coaches we successfully applied this Product Line Engineering process framework to five different product families (e.g. Driver Assistent Systems, Lighting Electronics, Body Controller), also at engineering locations in China, India, USA and Romania.With this corporate experience I was finally asked in 2019 to establish a more systematic and efficient approach to manage the issues for a Battery Management System (BMS) project for the high voltage battery electric vehicles (BEV) of Daimler, working at the interface between Daimler and HELLA. I harmonized the tooling and the organization on both sides, also with a common smart and efficient dashboard for escalating to top management levels.In parallel in 2018 Saint Gobain Sekurit started to develop embedded systems and asked for creating and applying efficient standard compliant engineering processes. Therefore I supported in developing a draft development process landscape as sample-oriented Stage Gate Checklist in Jama, compliant to ISO, IATF and VDA standards. I finally supported it until mid 2020 to ease the appliance by the project teams. Therefore end of 2019 I did an internal A-SPICE assessment to figure out the improvement options. Show less

The new IT academy of Bertelsmann-Stiftung had trouble with their training concepts and I started to work out curricula for them and to introduce trainers. One of their biggest customer - the automotive supplier HELLA - asked for help in bringing software development into their automotive business, and I started to support them with setting up processes in the context of SPICE.Also one of our former training customers asked for help to create a multi project management software for a… Show more The new IT academy of Bertelsmann-Stiftung had trouble with their training concepts and I started to work out curricula for them and to introduce trainers. One of their biggest customer - the automotive supplier HELLA - asked for help in bringing software development into their automotive business, and I started to support them with setting up processes in the context of SPICE.Also one of our former training customers asked for help to create a multi project management software for a huge infrastructure project, planned for 25 years with budget of 5 billion Euro for about 1500 sub-projects. So I took the lead of requirements management for this software and we built and maintained that software in an agile fashion, always adapting it to the ever changing needs.Those two activities kept me busy for a decade. Show less

A fast-growing Microsoft CTEC asked me to work out pragmatic curricula for them. Therefore I established a department for software development and IT consulting and quickly got procuration. We saw the opportunity to grow quickly and joined the „New Market“ (EU stock market for internet stuff). To quickly satisfy the global need I got the position as division manager for Software Engineering for at least all our new 14 locations. Well, in August 2000 we crashed as one of the first on the New… Show more A fast-growing Microsoft CTEC asked me to work out pragmatic curricula for them. Therefore I established a department for software development and IT consulting and quickly got procuration. We saw the opportunity to grow quickly and joined the „New Market“ (EU stock market for internet stuff). To quickly satisfy the global need I got the position as division manager for Software Engineering for at least all our new 14 locations. Well, in August 2000 we crashed as one of the first on the New Market. Show less

Standard software was now done by the big ones, but lots of individual software still needed to be done. I got requests from real estate, a distillery, fish markets, wholesale, a hardware store, a rest home, orthopedics, etc. - and I helped them a lot, also bringing in specially assembled PCs and servers, connected in LANs. More and more companies started to create individual software, and from my experience I started to help them solving their problems in project-, risk-, requirements- and… Show more Standard software was now done by the big ones, but lots of individual software still needed to be done. I got requests from real estate, a distillery, fish markets, wholesale, a hardware store, a rest home, orthopedics, etc. - and I helped them a lot, also bringing in specially assembled PCs and servers, connected in LANs. More and more companies started to create individual software, and from my experience I started to help them solving their problems in project-, risk-, requirements- and test management. Since the same problems came up again and again I started to give trainings to help as much people as possible. Quickly I didn’t do anything else anymore, and other trainers wanted to join in. Therefore I started to work out curricula. Show less

At the beginning it was not yet clear whether the typewriter or the computer will make it. So I helped bringing word processing to typewriters, with memory, displays, function keys, etc. Quickly I realized that the computer will kill the typewriter, but the PC era started without office software. So we created it: full-screen word processor, database with simple forms, nice spreadsheets, switching from characters to graphics to enable fonts and diagrams. Years later Microsoft made the run and… Show more At the beginning it was not yet clear whether the typewriter or the computer will make it. So I helped bringing word processing to typewriters, with memory, displays, function keys, etc. Quickly I realized that the computer will kill the typewriter, but the PC era started without office software. So we created it: full-screen word processor, database with simple forms, nice spreadsheets, switching from characters to graphics to enable fonts and diagrams. Years later Microsoft made the run and we finally got erased from the market. Show less