Welcome to dutchie.org — my oldest domain, and probably the most honest label anyone ever stuck on me: The Dutchie.
I’ve been answering to that name for more than twenty-five years now. Not because I wear wooden shoes to stand-up meetings (I don’t). Not because I bring stroopwafels to every negotiation (only the important ones). But because, sooner or later, people work out that I’m Dutch — and Dutch shows up in the agenda.
Why this site exists
Dutchie.org is the home base: personal, direct, occasionally too practical for its own good. A place for thoughts, projects, and the kind of stories you tell when someone asks “so what does being Dutch actually mean?” and you accidentally schedule a forty-minute briefing.
This kickoff post marks the start of that — properly, on the domain that predates half the internet trends I ignored on purpose.
Being Dutch, according to me
Over the years I’ve collected a few truths. Self-reflective ones. The kind you can laugh at because you recognise yourself in them:
- Directness is not rudeness. It’s bandwidth optimisation. Why use ten sentences when one clear one works — usually starting with “no”.
- Calendars are sacred. If it’s not in the calendar, it doesn’t exist. If it is in the calendar, it still might not exist, but at least we can discuss it efficiently.
- “Going Dutch” was never a surprise to me. Splitting the bill is not austerity; it’s fairness with arithmetic.
- Weather is a full-time hobby. We don’t have small talk. We have meteorology with feelings.
- Bikes explain more than mission statements. If you can cycle through rain and still show up on time, you understand commitment.
Foreign friends still ask whether all Dutch people are tall. I tell them: statistically yes, emotionally we are exactly as tall as the amount of coffee consumed before 09:00.
The Dutchie, professionally
Being the Dutchie in rooms full of non-Dutch people is a role you grow into. You become the person who:
- Translates bluntness into “refreshing honesty” for HR.
- Explains why “let’s be realistic” is encouragement, not pessimism.
- Knows when to soften a message — and when softening would be dishonest.
After twenty-five years, I’m not performing Dutchness. I’m maintaining it — like a good bicycle: regularly, without drama, and with firm opinions about tyres.
What you’ll find here
This site will mix the personal and the practical: notes from building things, opinions earned the hard way, and the occasional joke that only lands if you’ve ever been told your feedback was “very direct” and said thank you because you took it as a compliment.
If you’re new here: welcome. If you’ve known me as The Dutchie for years: you already know the tone. Bring patience, skip the small talk, and put it in the calendar.
dutchie.org — oldest domain, same person, still Dutch.
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