Speaker
Dr. Markus Schmotz
Managing Director / Agile-Lean Catalyst
Wertwandler GmbH
Physicists are better at understanding people
„Contrary to the archetypal image of physicists with corduroy trousers and knitted sweaters, I love working with people. Physics has taught me to think in systems and people always form complex systems.“
Markus is an Agile-Lean-catalyst who understands how to combine adaptive leadership, systemic self-reflection and valuecreation for exceptional results. He is fascinated by the interaction between people and the systems around them – across the boundaries of methodologies and frameworks. Over the past 15 years, he has worked in various leadership positions and organizational formats along the value chain. Markus introduced Agile ways of working into teams, led a global Lean & Leadership transformation of 30 production sites, trained +200 leaders and managers, was the driving force behind a group-wide culture initiative and coached C-level on strategy and execution.
Now he works in the sweet spot between Agile, Lean and Leadership. There he combines the best of all three worlds to help companies be effective and efficient at the same time.
In his spare time, Markus enjoys spending time with his lively family and is chairman of a tennis club. He enjoys cooking, listening to heavy metal music and reading epic fantasy novels.
Markus is the host of the “Strategiewerkstatt” podcast, where he asks the question: “How do we move from colorful slides to sustainable implementation of our strategy?”.
SessionS
Beyond Frameworks: Das Ende der Methodenschlachten
LeanLeaderSummit 2026
Diskutieren wir eigentlich noch über das Ziel oder nur noch über den Weg? In vielen Unternehmen nimmt die Debatte über das Wie (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe) mittlerweile mehr Raum ein als das Was. Für CIOs und Enterprise Architects wird diese „Methodenschlacht“ zum Ballast: Sie bindet Ressourcen und schafft zusätzliche Komplexität, statt sie zu reduzieren.
Dieser Vortrag ist kein Abgesang auf Agilität. Aber er fordert den nächsten Reifegrad: Schluss mit Agile als Selbstzweck. Wir müssen aufhören, Frameworks dogmatisch auszurollen, und anfangen, eine Architektur zu bauen, die Probleme tatsächlich löst.
Anhand von konkreten Fällen aus Pharma, MedTech und Transport zeige ich, was passiert, wenn man die Schablonen weglässt:
1. Architecture over Rituals: Warum eine saubere Enterprise Architecture und klares Schnittstellen-Design mehr Geschwindigkeit bringen als das perfekt moderierte Daily.
2. Flow over Frameworks: Wie wir echte Engpässe im Value Stream finden und beseitigen, statt pauschal Methoden über Teams zu stülpen.
3. Maturity over Compliance: Wie Teams selbst in sicherheitskritischen Bereichen lernen, Verantwortung für das Ergebnis zu übernehmen, statt sich hinter Prozess-Vorgaben zu verstecken.
Für wen ist das? Dieser Vortrag richtet sich an CIOs und Architekten, die bereit sind, die „Stützräder“ der Standard-Frameworks abzulegen. Ich zeige, wie man in hochregulierten Umfeldern agil und compliant sein kann, ohne zum Sklaven einer Methodik zu werden.
Take-off with Flight Levels: How to orchestrate a consolidated security organization
Lean Leader Summit 2025
Safety is central to functioning public transportation. We will walk you through a real life example, present you with a solution approach and give advice on how to start your journey.
The merging of today's distributed areas enabled the public transport company to holistically control and coordinate the various security services. The talk will give insights in how the C-level team started, what challenges they faced and how they overcame them. We will highlight how strategy plays a crucial role in team formation and even more so, how structured, yet adaptive execution is the key to success.
Come along an enjoy the panoramic view from the passenger's seat!
Games leaders' play
Lean Leader Summit 2024
In order to transform an organization, leaders need to transform themselves.
To do so, leaders need to take a mindset shift from "OR" thinking to "AND"-thinking. They need to realize the opportunity they hold in their hands, namely: consciously shaping the system their organization lives in. This in turn shapes the entire culture. In a sense leaders have to play a different game than their teams to be successful throughout the transformation.
Based on a short, interactive live game, I will highlight different mindsets, that are prevalent in today's leaders. From their we will explore how leaders play a different game, than their teams, and what mindsets are most supportive for the transformation.
I'll close with some conrete advise and handy tips for leaders to up their game!
Company
Wertwandler GmbH
Wertwandler GmbH is a boutique training and consulting firm, based in Bern, Switzerland. Founded in 2021 it heavily grew and now boasts 8 full-time coaches. Its core offer evolves around systemic team and organizational design and coaching, as well as accredited training of Kanban Management and the Agile Leadership Journey program. The growth also heralds the advent of new topics, like „Agile in Hardware“ and „Combining Lean with Agile“.