Who are The Empiricists?

An unlikely partnership of three very different people, Bas, Bob and Erik share a profound collaboraton based on trust, born from working together in challenging situations and reinforced by a shared love for role-playing games, good music and bad humour.

Erik brings vision and cheerful optimism; Bas a solid sense for structure with a sharp eye for the irony of the status quo; and Bob a healthy dose of introspection and a capacity for cutting through complexity to the essence of things.

Together they create a powerful base for innovation and relentless pursuit of a shared purpose:

Helping teams and organisations move forward based on facts, data, understanding of people, clear language and a healthy dose of humour.

Founded in 2025 after a decade of "in-the-trenches" collaboration, including the huge success of the Agile game "James, the Evil Stakeholder", The Empiricists offer a unique consultancy grounded in facts, radical honesty, clear language and our signature "bad humor".

Who is Erik de Bos?

Erik is an experienced Agile leader and has worked since 2000 in roles such as Developer, Scrum Master and Agile Coach. He is an expert in the principles and foundations of modern organisations and helps them overcome structural challenges, improve employee experience, and thrive in a complex world.

As a writer and speaker, he helps share insights, inspire others, and support them in creating systems and solutions that truly work.

Erik is an experienced international speaker and loves to travel. He and his family live in the quiet lushness of the province of Utrecht.

Who is Bas Klinkhamer?

Bas is a Product Owner and Agile Coach with over 10 years of experience as a Developer, and is known as an all-round change agent.

As a Product Owner, his focus is on pragmatic delivery and stakeholder engagement. His ambition is to help self-managing teams become truly self-managing, and once and for all prove that happy people deliver more value.

Bas is 35 and lives with his wife in Gouda, where there always seems to be more to do.

Who is Bob Nijkamp?

Bob has been working in the IT industry as a QA engineer, Scrum Master and Agile Coach for over 10 years and is currently an advocate for Sustainable IT at a major Dutch Bank.

Within the Empiricists, he is the only one who ever wears a tie and is a classic jack-of-all-trades. Most of all, Bob is a connector and a communicator, gifted in helping people and groups to work together smoothly, while fostering and environment of mutual understanding."

Bob is 44 and lives with his wife and daughter in The Hague, and has a particular fondness for all things East Asian."

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