A while ago I decided to bite the bullet and start on my own journey. It was time to leave my cozy job, take a risk, and start as an entrepreneur. In order to have a good start and have the time to build my business I gave six months'…

Have you ever wondered why smaller teams feel much more personal than larger teams, even when they’ve only been together for a short time? Compounding might have something to do with it. Compounding is a term that’s often used in investing. It’s the principle underlying the exponential growth of the…

Recently I’ve been in some refinement meetings that felt less effective than they could be. There’s a lot of engagement, and many questions, which is awesome. But it kind of felt like we were going all over the place. Disclaimer: in this post by ‘refinement (meeting)’ I mean an event…

Last week there was a discussion in one of my teams about how to keep people engaged during online meetings. The problem of disengaged colleagues is very common in most meetings. And let’s be honest, we’ve all been there. I know I have. …

Imagine you own a house. You’ve asked a painter to redo your living room. It’s a simple job, four walls to paint, the ceiling doesn’t have to be done. “Fine", he says. “It will take me one day and the price is €100.” “Alright", you say. “I will pay you…

Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. Edit: the premise of this article is that help is needed because of a missing skill. …

Last week a team member asked a great question that shines in its simplicity: Who cares if we take 20 or 25 minutes for our Daily Standup? Why does it have to be 15 minutes or less? The answer is quite simple: because the Scrum Guide says so. Of course…

Last week I organized a Personal Development weekend for about 25 colleagues. The topic of the weekend was Setting and extending boundaries/limits (Grenzen stellen en verleggen in Dutch). Because of the topic we knew some vulnerable stories might come up, so we needed to create an atmosphere of Psychological Safety…

I want to have a nice holiday. I prefer good weather, about 20–25 degrees in the sun. A natural environment where I can do some cycling and hiking will do well for me. …