About
About flu:ent
Why flu:ent exists
Most IT projects don't get stuck on the technology. They get stuck between ambition and delivery — where plans, teams, vendors, and legacy all meet.
At that point, outside help often arrives too late, too briefly, or too superficially. A consultant delivers a report and leaves. A staffing profile fills a seat but takes no ownership.
flu:ent exists because it can be done differently. One person who becomes part of your team, takes ownership, and stays until the project lands.
How I work
I work with one client at a time. An engagement doesn't run for weeks, but months — often years. During that time I become part of the team: in the stand-ups, the governance forums, and the hard conversations. One client at a time means full focus, not divided attention.
What I take on
Depending on what the organisation needs, I take on different roles — often at the same time:
Delivery leadership — Release Train Engineer or Epic Owner in SAFe contexts. Driving outcomes across teams and vendors.
Platforms & integration — API management, iPaaS, cloud migration, legacy retirement. Where architecture meets operational reality.
IT Service Management — designing, building, and running services. ITIL 4 as a compass.
Business analysis — clarity before construction begins. What needs to happen, for whom, and why.
I use frameworks (SAFe, ITIL 4, OKR) pragmatically. They're tools, not doctrine.
Who I am
Behind flu:ent is one person: Thomas De Ridder.
I didn't start out in IT. I studied history at Ghent University and came into delivery the long way round — IT support, incident and problem management, and eventually delivery leadership. That path taught me that technology is rarely the real problem. The real work is getting people aligned and staying until it works.
I worked on incident and problem management at pan-European scale at mateco, on platform delivery for the Flemish government (MAGDA and Mijn Burgerprofiel), and today I lead integration delivery at ART level for a Belgian bank.
What I don't do
Honestly: this model doesn't fit every request.
I don't do staffing, I don't do short engagements of a few weeks, and I don't work with multiple clients at once — that's the whole point.
If you're looking for an extra pair of hands for a sprint or two, I'm not your best option. If you're looking for someone to take ownership of a project that needs to land, I am.
Sound like what you're looking for? Let's talk.
