Hi, I'm Dries 👋🏻 an entrepreneurial product manager that gets excited about early-stage products.
I love to define myself as part product manager, part product designer. While I love to dive deep into understanding jobs and needs, to sketch and prototype, and care about visual design at a pixel or message level, I also love to frame and explain the larger strategic value and business dynamics of the product, service or ecosystem. By switching between these macro- and micro perspectives continuously, I aim to increase the odds the envisioned solution doesn't only look good on a sticky note, but also has a real chance of growing into a successful product in the real world.
Projects I've worked on
See all
Exploring performance-based commerce in Strava
Sep 12, 2021
Personal Project
Consumer
Prototyping Flanders' first teledermatology service
Apr 8, 2022
Client Work
Digital Health
Shaping and designing a companion app for a supplement brand
Jan 12, 2022
Client Work
Digital Health
Shaping a peer-to-peer parcel network
Mar 15, 2022
Client Work
Consumer
Recreating the Substack Podcasts feature in Figma
May 3, 2022
Personal Project
Consumer
Adding a social feature to a ticket reseller app
Dec 12, 2022
Personal Project
Consumer
Recreating the Arrival app for Drivers
Dec 15, 2022
Personal Project
Automotive
Work Experiences
See resume
Things I love
Facilitating Workshops
I've facilitated +50 design sprints, and derived custom workshops from this process, both remotely and in person. In the process, I've learned how much waste there is in interperson meetings, and how the impact of a well-designed workshop can't be understated. For workshops, I often turn to Gamestorming for inspiration.
Conducting User Interviews
I can't even keep count how many interviews I've already done, but I absolutely love them. I use The Mom Test as my weapon of choice when interviewing.
Fat Marker Sketching
I love to sketch with a fat marker (or nowadays, with an iPad using Miro) — while it's really easy and tempting to start prototyping in a design tool right away, I've learned to add some friction (and constraints) by starting with a big fat marker first. Why? "Because it allows to focus on the concept, not the drawing", according to Jason Fried. And honestly, who doesn't love to draw?
Prototyping in Figma
I consider myself a self-taught designer. I was never trained to design interfaces or software at all. It's just something I rolled into — and actually started loving. I've learned so much copying other great products, and from people like Don Norman and Dieter Rams. For rapid prototyping, Figma is my go-to.
Mapping Assumptions
Humans are wired to make assumptions — our brains wouldn't be able to function properly otherwise. But assumptions in business are lethal, and it's best to understand them as soon as we're making them, and to learn as much as we can about them. I love the idea of the Riskiest Assumption Test, and aim to include it in every project I do.
Figuring out How Businesses Work
Over the years, I've defaulted into asking myself the question "But how then, does this business actually work?", every time I encounter a new product or business. It turns out that, businesses very often don't work the way you'd assume, and that there's much more going on underneath the hood. The concept of Value Streams and the Business Model Navigator book helped me better understand businesses.
Setting up Early Growth Initiatives
I love building great products, but I've also come to understand that it isn't always the best products that win. It's the best products + the best distribution that wins. Look at Slack vs. Microsoft Teams. That's why I discovered the need to at least know about basic growth. My go-to hero on this topic is Brian Balfour. He brings so much clarity to this often mystified process of 'growth'.