l People & Social
“Het ga je goed Rob” After almost 30 years at the EPO, we bid farewell to Rob Dröge, Director, Examination & Formalities, a pioneer of many of the technical systems in the Office.
Rob Dröge’s pragmatic management style, preferring to hear proposed solutions rather than complaints, and his technical expertise will be missed by his colleagues.
In 1978, Rob commenced his EPO career in what was then known as the EDP (computer) department. He worked as an analyst/programmer at B level and accessed to A level, working as a project manager on various projects and systems such as EPASYS, PMI, POEM and CAFS. In the 80s and 90s Rob worked for Omer Bullens, Roland Turbinsky and Charly Vansina, all of whom are now enjoying their retirement. Before that time Rob had already proven his merits, his experience and, more importantly, he had gained the respect of all his colleagues in IS and within the user community. When Charly Vansina left he was the natural follow-up and became director. He was one of the pioneers and had worked then on nearly all systems used in the EPO. Technical, administrative, patent processing, he contributed with his expertise on all of these systems.
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gazette 12/08 – 1/09
From 1998 to 2007, as Director of DAMA-P, he oversaw the patent granting and documentation systems (Caesar, Casex, EPASYS, PIPS/MASAI, MUSE and DOCDB). In 2007, the directorate was reorganised and renamed Examination & Formalities. Since then major projects have been implemented such as EPC 2000, Written Opinions and Trimaran. Throughout his career Rob played a major role in introducing new technologies such as IDMS, DB2 and Java. He was, and is, very knowledgeable on technical matters, and staff could always count on his understanding and decisiveness. He adopted a pragmatic management style and preferred to hear proposed solutions rather than complaints. He was respected by his staff and peers, and can be proud of his achievements in the area of patent granting systems at the EPO. Lately Rob has been involved
in the early steps of Future Patent Tools (FPT) and has paved the way for his successor to take it forward. As time passed, Rob’s personal interests have expanded to encompass MG’s, golf, latest gadgets and the digital camera. The latter will certainly be used to ensure a photographic record of his grandchildren, store them on the iMac and show them on the iPhone. Rob is a very active member of the Lion’s club to which he can now devote more time. We enjoyed working together with Rob and are looking forward to him popping in again to see us. We are sure that he will start the conversation by simply asking (in Dutch): “En?”. On behalf of all staff in your directorate, we wish you all the best. “Het ga je goed.” ! Auke Hoekstra, Doug Carter, Brian Elliott, colleagues in Examination & Formalities
People & Social l
“A pleasure to work with” Some parting words from those who have worked with Rob Dröge
John Bambridge, Principal Director, Patent Grant Automation In 20 years of knowing Rob Dröge, I have always been amazed at his consistent and steadfast approach. As the consummate professional, he has dragged the rest of us along, kicking and screaming, in making sure that we delivered what the users wanted on time, on budget and in scope, as agreed. This sense of service has obviously been a guiding light for him in all of my chats with him. It would, however, only be fair to say that his recent attachment to his Blackberry, combined with the need to use his glasses to read the contents, may have given some people the wrong impression that he has become an addict. Nothing could be further from the truth. How else could he play for time to think up a good answer, when fiddling with a pipe or a cigar are forbidden. I can’t help wondering, however, how he will manage to keep himself amused next year without a “crackberry” to support his habit. Not everyone will have experienced the sharp side of Rob’s tongue, but I will admit (now) that I probably deserved it. The occasion was an IS teambuilding event half way up a French mountain when Rob, Helmuth Mayr and I were tasked with carving a representative sculpture of “Team Spirit”. Rob’s approach was to push for an “E” representing EPO, Helmuth went for an “e” representing electronic and, no surprise, I pushed for an “e” for epoline. So the easy bit was to agree what letter the sculpture should look like, even if we had to work through a few rounds before deciding on an “e”. What went less well, was me cutting off far too much of the original block. Still, how else could we have had so much fun and the end results seemed worth the tongue-lashing. My only wish now is that Rob and Corry will have as much fun and enjoyment in the coming decades as I have had working with Rob over the last two. All the best and bon voyage. Willy Minnoye, Principal Director, cluster Electronics When I took over IS in 1997 Rob was working together with Charly Vansina, his director at that time, on the maintenance of the Patent Processing Tools, more particularly EPASYS, for which he had constructed the rebuild plan, an enormous project and a huge responsibility. Rob is the exceptional mixture of an expert, a project manager, a leader and people manager. Working with Rob has always been a pleasure. Inherently constructive in his approach, sometimes tough for his environment but always in support of the Office and more particularly his users. He is a master in innovation and innovative ideas and at the same time technically conservative when it comes to making things happen,
During the project IDMS conversion of EPASYS in 1987, which Rob (centre) led: f.l. Omer Bullens, Robert Meun, Bernard Leverd, Mike Conners, Trevor Watson, Mike Agsteribbe and Peter Jansen
projects successful and ensuring the operations of systems. As a team player one could rely on him at any time, no nonsense and pragmatic in his approach, always ready to be challenged by myself, his colleagues and his staff. During meetings on tough issues on projects or problems he was always my barometer. While listening carefully and contributing when necessary he was drafting complex drawings on a small piece of paper or even seemed to have his eyes closed. The more complex the drawing became in shorter periods of time was the sign that he really became nervous and for me the sign to come to conclusions. Having his eyes closed was not the sign of not being interested or an expression of being bored – certainly not. It must have been the state of intense concentration because suddenly the eyes opened up and the solution was delivered in very few words! Every now and then when his little piece of paper was too small Rob could get more direct in his approach, spelling in clear words what he thought should happen and getting very professional and his colleagues around the table could only show more respect! Rob asked to retire and it was a big surprise for me. So much experience, so much dedication and involvement to the Office, the automation, the systems, his staff and his users will disappear with him. He has decided to spend more time with his family and enjoy his social life more than ever. Not many people know that he is socially engaged in many projects, and together with his wife Corry, I am sure, they will have fun in their new period of life. The Office will miss you Rob. Your family and social environment will benefit. Well deserved I wish you many happy days together – don’t forget us, we will not forget you.
gazette 12/08 – 1/09
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