31 May 2007

René Nossin

Take away my aircraft, buildings and everything, but let me keep my people.
We will just start over and be successful again.

Fotos

Retirement party
31 May 2007

This statement by former Royal Dutch Airlines president Sergio Orlandini embodies a pleasant style of management. Yes, an airline needs aircraft, but the core are people.

When employees are humming their way to work and back to home, things are all right. Enthusiasm is the most important critical success factor.

Bizarre projects

René, you supervised a quite number of my impossible projects:

Interface CARGOAL - FDC


using Freight Status Update messages

Edifact Rule Database Maintenance


in cooperation with Swiss Air, British Airways and Software Alliance Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur

CHAIN


Cargo Hub Advanced Information Network, BAA and BSD

Automatic Queue Processor (AQP)

the pioneer expert system for cargo reservations

Special Cargo Queue Processor

for animals and perishables.

Flight Runner

Prices for cargo space using predictions
All these projects were a joy to me. I did them with great enthusiasm. Especially the artificial intelligence projects went smooth. Those projects used Smalltalk, using the at the time revolutionary Object Orientation. The cargo sales department was thrilled. The AQP alone gave a rough 60 million extra annual revenue. Flight Runner added an odd 20 million. What a way to go!

You gave me the opportunity to do my own project acquisition. The acquisition was very successful. Soon, enthusiastic users were queuing up.

Circus Master

René, you must have had a hard time being my project leader. So, I guess you had to smooth quite some matters with bureaucrats. Thanks a lot, from the bottom of my heart.

Looking around me, I saw fellow team members humming along, happy at work. Some of them were quite special characters. René, you have once heaved a sigh: HJ, look, I am not a IT project manager around here, but the Master of a Bloody Circus. An this whole circus is giving a damned good show too. How in earth is this possible?

Freedom and trust

Well, yes, how did you manage to run the show? The book In Search of Excellence In Search of Excellence was at the height of its popularity. It describes similar chaotic scenes behind the screens of fortune 500 companies. The book nicely matches the words of Orlandini. Give your best people freedom and trust to excel, have success. I do not know if you were reading the book at the time. You might just as well have been a co writing it!

So yes, René, you were a master of a circus, but one with an excellent show, with top acts. This was no coincidence. Success never just happens. It takes quality to attract quality.

Happy landings

With your style of project management everything seemed to run without effort. You were a true master of successful delegation. Nossini Airways could hang in any sky, all projects just kept on running.

When Cor Schrama screamed Nossini Airways has landed through the corridors of the KLM software development department, it sounded like a happy welcome. Yippie, our project manager is back in town, but leave him alone for a while. He is still recovering from his last journey.

Royal Dutch Airlines is history for over a decade to me. Yet I still look back with a smile. It was a good time. In retrospect it was the perfect preparation for my life as entrepreneur.

Enjoy your retirement René. Should Nossini Airways ever land in Malaysia or Australia, please knock on a the door of a local SUMit software development dependance. I shall welcome you with all honours and will be happy to arrange some accommodation for you. An of course you are also very welcome at SUMit headquarters.

Nossini Airways 3105 prepare for next take off on runway 07. Many happy landings!

Till next nut,
Nut