ePA & Service Apps

Two years in the PMO for electronic patient record development. Subsequently responsible for development subproject leadership, product ownership, requirements management and team leadership for service apps and digital public services.

Healthcare IT · 2021–2025Max Brandenburg

From patient record development to leading service-app projects.

Two years in the PMO for electronic patient record development. Subsequently responsible for development subproject leadership, product ownership, requirements management and team leadership for service apps and digital public services.

From PMO to product ownership

I spent two years in the PMO for electronic patient record development: milestone planning and tracking in MS Project, checking deliverables, weekly status conversations and analysis of usage chains. In subsequent service-app and OZG projects, I became development subproject lead and later Product Owner, responsible for requirements management and team leadership.

What we built

Electronic patient and health records and an end-to-end service app based on a white-label solution tailored to the customer. Features included tracking tools, live-data monitoring, clearing centres and form generators. We digitised more than 30 administrative processes under Germany’s Online Access Act (OZG), working with statutory and private health insurers, executive boards, project leads, the steering committee, business departments, case workers and requirements managers.

The challenge

Features originally developed for other customers were sometimes unfinished or insufficiently documented. I investigated their capabilities and readiness, documented them and explained what was available and what still needed development. This created a clear catalogue of selectable features to support customer discussions and decisions.

How I work

As subproject lead and Product Owner, I also took on work beyond my formal responsibilities. When documentation was missing, questions remained unanswered or delivery stalled, I stepped in myself. My practical approach is to create clarity and help wherever the project needs it.

Delivery across organisational boundaries

I coordinated multiple development teams, partner companies and management, and helped develop the project management approach. This included templates for development-ready requirements, cross-team release planning, testing and go-live support. Project references highlight precise specifications, dependable coordination, ownership and the ability to motivate teams.

PROJECT LIFECYCLE

Responsibility throughout delivery

Across several projects: two years in the patient-record PMO, followed by subproject leadership and product ownership for service apps and OZG processes. These roles were not all held simultaneously.

PMO & Product Ownership · Cross-phase responsibility from concept to operations

01
Concept
Analyse usage chains, clarify value and priorities.
Analysis · Prioritisation
02
Requirements
Translate business needs into development-ready requirements.
Requirements management
03
Development
Plan across teams and coordinate dependencies and deliverables.
Subproject leadership · Cross-company team leadership
04
Test & release
Support testing and release planning; resolve open questions.
Subproject leadership
05
Go-live
Support launches and align the people involved.
Subproject leadership
06
Operations
Feed insights from live operations into further development.
Coordination · Further development

Feedback: insights from testing and delivery inform requirements and priorities.

AI Transformation

I automate workflows and build applications in which AI agents carry out tasks autonomously. Through workshops and training, I prepare teams to use and operate the solutions themselves.

Consulting & Leadership · 2025–presentMax Brandenburg

Automation and autonomous workflows. Preparing teams to operate them.

I automate workflows and build applications in which AI agents carry out tasks autonomously. Through workshops and training, I prepare teams to use and operate the solutions themselves.

Who I work with

My clients include IT service providers working with critical infrastructure, consulting and SAP specialists, end-to-end product providers, event and marketing agencies, and businesses in crypto and private equity.

Responsible implementation

I shape AI use around each organisation’s privacy, security and contractual requirements. This includes traceable data access, suitable operating models and assessing potential access risks from foreign authorities.

My contribution

Over 400 interviews and professional conversations at conferences and industry events inform my work on AI transformation (as of October 2026). I build and test prototypes, applications and automations, simplify interfaces and systems, and support go-to-market communication. This includes relational knowledge structures that connect information and evolve with new insights. I work with teams to identify the skills needed and train the people taking over operations. Larger products receive additional team review before production.

Progress and value

In my work so far, I have seen less time spent on lower-priority routine tasks and more clarity around AI. My focus is long-term value: preparing people early, opening up new responsibilities and creating room for development.

AI product leadership at Actum

From July 2024 to March 2026, I led strategic and operational AI product development at Actum Consulting Products. The focus was a modular agent layer for sensitive financial and healthcare data, including monitoring and evaluating agent outputs, processes for continuously developing, deploying and maintaining AI models and data, and training departments and management.

Practice and professional exchange

I learn through building and through conversations at Hannover Messe, Devconnect and Devcon in Buenos Aires and Bangkok, TUM Blockchain Week, AI Builders events in Hamburg, Web Summit in Lisbon and annual visits to OMR. In 2026, I also visited New York. Other events took me to Zurich, Cologne and Bonn, and I attended Fraunhofer’s AI Act Day.

How I support products and teams

I test ideas through prototypes, develop applications, simplify interfaces and systems, connect products with market needs, and prepare people to operate and improve them. PsyEdu is my own practical project for exploring new AI approaches and developing these skills. This is my adaptation inspired by Boris Cherny’s five product roles; the emphasis on training teams is my own interpretation.

Participation and development

I use Motivational Interviewing to explore goals, concerns and people’s own reasons for change. The aim is active engagement, even when teams are busy with daily operations. Gallup distinguishes engaged, not engaged and actively disengaged employees; these are engagement categories, not fixed personality types. I connect practical use cases with skills development, clear responsibilities and review of legal and contractual requirements.

PsyEdu

Speak freely in PsyEdu. The app shows which reflection questions you have already answered and asks follow-up questions. Life goals and personal exercises complement the conversations.

Agentic AI Research

I develop and evaluate AI agents in practice. My approach connects useful applications, required skills, data discovery, infrastructure and data preparation. It draws on 250 formal, documented interviews on introducing AI in companies.

Education Across Borders

I taught English and supported children’s learning in Thailand, China and Honduras. The three months at Nuevo Destino in Honduras stayed with me in particular: the effort children made to get to school and the commitment of their teachers.

Social Impact · 2017–2019 · CompletedMax Brandenburg

Teaching English and supporting children as they learn.

I taught English and supported children’s learning in Thailand, China and Honduras. The three months at Nuevo Destino in Honduras stayed with me in particular: the effort children made to get to school and the commitment of their teachers.

Thailand

I taught English for ten weeks through Projects Abroad. It gave me experience in getting children involved in lessons and working with them.

China

Alongside my studies at Tsinghua University, I tutored children in English. I also coached football a few times and joined other volunteers for a one-day school visit. I was interested in how the children learned and what their schools and parents expected of them, so I explored the education system beyond my own teaching.

Three months at Nuevo Destino

In Choloma, near San Pedro Sula, I worked in Nuevo Destino’s afternoon programme. A private school funded free lessons for children who otherwise lacked access to school. Alongside English, the work involved helping children concentrate, keep trying and develop confidence in their ability to learn.

How the programme was supported

For my video, I interviewed a teacher about the school. She explained that children also received meals and uniforms. The morning private school and other supporters funded the programme, while churches helped reach the children. I wanted to understand how a school could be organised to contribute to its community in this way. In the interview recorded at the time, she also described former pupils who had gone on to university with scholarships.

What stayed with me

Some children walked 40–50 minutes to school each day and back again afterwards. Teachers volunteered in the afternoon. The work was demanding, but I experienced a great deal of warmth there. Once a week, I accompanied pastors on visits to nearby communities and neighbourhoods. These visits helped me understand more of the children’s lives outside the classroom.

Values in everyday school life

The school was Christian. Honesty, care and mutual support came up in conversations, appeared on signs and were sung about in songs. I was interested in how daily encounters gave those words meaning. People were very welcoming to us. I enjoyed being there and contributing.

SAP Migration

Big bang or dedicated migration? My bachelor’s thesis examines how goals, operational requirements and technical dependencies shape the move to SAP S/4HANA.

Bachelor’s thesis · ISM Hamburg · 2020 · CompletedMax Brandenburg

SAP S/4HANA: big bang or dedicated migration?

Big bang or dedicated migration? My bachelor’s thesis examines how goals, operational requirements and technical dependencies shape the move to SAP S/4HANA.

What dedicated migration means

A big bang switches the system at a single point in time. Dedicated migration selects functions, processes and user groups for targeted transitions. These can be staggered and may overlap; their functional boundaries determine the sequence.

Which criteria matter

The Brandenburg Migration Check groups the decision into management goals, organisational requirements, and business-process and system requirements.

Goals and constraints

Which processes should change? How much organisational change is intended? Time pressure, available budget and data retention requirements also shape the decision.

Operations and people

How much business downtime is acceptable? What capacity do employees and key users have? Company culture and pressure for change influence preparation and adoption.

Processes and systems

The analysis considers customisation, process complexity and dependencies, data quality, required functionality, and functional alignment between the source and target systems.

How to approach the analysis

The check suggests a structured approach: clarify goals and constraints, collect business and IT requirements, and map dependencies between data, processes, functions and user groups. Then assess both implementation strategies against operational risk, resource needs and feasibility. Justify the choice through these relationships; no single criterion is sufficient.

How I investigated the criteria

I developed hypotheses from the literature and examined them through seven semi-structured interviews with experienced SAP consultants and project stakeholders. The analysis brought their accounts together into decision criteria. Five additional conversations clarified technical questions and were not used to answer the research question. The findings are limited to this qualitative sample in the German market.

Results and scope

The Brandenburg Migration Check supports a reasoned decision rather than prescribing one universal strategy. Operational risks can favour dedicated migration; strong functional alignment can favour a big bang. Brownfield and greenfield describe the transformation approach, while big bang and dedicated describe implementation. This work informed my later migration projects.

Request the thesis

If you would like to read the thesis, email me. The full document is not published here as a download.

Figure 6 · Own illustration · Bachelor’s thesis, p. 37.Original model from 2020.

Smart Solar Greenhouses

I built a greenhouse, developed connected irrigation and designed a user interface. My master’s thesis examines whether this could help households provide part of their own food supply.

Master’s thesis · NORDAKADEMIE · 2024 · Prototypes evaluatedMax Brandenburg

Building a greenhouse and testing its limits.

I built a greenhouse, developed connected irrigation and designed a user interface. My master’s thesis examines whether this could help households provide part of their own food supply.

Why I built it

The pandemic made me aware of how much daily life depends on supply chains, infrastructure and political and economic decisions. I wanted to explore how households could take some provision into their own hands by bringing sustainable value creation into everyday life.

My contribution

I built the greenhouse, sourced components and developed an IoT irrigation prototype. In Figma, I designed an interface exploring what users need to know, when they should be notified and when they should intervene. I investigated feasibility and explored solutions and market gaps at an agrivoltaics trade fair.

Results and limits

A physical prototype and interface concept demonstrated possibilities and integration limits. Fully autonomous end-to-end operation was not achieved; the studied variant did not meet the economic and environmental objectives. AI models were considered conceptually, not comprehensively implemented or tested. This was not a market-ready product.

What I learned

Components were difficult to integrate and available household solutions were expensive. My budget did not allow a larger product venture. The thesis recommends cost optimisation, greater attention to user needs and a differentiated choice of energy supply. I now want to revisit costs, open systems and AI support.

Sustainability needs measurable impact

As later context, in 2025 BP reduced planned annual transition-business investment through 2027 to $1.5–2 billion, more than $5 billion below previous plans. A 2024 research review estimated that less than 16% of credits issued by the projects studied corresponded to actual emission reductions. This finding concerns those projects, not all carbon certificates. I therefore want to assess systems by their actual utility, total costs and environmental impact. The thesis was written in German.

Abstract · Summary

The thesis examines whether smart photovoltaic greenhouses can help households produce more of their own food. Technical, economic, environmental and user requirements were assessed alongside a greenhouse, an IoT irrigation prototype and an interface concept. The study identified integration opportunities and substantial limitations: full autonomy remained a challenge, and the investigated configuration did not meet its economic and environmental targets. It recommends focusing on user needs, total costs and suitable energy systems.

Evaluating software and hardware together

The work also sought to develop an approach combining system prototyping and interface prototyping. Initial feasibility and business-case assumptions are tested through a working system and a user interface, checking integration, usability and real operating costs before further investment.

Current investigation: 1, 5 and 15 m² footprints

The September 26, 2026 review and subsequently refined requirements inform a new investigation of 1, 5 and 15 m² total footprints, including paths and equipment. Multiple growing levels are considered where light, crop height and access permit. The focus is diverse seasonal vegetables, irrigation, sensors, compatibility and total costs. Reverse calculations examine what investment could be supported by different yields and workloads; profitability has not been demonstrated.

Market Research & Reports

When can we trust a prediction? I develop research workflows that connect qualitative evidence with quantitative data, expose contradictions and assess the evidence behind forecasts.

Market research & reporting · Active developmentMax Brandenburg

When is a prediction reliable enough to use?

When can we trust a prediction? I develop research workflows that connect qualitative evidence with quantitative data, expose contradictions and assess the evidence behind forecasts.

From client workflows to independent research

For a private-equity firm, I developed a workshop and n8n workflows supporting alpha analysis. The workflow combined qualitative transcripts with quantitative inputs, highlighting changes through early-warning signals and supporting preparation for calls. Client identities, internal methods and scoring logic remain confidential.

How much evidence does a prediction need?

I examine where accounts converge, where they conflict and which interests shape them. Source provenance, independent corroboration, recency and counterarguments matter more than volume alone. The working collection contains around 24,000 derived hypotheses; these are not 24,000 individually verified reports.

Three formats

The Prediction Report examines forecasts and uncertainty. The AI Bubble Tracker follows expectations and risks in the AI market. The Daily Checker reviews changes and predefined triggers. The research pipeline is ongoing; outputs remain working analyses requiring verification before use.

Read and review

Email me if you would like to read a current report and provide feedback on the ongoing research and its three reporting formats.

Commission qualitative research

I investigate market and company questions through targeted conversations, trade-fair visits and public-source research, including work at Internorga. Each assignment starts with a clear question and distinguishes evidence, interpretation and open questions.

Commissioned research: possible formats

Question	Method	Output
What do potential customers need?	Targeted qualitative interviews	Needs and open questions
How is a market changing?	Trade-fair conversations and public sources	Comparison of perspectives
How strong is a claim?	Source comparison and verification	Evidence and uncertainty

Proposed formats; scope and access to interview partners are agreed in advance.

Career Orientation

What is worth learning for you, and where do you want to grow? Individual coaching connects your strengths, interests and goals with career opportunities and changes brought by AI, from study choices to later career transitions.

ePA & Service Apps

From patient record development to leading service-app projects.

From PMO to product ownership

What we built

The challenge

How I work

Delivery across organisational boundaries

Responsibility throughout delivery

Concept

Requirements

Development

Test & release

Go-live

Operations

AI Transformation

Automation and autonomous workflows. Preparing teams to operate them.

Who I work with

Responsible implementation

My contribution

Progress and value

AI product leadership at Actum

Practice and professional exchange

How I support products and teams

Participation and development

PsyEdu

Speak freely and examine your own patterns.

Why I started

How it works

My contribution

Available today

Scientific ambition

Agentic AI Research

From a useful application to an agent that can be evaluated.

Practice as the starting point

From use case to evaluation

Evaluation for product decisions

Further research

Education Across Borders

Teaching English and supporting children as they learn.

Thailand

China

Three months at Nuevo Destino

How the programme was supported

What stayed with me

Values in everyday school life

SAP Migration

SAP S/4HANA: big bang or dedicated migration?

What dedicated migration means

Which criteria matter

Goals and constraints

Operations and people

Processes and systems

How to approach the analysis

How I investigated the criteria

Results and scope

Request the thesis

Smart Solar Greenhouses

Building a greenhouse and testing its limits.

Why I built it

My contribution

Results and limits

What I learned

Sustainability needs measurable impact

Abstract · Summary

Evaluating software and hardware together

Current investigation: 1, 5 and 15 m² footprints

Market Research & Reports

When is a prediction reliable enough to use?

From client workflows to independent research

How much evidence does a prediction need?

Three formats

Read and review

Commission qualitative research

Commissioned research: possible formats

Career Orientation

Where do you want to grow, and what is worth learning?

Who it is for

What we explore

Your own goals and next steps

A changing world of work