Computerworld: Interview with Michael Kistler

Michael Kistler has been CEO and co-shareholder at Baggenstos since January 2013. Among other things, he introduced Open Space at Baggenstos. He prefers to experience his colleagues in 3D rather than purely virtually. His motto is: "If you haven't changed, you haven't lived".

Computerworld spoke with Michael Kistler about current challenges, day planning, home office, teamwork, new projects and how he avoids productivity killers. We have summarised exciting aspects from the interview for you. You can find the complete interview here ►

He who does not change has not lived

Mark Schröder in conversation with Michael Kistler

Computerworld: Office or home office? Where do you prefer to work?

Michael Kistler: I like working in the office because I prefer to have the exchange with my colleagues in "3D" instead of just online. I use home office primarily for work where I can reach my goal more quickly without interruptions.

Computerworld: Individual office or open space?

Michael Kistler: I love open space, I like to be in the middle of the action. That's why we haven't had individual offices at Baggenstos for a long time. Accordingly, we have constantly
office to the needs of our teams.

Computerworld: How do you plan your day?

Michael Kistler: I try to schedule my tasks, which I keep in a to-do list, in a weekly plan in the calendar. Then I work through the topics as
accurately as possible. All completed items are then deleted. This means that I only have the future or the appointments and tasks that lie ahead of me. My colleagues think that I am a bit special with my approach, but I feel comfortable with "my" planning. 

Computerworld: Which tools are essential for your job?

Michael Kistler: Microsoft Teams, Navision, Outlook and OneNote.

Computerworld: What is your preferred communication channel?

Michael Kistler: I prefer personal conversations, which for some time now have mostly been video calls. We communicate a lot via teams. Internal
internal communication and, for example, quarterly information to the employees via live stream from our in-house video studio.

Computerworld: What is the biggest challenge in your job?

Michael Kistler: In our agile IT world, having sensible answers to customers' needs, creating solutions and bringing them in line with the knowledge and know-how of our employees. 

Computerworld: How do you avoid productivity killers? 

Michael Kistler: With the best possible planning in the projects and in operations. However, the flexibility of our employees is also particularly important here, since we simply cannot plan for certain incidents, for example, when it comes to security-relevant issues or incidents at our customers that require immediate intervention.

Computerworld: What is your work motto?

Michael Kistler: Work in our industry is constantly changing, so change is part of my life - in a nutshell, my motto is: "If you haven't changed, you haven't lived".
who does not change, has not lived".

Computerworld: The complexity of the IT business is increasing. New technologies and application scenarios are constantly being added. How do you keep yourself and your employees up to date?

Michael Kistler: We have formed competence teams in which we deal with new technologies and assess whether they can be usefully added to our portfolio.
I am involved in this process. I also try to stay on the ball with trade journals and self-learning. 

Computerworld: How do you recharge your batteries?

Michael Kistler: In the mountains, in Ticino, on trips in the VW bus and on climbing walls. I use skiing and high-altitude tours to switch off.

Computerworld: What is your next project?

Michael Kistler: Cybercrime has become very real for some time now, even in our customer environment. Here we want to protect our customers in the best possible way with the proven cloud solutions from Microsoft and accordingly create awareness at all levels of the companies for this very important topic.