In 1992 optimistic specialists were claiming that there was a future for project management in Germany. Dr. Roland Ottmann had worked in the aviation and aerospace industry. There he became familiar with a world-leading brand of project management. He is one of the optimists who see project management as a key qualification for the new millennium. On 2 March he founded “Ottmann & Partners” and focused on training project managers, “his colleagues,” as he says. It goes without saying that companies who want to achieve success using project management need qualified project managers.

The first job for the young company came from the “New Federal States” (former East Germany) – a concept that was slowly taking hold three years after the fall of the Berlin wall. The company “Robotron” in Dresden asked Dr. Roland Ottmann to provide qualification workshops. Word gradually got round to the University of Nuremberg, which ordered courses for its students from him. This academic reputation – unplanned but very welcome – gave his company a boost. Then it continued: Siemens placed orders with the still young entrepreneur. He was “passed around” the global corporation. Soon other companies listed on Germany’s stock index, the DAX, came knocking, for example Volkswagen and Lufthansa, Audi and MAN. Dr. Roland Ottmann sought innovations for his company. Availability is everything: shortly after setting up the company he had an early C-Netz mobile phone, at that time a hefty device with a retractable antenna. This direct link made the right impression. He also forged new paths for marketing. "Ottmann & Partners" could be found on the Internet as early as 1997 with its first homepage.

In 1992 many seminars and training courses for project management resembled dry university seminars removed from reality. Aspiring project managers with a thoroughly practical slant trudged through contrived case studies, lengthy textbooks and academic theories. Dr. Roland Ottmann quickly recognised these difficulties. “I let the colleagues learn using real projects from their companies,” he says, “they plan their first project as soon as possible in the workshops.” He also liberated textbooks and other documents from academic ballast as far as possible, from theory that is of little assistance to practitioners and is at best of interest to academics. “Project managers gain their qualifications whilst they work,” he explains, “They don’t have the time to sift through weighty tomes as students do.”

This is still the case today, almost 20 years after the company was set up. A new generation of project managers has now matured, what could be described as “project manager generation 2.0”. Today’s course participants have grown up with interactive media. They think globally, travel the world, want to think outside the box of their project. Project management has also changed in the intervening years. Soft skills such as management, communication and motivation are foregrounded. International project management and intercultural communication are firmly anchored in the syllabus.

The teaching methods themselves cannot afford to ignore such trends if the aim is to get people enthusiastic about project management. In 1992 Dr. Roland Ottmann introduced real projects from the participants’ actual working practice as “sample exercises”. Today he sets store by communicating knowledge in an entertaining manner. For instance, using comics or stories from everyday life that bring the material to life. Ottmann’s students study a streetwise, lively e-book over a weekend that effectively gets to the heart of the teaching content. “Don’t lecture academically, but arouse curiosity in a friendly manner, encourage them to reflect and practice the methods by trying them out,” is how he describes the objective he has followed since setting up the company. Who wants to have a go? Participants get a 20% “birthday discount” on their course fees if they register before 1 March 2012.