Dr. Peter Klein

Dr. Peter Klein

I make digital transformation measurably successful – through human-centered design, situational leadership and technological excellence.

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About

Profile

Focus, experience and professional positioning at a glance

Specialization

Digital transformation in regulated, complex domains.

  • Public Administration & Smart Cities
  • Healthcare & Care (AAL, Telemedicine)
  • Automotive & Industry 4.0
  • Smart Home & IoT

Current Role

Chief Creative Officer
uCORE Systems GmbH

  • Strategic product development
  • Leadership of interdisciplinary teams
  • Client consulting & requirements engineering
  • Technical architecture & innovation

Academic Background

Dr. rer. nat.
Computer Science / Information Science

  • 50+ peer-reviewed publications
  • Teaching assignments at 10+ universities
  • Reviewer & advisor for research projects
  • Presentations at international conferences
Non-binding initial consultation Services & Collaboration
Principles

What I stand for

Principles that visibly improve collaboration and outcome quality

Pragmatism & Feasibility

  • Scientifically grounded – without academic self-indulgence
  • Feasible – aligned with team, budget, timeline and tech stack
  • Decidable – clear priorities instead of endless option spaces
Result: Realistic roadmaps instead of castles in the air

Human-centered design

  • Context over opinion – real usage beats gut feeling
  • Reduce barriers – clarity, learnability, error tolerance
  • Ensure adoption – design as a lever for adoption
Result: Acceptance and adoption instead of resistance

Long-term partnerships

  • Capability building – knowledge stays in the team, not with the consultant
  • Transparency – decisions, trade-offs, rationales
  • Sustainability – processes & structures that work without me
Result: Capability building instead of dependency
"The best strategy is the one your team can continue without me. My goal is to make myself unnecessary." – Dr. Peter Klein
Target Groups

Who I work with

Organizations seeking to master complexity and achieve sustainable improvement

Medium-sized Enterprises

Driving digital transformation without large strategy or UX departments.

  • Interim Chief Product Officer (CPO)
  • Building UX & Product Teams
  • Implementing agile processes
  • Digital product strategy
Result: Structured transformation instead of ad-hoc actionism

Startups & Scale-ups

Teams looking to move from “Build Fast” to “Build Right”.

  • Product-market fit validation
  • UX research & usability testing
  • Design system development
  • Coaching product teams
Result: Sustainable growth instead of feature overload

Regulated Industries

Organizations with high compliance and security requirements.

  • IEC 62366 & FDA Human Factors
  • ISO 26262-compliant UX processes
  • Risk analysis & documentation
  • Standard-compliant usability testing
Result: Approval-ready UX instead of last-minute rework before audit

Agencies & Service Providers

Teams that temporarily need senior expertise for complex projects.

  • White-label UX consulting
  • Workshops & design sprints
  • Quality assurance & audits
  • Mentoring junior teams
Result: Ensured quality without friction losses in the project
I am not the right choice if you… are only looking for quick designs without strategic guidance, prioritize short-term “quick wins,” or want to deliberately avoid technical depth.

How I work

A structured, transparent process – from analysis to implementation

1

Understand first, then act

No off-the-shelf solutions. I start with in-depth analysis: stakeholder interviews, user research and system understanding – only then are strategies developed.

  • Contextual inquiry & user research
  • Jobs-to-be-Done framework
  • Stakeholder mapping
Result: Make informed decisions instead of gut feeling
2

Iterative & data-driven

Build, measure, learn – in fast cycles. Prototyping, testing and validation replace assumptions with verifiable insights.

  • Lean UX & design sprints
  • A/B testing & analytics
  • Usability testing (formative & summative)
Result: Validated solutions instead of assumptions
3

Interdisciplinary & collaborative

The best solutions are created as a team. I bring developers, designers, product managers and subject matter experts together and facilitate constructive collaboration.

  • Building cross-functional teams
  • Coaching & mentoring
  • Workshops & design thinking sessions
Result: Sustainable change instead of consultant dependency
4

Technically proficient

I speak the language of developers. I can realistically assess architectural decisions, API design and performance optimization.

  • Full-stack development (web & backend)
  • DevOps & CI/CD pipelines
  • Design systems & component libraries
Result: Implementable designs instead of “pixel-perfect mockups”

Methods & Frameworks (Selection)

Design Thinking Jobs-to-be-Done Scrum & Kanban Lean UX Service Design User Story Mapping Usability Testing A/B Testing Design Systems DevOps & CI/CD OKRs & KPIs Stakeholder Management

Selected Projects

Examples from complex, regulated and real-world domains

SmartHome Award 2024

Award: Best German AAL Project.
Led UI development for an AI-powered Active Assisted Living system including situation recognition, sensor integration, automated billing and emergency call. Managed interdisciplinary teams.

Results:
  • Best project in Germany
  • Productive use in multiple facilities
  • AI-driven process optimization for caregivers
AAL AI Care Smart Home

eGovernment & Smart City

Design, implementation and improvement of digital mobility and planning systems used reliably by municipal employees and external stakeholders.

Results:
  • Improved usability & acceptance
  • Fewer media discontinuities in planning processes
  • Proven better usability of complex systems
OZG Digitalization Smart City

Medical Technology & FDA Approval

Human Factors Engineering for medical devices according to IEC 62366 and FDA guidelines. Formative & summative usability studies as well as risk management.

Results:
  • Successful FDA approval
  • Significant reduction of use errors
  • Full IEC-62366 compliance
IEC 62366 FDA Usability Engineering

Automotive Driver Testing & Field Research

Accompanying field research during real driving tests with ETAS engineers. Contextual inquiry during operation of test and measurement systems in vehicles on closed test tracks.

Results:
  • Conceptual recommendations from real-world use
  • Reduction of unnecessary interaction steps
  • Improved alignment of process & interface
HMI Automotive ISO 26262
View all projects

Teaching & Knowledge Transfer

Sharing knowledge is part of my DNA – in academic teaching as well as corporate training.

Academic Teaching

Teaching assignments at 6 universities in Germany – from fundamentals to advanced topics in HCI, UX and cognitive science.

Cooperations:
  • Hochschule Bielefeld – Prof. Dr. Kerstin Müller
  • Hochschule Reutlingen – Prof. Dr. Gabriela Tullius
  • Beuth Hochschule Berlin – Ilse Schmiedeke
  • HS Magdeburg-Stendal – Prof. Steffi Hublien
  • Hochschule Heilbronn – Prof. Dr. Gerrit Meixner
  • DHBW Baden-Württemberg – Prof. Dr. Carmen Winter

Corporate Training

Tailored workshops for companies – from UX basics to specialized topics such as design systems or usability testing according to IEC 62366.

Popular topics:
  • UX fundamentals for product teams
  • Design thinking in practice
  • User research & usability testing
  • Developing & scaling design systems
  • IEC 62366 & human factors
  • Agile UX in Scrum teams

Talks & Conferences

Regular presentations at specialist conferences on UX, digitalization, human factors and interdisciplinary product development.

  • German AAL Congress (2019–2024)
  • OOP Conference Munich
  • GI Salzburg Conference
  • IEEE Professional Communication Conference
"Our job is not to prepare students for something. Our job is to prepare them to be ready for anything." – A. J. Juliani

Let’s talk

Do you have a challenge? Let’s clarify in a non-binding conversation whether I am the right partner for you.

Concrete examples of my work can be found in the selected projects.

1

Initial consultation (30 min, free)

We clarify whether I am the right person for your challenge. No sales pitch, just an honest assessment.

2

Workshop or analysis (1–2 days)

Together we develop a deeper understanding of your situation and possible solution approaches.

3

Individual collaboration

Depending on your needs: project support, interim role or strategic coaching – flexible and focused.

Get in touch