Notes

What isn't in the CV or the skill profile. The self-portrait on the home page draws on this too.

Where I stand

• I start with who has to read or use something, not with the technology.
• I prefer fewer parts to clever ones.
• A codebase should be laid out so that new people and coding agents can join in without a long induction.
• I label synthetic content clearly. Every generated text on this site says that it was generated.

Changed my mind

• I used to want to write every detail myself. Now I more often write the rules that agents write by.
• I used to see tests as something you add at the end. Now automated tests are what make fast change possible in the first place.
• I used to think good software would win people over on its own. Now I know that getting everyone involved on the same page is at least as much work as the code.

How I work

• I'd rather talk directly to the people who use or commission the product than go through intermediaries.
• I teach in almost every project. I want the team to carry on without me once I'm gone.
• I'd rather show an early prototype than spend a long time describing a concept.
• A good moment in a project is when things come together: the foundations are in place and the project picks up speed. Or when a group of individuals turns into a team.

Background and influences

• Alongside computer science I studied art and design and made experimental films. The eye for images and editing has stayed with me.
• Latin America shaped me: the way pragmatism and culture are woven together there. And realising what opportunities there are in Europe.
• German and French are both my native languages.
• Typography and architecture interest me outside work as well.
• Road cycling and triathlon: measuring, understanding and improving performance. Climbing passes.

What I want to find out

• Where the limits of agents in products lie, and how people actually want to use them.
• Whether open geodata can make a digital twin of Dresden that is beautiful without being photorealistic.
• Which Alpine passes are still rideable in early October.

Limits

• I'm not a back-end specialist for large distributed systems.
• I'm reluctant to take on projects where I'm only meant to execute and not to think along.
• With AI I get Kubernetes working and can read it afterwards. Knowing all the commands by heart doesn't interest me.

Outside work

• I take photographs.
• Music: I listen to almost everything. I play the violin and sometimes sing in a band.
• I like cooking, often from Ottolenghi.