The story behind the sailboat in the Media Center; visiting 2ndSense
There are more modest ways to get to know your neighbors. 2ndSense chose to go big; Everyone in the Mediacentrale was able to enjoy a gigantic 2ndSense sailboat in the Central Hall around the opening of their office. And don't blame them: if you open a second branch of your company five years after founding, you can say that you have 'the wind in your sails'. Let's meet this newcomer on the second floor.
More about the '2ndSensers'
The new faces that have been roaming the corridors of the Mediacentrale since August are Matthijs Kluis and Jeroen Reessink. Together they chose to open a second 2ndSense branch in Groningen. Not that they are the director or founder of the store, on the contrary. Matthijs and Jeroen work in a so-called holacratically organized company. This organizational model, which you may know from fellow resident Voys, has a different approach to task division, hierarchy and decision-making than traditional organizations. Within holacratic organizations, authority and decision-making are distributed among independently operating, autonomous teams within the organization. That's why Jeroen and Matthijs' idea did not remain just an idea, but was actually implemented. After they had removed the 'objections from the organization' - as this is so beautifully described in the organizational model - the idea was converted into action. A few months later, 2ndSense's second branch in the Mediacentrale became a reality.
Systems Engineering as a common thread
Holacracy is all well and good, but that doesn't mean we know what 2ndSense does. To explain this to you, it is best to provide you with a few concrete examples that you have to deal with on a daily basis. Take, for example, that gigantic 'Tackling South Ring Road' project. The adjustment to this part of the Groningen ring road should ensure better accessibility of Groningen and a better flow of traffic that converges on Julianaplein from the A28 and A7.
2ndSense is involved in this complex project to provide structure. For example, the 2ndSense consultants implemented so-called Systems Engineering within the project at the start of the planning process; a methodology with which you 'realize development in a structured and traceable manner'. Systems Engineering helps you to have control over the project, to make the right choices and to take the interests of stakeholders into account. All this in a traceable manner, so that in five years you will still know how and why you made certain decisions. In this way, 2ndSense contributes to the optimal use of social capital and that projecten offers optimal added value to the environment.
Training, advice and consultancy
“In addition, as consultants we join project groups as so-called 'devil's advocate'. Not infrequently, the solutions for a particular problem are already on the table and the project group is already ten steps too far. “We need to build a viaduct” or “There needs to be an extra rail route”. As an external party, we go back to basics and ask the 'Why question' countless times. We try, as it were, to derive the question behind the question and we often discover together that the viaduct or extra rail route is not necessarily the solution. We then help our clients to draw up a program of requirements or, for example, a tender file in accordance with the principles of Systems Engineering. ”
From Approach Ring Zuid to terminal at Schiphol
The fact that 2ndSense has built up a considerable customer base in five years can be seen from the special projecten in which they are involved. From (the contract preparation for) the renewal of the Joure junction to the construction of a new terminal at Schiphol Airport and from customers such as Rijkswaterstaat who use their services to rail network operator ProRail. “But we also certainly do a lot for smaller parties such as project developers and municipalities,” says Matthijs. “You can actually call on us for all kinds of projecten in the field of infrastructure and spatial development; projecten where there is a need for structure, project and process management. By unraveling our customers' issues and exposing the real problem, we ensure that the right choices are made and that an optimal system is developed. In this way we want to create added value in complex projecten and make optimal use of the social capital.”
Would you like to know more about 2ndSense? Matthijs Kluis would like to have a cup of coffee with you! You can also read all about this special company on the website of 2ndSense.