Author: Christian Velten

Since the late 1960’s up to the end of 2013, eNova was the Corporate Product Literature Database of Novartis and its ancestors. But in fact it was much more than that. Over many years of continuous improvements, eNova had evolved to the most sophisticated, mature and powerful information source on real-world product behavior. Providing an outstanding high level of “digestion” of source data, eNova was able to answer very specific questions regarding clinical findings and medical evidences on Novartis products 24/7 and within just a few minutes … where alternative methods needed hours to days. During my time at Novartis, I was responsible for the…

In 2013, I initiated and promoted the development and implementation of “eNova QuickAnswers”, a quick and easy access to standard product-related answers for marketing and medical information colleagues at Novartis. “QuickAnswers” was finally realized as search tool within eNova and as website widget which could be implemented on any intranet or Sharepoint site Last not least the team decided to additionally develop a QuickAnswers iOS app for internal use. I supported the team with migrating the QuickAnswers concept and functionality to the principles of an app. The result successfully passed user acceptance tests, Novartis risk assessment, and was rolled-out to the internal…

Wisdom out of life for (working) life:  unknown author, translation from German

I so far met basically three archetypes of human characters within – esp. larger – companies: Builders, Maintainers and Destroyers. Builders Building is their passion. They are restless. The status quo never is good enough. After the implementation is before the implementation. Builders are thinking forward, innovatively and constructively. They see changes as tools for improvement and development. But they set a high value on a well-founded and provable rational for any changes needed as part of their overall plan. Builders know that for being successful they have to convince others (like Maintainers) and bring them in. They are usually quite…

Do you know that experience? You are reading the latest “Harvard Business Review” (HBR), and sooner or later you are reached by a melancholic mood. Because you simply realize that – regarding recent management methods – there seems to be such a huge gap between aspiration and everyday reality. On the one hand you are reading in HBR how things should be, or at least could be … and in real-life you have to stand the complete opposite. This can really get you down. So, a warning notice on HBR saying something like “Reading this journal may cause depression” could really be…

The peer-review principle for scientific publications is a well established and sound approach to ensure publication quality … in theory. In real life it is regularly found to be leaky. This is a current example, reported by Retraction Watch

In late 2011 an additional organizational transformation within our Novartis division was announced more or less surprisingly. I had the lead with implementing consequential changes of structures, processes, services and deliveries.  During day-to-day operation, I reshaped information research & analysis processes and moved corresponding tasks and assigned FTEs to the Novartis Hyderabad (India) subsidiary. In addition, I  coordinated and supervised vendors and external contributors. Despite limited resources as well as the short-term nature of the requested changes, I reached a successful and save handover as well as the continuity of our regulatory deliveries ensuring services without interruptions or complaints. CLIENT:Novartis Knowledge Management(as a Novartis employee)PROJECT TIME…

You might have asked yourself already, why I once selected “TrapperPhD” as my online nickname? The story behind TrapperPhD … To make a long story short … during my university time my nickname was “Trapper” (honestly spoken, one out of a couple). And after finishing my doctorate, “Trapper PhD” was a logical consecutive consequence … but also a tribute to “Trapper John, M.D.”, a famous TV series in the 80s of the last century (when I grew up, “those times long ago”). Last not least, I like this name because I like the qualities, trappers stand for. What trappers are…

With a so-called “bibliographic search” you are looking for the abstract or full-text of a scientific publication. This means, you already have at least some citation information on the publication, like author name(s), publication year, title, journal name, volume#, issue#, and/or page#. There are some known traps and pitfalls with bibliographic searches, that I would like to share with you. 6 pitfalls for bibliographic searches … 1. Always assume a typo Generally assume typos in either the database record of the publication, or your notes, or the original publication. 2. Do not use special characters If the known publication title…

It is turning around … around … around … and around. Always the same turn, always the same things in view. With changing perspectives, but actually always at the same place. Sooner or later just boring. And once you overwind … well, mhh … might become unsavory. I exactly feel like sitting in such a carousel since I seriously entered the world of Knowledge Management (KM). I regularly find myself hanging around at places where people interested in good knowledge working meet virtually or physically, like KM blogs or meetings of like-minded colleagues. In any case, places where people with…