About Michel
Hi, my name is Michel van der Meulen. I am a Professional Scrum Trainer (PST), Scrum Master, and Agile coach with deep roots in software development, requirements engineering, and business analysis. I help organizations, teams, and aspiring Scrum Masters embrace Agile through training, coaching, and collaborative sparring sessions, including tailored expertise in Agile requirements.
My journey started as a software developer, naturally collaborating with customers to build solutions that solved real problems and added genuine value. After a decade as a Business Analyst, I've seen both traditional and Agile approaches to requirements firsthand. What I've witnessed is troubling: rigid processes focused solely on delivering within time and budget often leave everyone disappointed, developers feel disconnected, users' problems remain unsolved, and the work loses its meaning.
This doesn't have to be the norm. Agile offers a better path: one where teams reconnect with the "why" behind their work, rediscover who they're serving, and experience the satisfaction of creating real value. My mission is to guide teams back to this essential way of working. I help them shift perspectives, experiment boldly, and take meaningful steps outside their comfort zones. This ignites fresh insights and sustainable change, enabling teams to inspect, adapt, and ultimately rediscover both effectiveness and joy in their work.
www.michelvandermeulen.com
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What students say about Michel
Jul 9, 2025
Excellent Course
Michel was a great teacher who made an outstanding effort to explain all relevant principles to me in a very intuitive and interactive manner. I greatly enjoyed my class with him and happily recommend him to anyone who is thinking about taking the class as well!
Oct 17, 2024
It was very educational
It was very educational and Michel was also able to explain it very well. He also provided a nice atmosphere which also made it pleasant to participate in the training. Thank you Michel!
Sep 18, 2024
Great teacher
Great teacher, with very relevant experience and knowledge on the subject. Interactive and very fun class to attend. It was fun as well as informative.
Sep 10, 2024
The training was inspiring
The training was inspiring, give new insight and absolutely recommend when interesting in the Scrum Framework.
Sep 6, 2024
Very interesting and interactive course
Michel is a very pleasant trainer. The training provides a balanced combination of theory and practical application through exercises. This makes it easy to stay attentive.
Feb 6, 2024
Michel not only created an amazing…
Michel not only created an amazing environment for us to learn with his creative drawings but also encouraged us to ask questions and to work on those as a team. He helps you develop a new way of thinking just as a Scrum Master should guide the Scrum Team.
Feb 1, 2024
Beyond My Expectations: Michel's Passion And Practical Insights
Michels's passion for helping teams and individuals improve their work processes was evident throughout the two-day class. His enthusiasm created a dynamic learning environment that kept everyone engaged and motivated. It was refreshing to have an instructor who genuinely cares about the success and growth of his students.
One aspect that stood out was Michel's ability to seamlessly integrate his practical experience into the training content. Sharing his insights on building trust within a Scrum team was particularly valuable. Michel went beyond theory, providing real-life examples from his own experiences. His willingness to open up and share personal anecdotes created a meaningful connection, illustrating the importance of genuine communication within a Scrum team.
I appreciated Michel's approach to fostering a collaborative and supportive learning atmosphere. He encouraged active participation, answered our questions clearly, and facilitated discussions effectively. The class discussions were informative and enjoyable, thanks to Michel's engaging teaching style.
Immediately after the training, I took the Professional Scrum Master I assessment and successfully passed. I attribute this achievement to Michel's effective training methods and ability to convey complex concepts understandably. The practical insights shared during the class were invaluable in preparing for the assessment.
Overall, I am extremely satisfied with the Professional Scrum Master training led by Michel. His dedication to the subject matter, coupled with his genuine interest in the success of his students, has left a lasting impression on me. I feel well-equipped to apply the knowledge gained in my professional role.
Mar 21, 2023
Great interaction and examples
Michel made sure the mix of interaction and listening was great. Plenty of practical examples and made us think about specific topics/questions.
Mar 20, 2023
Fascinating Course
It was a great pleasure to meet with Michel and the other attendees. Bunch of teaching techniques was really useful. I mostly liked the drawings that Michel made to make us understand the concept
Mar 12, 2023
The training has been very beneficial :)
The training has been very beneficial for me. It helped me expand my knowledge of Scrum. It made me realize the wrongs that I knew right. Interactive activities allowed me to be a part of the course as well as to practice and understand Scrum.
Feb 27, 2023
Very good training
Michel was amazing as a trainer for PSM 1. Always kept the session interactive, fun and easy to learn. He uses a lot of flipcharts which makes the course with him very interesting. He always listens to you, try to understand your real time situation and the problem you are facing and how Scrum can help in that context. He also has shared some valuable tips for the assessment of PSM I certification.
Dec 7, 2022
Top level course. Really Good !
A really dynamic and interesting class.The coach are really good and the 2 days are full of insights and role play that allows you to have usage of the theory. One of the best course I took.
Aug 9, 2022
Very educational and interactive…
Very educational and interactive lessons, best when done on-site with a group of around 8 people
Jun 3, 2022
Excellent training
Excellent training, good fun and great contents!
Jan 3, 2022
Very good class with an 'agile'…
Very good class with an 'agile' approach towards time use.
Dec 29, 2021
Professional training
I received lots of new information and good methods.
Jun 30, 2021
Keep Calm and Scrum On
We had a nice group of 5 students so there was enough time to get to know and listen to each other. The trainer (Michel) is calm and knows what he is talking about . He has a nice way of explaining himself and extend the knowledge with clear examples or stories about real-life events
Jun 30, 2021
Try this course
Highly interactive training with many practical activities to put the theoretical contents into action. Highly recommended
Mar 29, 2021
Good, pleasant and interactive training
The class I attended was a good, pleasant training. The training was a nice interactive session in which the trainer dived into some subjects more than others, to get the mindset needed for making the right choices. I really think that helped during the exam!
Courses taught by Michel
Professional Scrum Master
Professional Scrum Master - Advanced
Other Services by Michel
- Coaching/Consulting
- Private Courses
Latest Blogs by Michel
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If you are a Product Owner (PO), you are essentially the owner of the product and most POs I come across know what that entails. However, I also meet POs who determine during the Sprint which items from the Sprint Backlog the Development Team should work on, or what the solution should be, or even perform code reviews and evaluate work this way.
As Agile practitioners, we know the importance of being adaptable and embracing change. Yet, we’re all creatures of habit, and breaking free from our habitual behaviours can be challenging. While habits can provide comfort and predictability, they can also hinder our growth and limit our ability to embrace Agile principles.
Many people choose to do things efficiently, because they probably assume that it is the best way to be successful and that it is the best way to get the highest value with the least amount of effort. But substituting efficiency for effectiveness makes things worse instead of better. The fact is that efficiency and effectiveness are two different things.
The Project Mindset approach, in which success is defined upfront based on Scope, Time and Budget, will (based on experiences) lead to less business involvement and more task management.
The Product Mindset approach, in which success is continuously driven by business metrics like User adaption/retention, revenue cost saving per feature, will (based on experiences) lead to less waste, more creativity and more releases.
The future is unknown and although some people claim to be able to predict the future, most people can't. But to look a little ahead, into the future, to have a sense of when certain items on the Product Backlog are finished, predictability would be very useful. Although we can't be completely predictable, it is helpful if we are a little more predictable than we are now. And therefore we need some measurement results from the near past.
The days are getting shorter and colder. Summer is over and winter is coming. Some people are already thinking about the holidays and the preparations for it. Soon children will have their Christmas wish list ready. The wish lists my children created were always a combination of text and pictures; every item on the list contained a name, a picture, information where to buy it and how much it costs. They did everything to increase the chance of getting these presents and especially getting the right presents.
The Sprint Review is not merely a "Demo" or a presentation. It is a collaborative event where the Scrum Team interacts with business stakeholders.
Are you a Business Analyst and do you currently fulfill the role of the Product Owner? Or otherwise the Product Owner may have delegated some tasks to you, for lack of time to deal with those themselves.
Recently I ran into a beautiful piece of text, written by Rachel Naomi Remin. In this text I read the following phrase: "Perhaps the secret of living well is not in having all the answers, but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company."
In organizations in which agile transitions take place, the ancient English proverb Blood is thicker than water is frequently appropriate. It is decided to adopt agile working, there is talk of Scrum, self-organizing teams, Sprints, standing meetings, sticky notes on the wall, etc. etc.