12-Factor Agents: From AI Prototype to Software Factory
What the 12-Factor Agents teach about reliable AI agents, and which team structures and software factory set-up turn them into lasting business value.
Hello
I’m Arved Cornelsen
Fractional CTO · C-Level Advisor · AI Transformation
I help leadership teams turn digital strategy and AI into results. As a fractional CTO and C-level advisor, I develop digital strategies that the board adopts and lead AI transformation from the first use case to production: with clear architecture, strong engineering teams and people on board. Based in Bonn, working across Germany and Europe.
- years building digital products and teams
- 14+years building digital products and teams
- company with nine-figure revenue advised at C-level
- 100M+company with nine-figure revenue advised at C-level
- employees: company strategy and core process transformation
- 3,500employees: company strategy and core process transformation
The day job.
C-level advisor, coach, cheerleader, navigator, automator of everything and Chief Critic Officer: whatever helps people Get The Stuff Done.
Digital strategy
Strategies the board adopts, and the organisation can actually execute.
AI transformation
Turning AI hype into working products, processes and new ways of working, with people on board, not left behind.
Architecture
Of systems, of teams and of the way they work together. Cloud native by default.
Engineering culture
A healthy engineering culture is still my obsession, and technical leadership is what truly elevates product development.
Speaker at
Kicks and giggles.
- 01
AI agents and automation
Building them, breaking them and learning what they really change.
- 02
Tinkering
With new technology and new ways of working, because trying things beats reading about them.
- 03
Teaching
I loved lecturing creative coding and web development at HSBI (Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and Arts). Nothing sharpens your thinking like a room full of students asking “why?”
- 04
Behavioural psychology
What really makes teams, leaders and a bit of luck tick.
- 05
Mindfulness & meditation
The reset button for a busy mind. A few quiet minutes a day keep me clear and present, especially when everything around me speeds up. The best decisions rarely come from a racing head.
- 06
Running
Like there is no tomorrow. Early kilometres are where my best ideas show up and where big problems shrink back to their real size. No meetings, no screens, just rhythm.
- 07
Surfing
Paddling against every wave. The ocean teaches patience, timing and humility better than any leadership book: you can’t force a wave, you can only be ready when it comes.
Articles.
Contact.
Let’s talk about AI, teams or the next big step.
Great products aren’t just used. They create real experiences. That conviction has shaped my work for more than 14 years: building meaningful web products and the teams behind them.
Today I advise at C-level for a company with nine-figure revenue. I develop digital strategies that the board adopts, and I lead the AI transformation that turns them into reality: AI where it creates real value, in products, in processes and in the way teams work. Always with people at the centre.
Based in Bonn, at home in multicultural teams and always up for a good conversation.