inzynierwibroakustyki_ENG_logo_pack-07_obciety
holidays

Engineer dad + VAN + kids + 2 weeks holiday + Croatia = ?

The holiday season has come to an end, and with it a time for reflection. For the second year in a row, I decided to go alone with my children to Croatia. We had lots of different adventures involving the car, camping. Trips like this are incredibly inspiring, relationship-building and great for improving soft skills. Definitely not an easy venture, but well worth the experience.

Statistics:
2 trips planned at 50%,
14 campsites,
25 beaches,
Van without air conditioning,
3 people (me, 9 year old and 11 year old),
450Euro fine for a “bad” vignette in Hungary (can be unscrewed 🙃)….

🥸 I’ve never travelled on this scale before, to warm countries. Nature and discomfort I am not afraid of, as I have to much hostel experience, from the mountains. However, it’s not the same… The campsites and locations were different, and as a result it was the shade 🌞 by the car that set our rhythm for the day 🤣.
🙏 Thanks to such trips, I acquired new organisational skills, related to logistics (e.g. avoiding the sun), solving problems on the spot. I also learned humility, patience and trusting my intuition. I allowed myself not to plan everything and leave space to decide on the spot. 😇 Of course, before that, many times with yerba mate, I studied maps to myself to know distances, roads, etc.
📊 Last year I took stock of all that was great and what we missed. This made me less stressed this year before the trip. I also did a lesson learned from the 2023 trip a few days ago. Thanks to having passed so many beaches and camping sites we now know our expectations well.
😎 This year I decided to go at the end of the summer holidays because the day is shorter and gives more relief from the heat. I split the route into 2-3 stops. This gave me the opportunity to fall in love with Slovenia. VW T4 – nice as it has 3 seats in the front and the kids ride along with me. For the lack of air conditioning we had washers to cool the dashboard and legs. There were 2 SUPs to fit in the car so I didn’t have to attach them to the roof.
💚 🚸 The kids turned out to be great helpers, we managed to form an efficient team when setting up and packing up camp.

problem solution
automotive
Paweł Niedermaier

Intuitive creative process vs algorithms

🥱 Bored with “Lean” and “Six Sigma” – methods common in Automotive, I was looking for knowledge on how to approach problem solving innovatively. Methodological optimization and “nibbling” percentages is not always the right solution, when it’s begging to be “turned upside down”. My creative approach in problem solving was ‘somehow’ intuitive, based on ‘some’ experience, being ‘somehow’ more open to solutions and ‘somehow’ having flashes of ideas. Often this approach led me to come up with ‘some’ solution. However, I was also often left with an idea and the thought “what next?”.

Read more