Employee stories: Interview with Product Owner Manuel

In the summer of 2011, my father-in-law had drawn my attention to a job advertisement in the newspaper when I had just returned from vacation. I actually enjoyed my job at the time, but I was working in the field and could only rarely see my wife, whom I had just married. It was tempting to no longer have to commute to Aachen, as Hückelhoven – JTL’s main location – was right next to where I lived.

I came in a suit because that’s what I knew from previous job interviews, but I quickly realized: I can be who I am here. I spent 20 minutes talking to Managing Directors Thomas and Janusch Lisson about my skills. After that, we quickly got down to business and opened up the JTL-Wawi source code to discuss concepts. ERP is simply my passion.

“By chance” there were steaks for lunch on the day of my job interview and I was invited (laughs). Back then, the Company always cooked for the whole team. That’s how I got to know my colleagues and realized: it’s a good fit!

Good question! Perhaps because there is always a clear mathematical answer in merchandise management systems and programming, but the problems behind them can still be very tricky. Even when I was at school – I did my A-levels in economics – I liked tasks that seemed unsolvable at first and that I could rack my brains over. During my training, I then grew into the development of ERP systems.

Exactly, and for the skilled trades sector. I implemented requirements directly on site with customers, spoke to Managing Directors, warehouse workers and craftsmen and learned a lot as a result.

As Product Owner for JTL-Wawi, I have enormous responsibility. I have to decide which features are developed and which are not. That’s when I came up with the idea of starting a YouTube channel to quickly inform our users about new features in JTL-Wawi in an entertaining way. I encourage the community to give feedback in the JTL forum and via the issue tracker. This gives me more certainty for my product decisions.

This is an incredible honor! So many people came up to me at the JTL-Partner Convention and said, “Manuel, you don’t know me, but I watch you on YouTube every day!” There was a lot of great feedback. That’s why I’m really looking forward to being on stage again at JTL Connect on September 16, 2022.

I ride my desk bike for 30 to 60 minutes every morning and start sorting and completing my to-dos on my laptop. After showering, I work through the first tasks and the first calls are already scheduled for 10 o’clock. I am very talkative! A day without meetings is a sad day for me.

In all discussions about strategy, product development, etc., we always try to take the customer perspective and ask: “What would the community think?”

That I can help shape the company with my ideas and skills and also have the freedom to experiment. When I used to come to our Managing Directors Thomas and Janusch Lisson in the office with an idea, they would often say: “Interesting, try it out! If it doesn’t work, we’ve learned something.” In addition, with JTL I have an employer who stands behind me in all situations. No matter what has happened to me in recent years, the company has always given me a boost. That motivates me every day anew.

Be yourself! Work is like a marriage: you spend a lot of time together and shouldn’t have to pretend. In my opinion, it’s also important to make contacts and approach every team member openly. In times of working from home and corona, you sometimes lose sight of this.

I became a father about a year ago and have taken a lot of time for my family accordingly. In the meantime, however, the odd evening with friends has become possible again. We regularly organize men’s evenings with extensive board games. Recently we faced an army of zombies that we unfortunately couldn’t defeat, but next time we’ll take them down!

My wife and I are also active in animal welfare. Our Beagle lady Happy comes from an animal testing laboratory and our cat from an animal shelter. I live right next to a nature reserve, where I can relax wonderfully on long walks.

I would like to meet my colleagues “live” more often again. After such a long period of coronavirus, I’m looking forward to a direct exchange!