# What's my role?

## Generally

Generally, I'm a work-hard, play-hard Australian that's living in the Netherlands. This means that my role in our relationship is someone that can set an example of how-to (*and sometimes an example of how-**not**-to*) get things done.

## Professionally

At this moment, I'm a "Development Manager" (*...think "VP Engineering" for you Americans*) for an amazing on- and off-line retailer servicing the Benelux region: [Coolblue](https://coolblue.nl/en).

If you were to use the [RACI method](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_matrix) of identifying responsibility, then at this point in time, I'm:

* `Responsible` for approximately 8 Team Leads
* `Accountable` for approximately 70 developers, across 6 language specialisations.
* `Consulted` as part of the management team of Coolblue Tech (250+ employees)
* `Informed` on direction & overall company strategy by our CEO & CFO as member of the Tech Management team, but also as a member of the 'Raad voor Ondernemers' (*aka. Workers Council*).

## Culturally

As I wrote in [the intro](https://management-handbook.hermens.com.au/master), I'm a fun-loving, foul-mouthed, straightforward Aussie. As such, I love a drink, I love to eat good food, and I enjoy all the things that my culture is associated with: sun, sand, and surf. You can expect me to be the one cracking jokes, and not taking anything *too* seriously, but also wanting to push myself (and others around me) to achieve our goals.

As an inter-cultural example: Australians generally aren't as "self-promoting" as say, Americans, but we are far more self-interested than the Dutch. There are many more examples of this sort of culturally-biased behaviour that you'll come to notice over time, and so many of them that I "just do naturally" and without thinking -- feel completely free to give me feedback if this affects our relationship or our ability to get things done! :)