How did the Customer Success Manager role come about?
I joined The Factory as a DevOps engineer in a small team dedicated to one customer. I spent a day a week at their office because I wanted to understand who they were, how they worked, and where we could actually help them.
That listening turned into changes: both in the customer’s ongoing projects and in how we worked. It took time, but it was the prerequisite for delivering anything useful next. At the same time I was trying to do the job I was hired for: learning Terraform, giving Git courses, refreshing my Azure certifications. Doing both well wasn’t sustainable.
So we created a new role: Customer Success Manager. Joep and Mike helped me shape it. I’ve been in the role for almost a year now, and there’s plenty in it to keep me busy.
What does success look like for you in this role?
The name says it: customer success on their cloud journey. Two sides to that. First, I need to understand what the customer actually needs: not just what they asked for. Second, I need a high-performing team that can meet those needs.
That team has to keep learning, because cloud and tooling move fast. The way we describe what we want to bring to the customer is trust, ownership, and craftsmanship. If those hold up inside the team, they hold up in front of the customer.
What else do you do at The Factory?
I like organising things. Last year I set up a team day with boxing and dinner afterwards: a good way to see how people show up in different situations. Another event is in the works this year.
The smaller things matter just as much. A card to a colleague, encouraging people to move during the day (we sit a lot), a shared lunch, or just calling out someone’s work.
What are you into outside work?
Ashtanga yoga. Before work I’m on my mat, usually at the studio in Rotterdam.
From the outside it looks like getting into unusual postures, but after enough practice it becomes something else: yoga chitta vritti nirodhah. The short version: a quiet, clear mind. That clarity carries into everything else I do.
On weekends I cycle: on a road bike when it’s dry. We’ve got a BBQ coming up at The Factory, and if the weather holds I’d like to ride there. Three or four hours each way, so a few colleagues in the slipstream would be welcome.
And a good coffee in the early morning. Giraffe in Rotterdam is my favourite, just around the corner from the yoga studio.