Asbjorn Rolstadas served as IFIP President from 1992 to 1995
Delivery Co.: During your tenure as IFIP President what, in your opinion, were the most significant IFIP developments and activities?
A. Rolstadas: My predecessors, Academistion Sendov and Professor Goldsworthy, had started a change process in IFIP by installing the Technical Assembly and giving more power to the Technical Committees. It was my privilege to follow in their footsteps and operationalise all this.
During my tenure the IFIP secretariat was moved from Geneva to Laxenburg in Austria. Mr. Nedkov was hired as head of the Secretariat (the position was later called executive director) and he started to build the new IFIP administration based on the principle of e-work and the use of Internet.
I opened a dialogue with the member societies by visiting a number of them and by inviting them to come forward with their requirements and views on IFIP. That exercise revealed insufficient contact between the General Assembly and the member societies and a process to improve this was initiated.
More power was given to the Technical Committees. The TC chairmen became ex officio members of the General Assembly and they were to a larger extent given control over their own finances. By the help of Mr. Aage Melbye, the procedures for approving and organising events were revised and improved.
By the kind help of Professor Zemanek, the IFIP silver summary was amended in order to document the IFIP history to the future.
Delivery Co.: Are you currently interested in IFIP? If so, are there any developments which you like in particular and you feel should be further encouraged?
A. Rolstadas: My heart is still with IFIP, and I would like to contribute to IFIP work to the extent time allows. Topics that I have an interest in relate to bridging the gap between industry and academia.
Delivery Co.: Are there any specific issues you find important for IFIP to address?
A. Rolstadas: As I now can see things more at a distance, it is easier to point to areas where IFIP must improve. I think there are three major challenges for the future IFIP:
Delivery Co.: Please share with us a few words about yourself at present – professional occupation, personal projects, hobbies…
A. Rolstadas: I am still a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. My main interest is in project management. Together with other universities we have developed an international program for project management education and we have started to offer a curriculum in management of software projects as continued education in co-operation with the Norwegian Computer Society.
I am also managing a large international project to develop a curriculum in manufacturing strategy using E-learning. The European part is funded by the European Union.
We established a Norwegian Center for Project Management, for which I am currently the chairperson.
My hobbies, which I find too little time for, are collecting Norwegian stamps and shooting and editing video films.