Background

The Dutch Government proposed the new Environmental Law (Omgevingswet) to address inefficiencies in the process of realising new developments. The existing laws were overly complex, led to time-consuming procedures, slowed down developments and were difficult to maintain while the legislation was no longer future-proof. The Omgevingswet introduced a Digital Infrastructure, “DSO”. The solution required a user-centered digital system that streamlined applications and made the process smoother for both citizens and businesses. The aim was to provide clear insight into regulations, visually support users seeking permits, and ultimately shorten procedures, provide more transparency and improve spatial decision making.

Mission Challenge

Although DSO was conceived in 2015, the program stalled by 2016. The project faced significant challenges due to a top-down management approach that led to a disjointed workforce and a lack of mission cohesion. Knowledge workers were frustrated as progress was hampered by inefficient board meetings that failed to push forward the programme by informed and timely decision-making. This created a frustrating bottleneck in releasing critical knowledge, providing the development teams with sufficient guidance and further prolonged an already arduous process.

Approach

Upon taking on the project, Pieter Meijer made several strategic decisions. It was crucial to engage all government bodies—from the Union to State to Municipalities—ensuring their involvement and cooperation. Pieter’s focus was on building a user-centered system, with all architectural decisions prioritising user-friendliness and a sleek, intuitive design.

He assembled a consortium of four government agencies to collaborate on the new structure, which would feature a robust infrastructure connecting the 400+ government bodies that fed this to serve as an efficient digital one-stop all-encompassing website (Omgevingsloket) to all civilians and companies in the Netherlands. Pieter also established a central steering committee, under which 20 project teams worked within a clear architectural framework, enabling developers and private users alike to build efficiently.

The most transformative decision was implementing Agile Working. After securing approval due to the crisis described above, Pieter introduced an agile method (SAfe), quickly rolling this out within three months. Agile working included quarterly planning sessions with up to 120 attendees and quarterly demo sessions with as many as 600 participants.

Outcome

On January 1st 2024, the DSO went live and performed without major problems.

By September 2024, the project was running on its 30th Agile quarter, spending up to €10 million per quarter at its peak. Continuous learning cycles ensured ongoing improvements and adaptation throughout the project’s development - and to this day continues to be monitored and optimised on a daily basis. 

On January 1st 2024, the DSO went live and performed without major problems.

By September 2024, the project was running on its 30th Agile quarter, spending up to €10 million per quarter at its peak. Continuous learning cycles ensured ongoing improvements and adaptation throughout the project’s development - and to this day continues to be monitored and optimised on a daily basis. 

Wing EMC capabilities deployed

Running large Information programmes in a political environment

Establishing complex information standards with many parties with different interests

Implementing and using Agile methods in larger programmes

Establishing cooperation with organisations with different interests and background

Using architecture on all levels (business, information, processes and technology)

Connecting policy making and legislation to nationwide IT- solutions

Using Rule Processing techniques to generate application forms