Author: Christian Velten

I so far met basically three types 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 Management 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…

You would be surprised (and shocked) by how many people use Google as the major or even sole information source for daily business. In the worst case for business-critical decisions. And many of those are actually convinced that Google serves their needs. The problem simply is that you never know what you do not know. OK … no bashing! … Google is not bad. Assumed that you always keep in mind what kind of tool you are working with and use it properly. Google suggests to give an answer, but factually it does not. Google only provides sources (= web…

A couple of days ago, I had lunch with a colleague, and we once again reflected on the question why big companies work internally like they just do. That one might get the impression of a stone field, where the stones are obvious to everybody … but are not moved away by anybody. But perhaps this is basically the wrong attitude. Later the picture of a fish leaped into my mind. A fish who moves through wild and troubled whitewater. People like us would probably say: well, let’s take out the stones first. This will calm the water and make…

The major challenge for most IP workers is to know where and how to retrieve up-to-date, high-quality patent as well as patent-related information. Well, for simple searches regarding a known patent number, inventor, assignee, head title, etc. there are already a couple of easy-to-use Internet sources provided by national and international patent authorities. For example, esp@cenet (EPODOC), DEPATISnet and the USPTO databases. Another promising source for basic searches – especially in the context of drug development – is DrugPatentWatch. But this one – as the ones following now – unfortunately is not for free. For more complex information research, like…