Welcome, Willkommen!
Hi, my name is Reiner Gärtner, I am a media expert, journalist, coach, consultant, content creator, and AI prompter - also a certified Professional Scrum Master (PSM) and Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO).
With my family of 6, I live on Awabakal Country in Lake Macquarie, NSW.
I want to be around curious, informed and generous people who are good to each other, and create things for the better — in a healthy, respectful and nurturing way.
As a content producer, my goal is to make relevant knowledge accessible for the target audience. I believe that information should be both valuable and enjoyable to consume, and I take pride in creating content that strikes the perfect balance between the two.
As a Scrum Master, I empower teams to think and act more agile — to create true value, and to stop wasting energy and lifetime for unnecessary work. Depending on the setup and the maturity of the team, organisation and stakeholders, I act as a guide, facilitator, coach, consultant, and advisor.
To ignite and sustain change for the better, I provide more than an agile toolkit. Deeply rooted in a team, I offer presence, focus and a secure space for us to courageously and openly tackle the unknown; to mutually trust, explore, learn, inspect, adapt, and to grow both professionally and as human beings.
A true digital native
I grew up in Germany with 2 TV channels, a Commodore 64, Turbo Tape, no mobile phones and lots of freedom to roam around on my bicycle and a soccer ball. However, I belong to the tribe of the First Digital Natives (online since 1988 with a 600 baud “acoustic coupler“).
Since 1992, I have been following and covering the Internet from a journalistic perspective. I can tell you all about the early days of CompuServe, Netscape, and Google. From 1997 to 2003, I was fortunate enough to witness the Dotcom startup developments as a foreign correspondent in the US (San Francisco and Portland) and Canada (Vancouver).
After my return to Europe and a stint in Canberra, I made my way back to Germany before ultimately settling in Newcastle (more specifically, Lake Mac) in August 2019. I’m thrilled to be here and continue my work in the digital space.
As you can see, I have come a long way to get here. And you know what: I even saw the Dog on the Tucker box!
Communication is key
In my previous roles as a content creator, I always acted as an invisible “superglue” and “translator” between marketing, editorial, project management, and technical areas. I felt especially comfortable within the topic areas of emerging technologies, IT, engineering, renewable energies, climate change, sustainability, and finance. I speak English, German, Marketing, Agile, Empathy, and Tech.
As a motivated self-learner and jack of all media, I am good at geeking out on many things beyond just technology (although cricket remains a mystery to me).
Furthermore, I have honed my skills as a productivity hacker, optimizing my workflow to maintain a healthy work-life balance. I secretly enjoy employing a programmer’s mindset and approach in my work. Perhaps my affinity for German engineering and structured communication is simply ingrained in my DNA.
My skills
Throughout my career, I have been breathing a “Can Do” attitude, I am consistently striving to make change not only comprehensible but also actionable for those around me. On my way to here, I have picked up many skills:
- Writing and editing in both German and English in all media, channels and formats
- Translating English/German and vice versa
- Video and audio podcast production (from concept, story to production)
- Design thinking, UX, customer journeys, stakeholder engagement
- Project management, Scrum, Kanban, GTD
- Consulting (content strategy, media strategy, mission, purpose)
- Coaching and facilitating (one-on-one, groups, liberating structures)
- All relevant CMS systems with some coding involved
- Easy and fast access to all technical systems
- Markdown, static websites
- Deep understanding of AI generative tools and tactics
- Trello, JIRA, MIRO and many other software systems
- All Microsoft, Google, or other cloud services
- I work with Windows, Apple, and Linux systems
Here is a a list of some projects.
Need more? Check out my CV.
Also, feel free to check out my notes to see what’s currently on my mind.
Are you open to exploring my services or engaging in a conversation about potential collaboration opportunities with me? Connect via LinkedIn or enquire here.