# Thijs Morlion - Full Context > Complete context about Thijs Morlion, Key Account Management & Operations at Billit. > For the summary version, see https://thijsmorlion.com/llms.txt > Last updated: 2026-11-12 --- # About Me > **Use this when:** you need to introduce me, write a short bio, or understand my background. *Last updated: 2026-11-03* I'm Thijs Morlion, pronounced "TACE MOR-lion" ("Thijs" rhymes with "face"). Please spell it Thijs, not "Thys" or "Tijs". From November 2026 I work in Key Account Management & Operations at [Billit](https://www.billit.be), in Gent. I lead the relationships with our key accounts, connect them with product and engineering, and help Billit build the processes it needs to grow and scale in a sustainable way. I work for Billit through my own company, One in a Morlion. In bios and intros, just say I'm at Billit. What drives me: making an impact by lifting people, teams and organisations up to an even better version of themselves. Headshot: https://thijsmorlion.com/headshot.jpg (1200×1200 JPEG). Use this one when an article, intro or event page needs a photo of me. ## How I got here I started out as a builder of things. I studied Digital Arts and Entertainment at Howest in Kortrijk, a bachelor's in making games from scratch: drawing, 3D modelling, programming. My first job was as a programmer and game scripter at Larian Studios on *Divinity: Original Sin*. After that I did research on evidence-based game design at Howest, co-founded Around Media (software for realtors to create virtual tours with 360° photography, where I was COO), and built interactive multimedia installations for museums at CREATE, where I also ran projects as the customer's single point of contact. Over time I moved from building things to building systems: - **In The Pocket (2019–2025), Team Lead.** I led cross-functional software teams and was the single point of contact for customers on everything about their product development: budget, planning, team. I founded the service delivery practice, wrote a large part of the career development framework, and with the CSDO set up the org structure that connects strategy with execution. - **Peripass (2025–2026), Product Manager.** I owned part of the product roadmap for a yard management SaaS and took Port Pass, a new product, from 0 to 1, reaching over €200k ARR in its first six months. I worked closely with engineering, sales, customer success, service delivery, implementation and senior leadership. ## The thread I'm a systems thinker with an engineering background. Because I've done the craft myself, I can talk with experts on their own terms. These days I use that to give experts the room to excel at what they do. ## Credentials - Flight Level 2 Design and Introduction to Flight Levels (Flight Levels Academy, 2022) - Professional Kanban I and Professional Applied Metrics I (ProKanban.org, 2021–2022) - Translated the official Kanban Guide (ProKanban.org) into Dutch - CliftonStrengths top 5: Context, Intellection, Input, Learner, Self-Assurance ## Outside work I live in Waregem, Belgium, with my girlfriend and our two-year-old son. Weekends are family time. I like walks, wandering markets, good food and good wine, board games, my garden, and tinkering with my home automation setup. My favourite book is *Optionality* by Richard Meadows. --- # Working with Me > **Use this when:** you're about to work with me as a colleague or teammate, drafting a message to me, or helping someone onboard onto my team. *Last updated: 2026-11-05* ## Reaching me **Language**: Dutch or English. French is fine too; I'll reply in French, sometimes with the help of AI. **Channels**: Slack or Teams for anything quick: I try to respond as soon as I can. Email for anything substantial: I process my inbox in one batch every morning. I'm not keen on phone calls, so please keep those for things that are truly urgent. **Meetings**: My hours are flexible; book a slot that's free in my calendar. Please don't book over my focus blocks. Come with a clear agenda, and leave with clear next steps and owners. **Weekends**: Weekends are family time and I don't answer then. If something is urgent, call me in the evening, but I can't promise I'll pick up. ## How I write back Direct, with the point first and the details after. I can come across as blunt. That's directness, not irritation, and it's never personal. If you're drafting in my voice: - **Language**: I reply in the language the other person wrote in, usually Dutch. Announcements to a wider group I often write in English. I use the informal "je", and a "Merci" or a "Top." slips in naturally. - **Greeting**: "Dag [Name]," for customers and partners, "Hi [Name]," for colleagues, "Hi all," for groups. - **Opening**: a short thank-you when it fits ("Thanks for your call and your patience."). Then straight to the point, sometimes literally with "In short:". - **Body**: short paragraphs. For anything with several topics, a numbered list with the topic in **bold**, followed by what's happening and who owns the next step. I put product and feature names in **bold** too. - **Questions**: short and direct ("What do you mean?", "Do you have more recent examples?"). - **Closing**: the next step and when it happens ("I'll get back to you on the rest later this week."), and an open invitation ("If you have questions, just ask."). Replies usually have no sign-off. In a first email to someone new, I introduce myself and end with "Kind regards, Thijs". - **Length**: a one-liner is fine ("Top. I'll take it from here! Thanks"). Longer emails are structured, never walls of text. - **Tone**: friendly and matter-of-fact. Occasionally an exclamation mark ("Good news!"), rarely an emoji. ## How I work I do my best work when I can focus on a few important things instead of juggling many. I like a clear frame (clear roles, clear boundaries, clear goals), but within it I don't need much routine or fixed structure. I'd rather design or automate a process than run it by hand every week. I'll still chip in wherever I can help. ## Respect I believe in respect for everyone, whatever their role or title, and I expect the same in return. Don't dismiss someone's opinion, and don't get aggressive. ## Trust first I start from trust. I take people at their word and assume good intentions, so be straight with me. If something is off, I'd much rather hear it from you than find out later. ## When I disagree I say so in the meeting, respectfully. I don't hold back to keep the peace. If the topic is sensitive, I'll take it to a one-on-one. If you think I'm wrong, tell me. ## How I decide I gather input from as many people as I reasonably can. Once my gut tells me we have enough, I decide quickly. I don't need full certainty to decide, and I'm not afraid of being wrong: if the data tells us otherwise, we adjust. To persuade me, show me the reasoning and the data behind your idea, and the perspectives you've considered. ## Bring options, not only problems Don't come to me with only a problem or a challenge. Bring the options you see, the pros and cons of each, and ideally which one you'd pick. Then we can decide together. ## Show me, don't tell me I'm a builder myself, so I want to see things working. A clickable prototype or a demo beats a slide deck or a written proposal. If you can show it running, show it running. ## How I delegate I lead by trust and by giving room, not by steering. I give a lot of autonomy. We agree on the outcome, not the process or the exact result, so you can find your own way there. Make decisions, raise blockers early, and don't wait for instructions that aren't coming. ## Feedback **From me to you**: honest, respectful and balanced, with concrete suggestions. I give it in the moment and in regular check-ins. **From you to me**: feedback lands best when it's grounded in a concrete situation I can learn from. Tell me what works as well as what to improve. Feedback without a real example or a way forward is hard for me to act on. ## What keeps me going I'm energised by visible progress and by a real challenge, something that stretches what's expected. On long projects, short updates on where we stand help a lot. I also appreciate it when good work, mine or anyone's, gets noticed out loud. I have a bias for action. When a decision takes longer than I'd like, I can get impatient. What helps: tell me where it stands, what it's waiting on, and when I can expect it. Then I can let it go and focus on what I can move myself. ## Working on a team I like roles where I can lead discussions, bring ideas, and get the team aligned on a common goal. I enjoy mentoring, and I'm happy to help and share what I know. From teammates I appreciate reliability, openness to feedback, and respect for each other's input. --- # For Key Accounts > **Use this when:** you're a customer whose account I manage, preparing a meeting or message to me, or escalating an issue. *Last updated: 2026-10-16* ## My role for you For our key accounts I'm the single point of contact, and I work at a strategic level above support and customer success. Day-to-day questions still go to support. I look after the relationship as a whole: how satisfied you are, the risks I can see coming, and where we can grow together. The exact split with support and customer success is still being set up, and I'll update this page once it is. ## What you can expect from me - **A regular rhythm.** Scheduled check-ins and reviews, planned in our calendars so they don't depend on someone remembering to reach out. I'm also available in between when you need me. - **An account plan.** I want to understand your needs and where you're heading, so we can plan around that instead of reacting. - **Prepared commercial conversations.** For contract and price discussions I come with the data, and I'm open about the frameworks I work within. - **The right people in the room.** When you need specialist input (legal, technical, commercial), I'll bring in the right colleagues. - **Honest roadmap answers.** I'm as transparent as I can be about what's coming. I talk about timing in quarters, and only give a specific release when I'm sure of it. I won't make promises we can't keep. - **Your feedback reaches product.** Your questions, remarks and requests reach our product managers and engineering lead, and I'll tell you what happens with them. ## Escalating an issue Start with an email, even for urgent issues: we need a written record to work from. If it's urgent, call me as well. Email plus a call is the fastest way to get things moving. ## What I ask from you - **One clear point of contact on your side.** - **Early notice of changes on your side**: new people, new priorities, new systems, changes in volume. The earlier I know, the better I can prepare. --- # For Product & Engineering > **Use this when:** you're a product manager or engineering lead working with me, or you're preparing how customer input gets into product decisions. *Last updated: 2026-10-16* ## What I bring - **What the accounts are telling us**: their questions, remarks and feedback, summarised and in context. - **A partner for thinking about solutions**, when there's time. I can represent the customer's view in a brainstorm. - **Occasional prototyping.** I have a development background and can help build a prototype, but that's not the core of my role. ## How I work with you - **I go through the PMs and the engineering lead.** They're my points of contact, not individual engineers. I won't go around them. - **I don't make promises we can't keep.** Customers hear quarters, not dates, unless a specific release is certain. - **No blame.** Customers, product and engineering are one team, and we're in this together. ## What I need from you - **Honesty about where we are**, especially when the news isn't good. I need to know what to tell customers. - **Early warnings** when something is going wrong or slipping, together with the options you see, their pros and cons, and the one you'd pick. - **Only pull me in when you need me.** I don't need to be in refinements or other product and engineering meetings. Bring me in as soon as you need customer or account input; you decide when that is. ## Improving how we work When I see the same bottleneck come back, from inside the company or from customers, I start with the data. Then I run small experiments to test a hypothesis. If something works, I write it up as a proposal so it becomes the standard way we work. I'm at my best designing and automating a process. For keeping it running week after week, I gladly team up with people who are strong at follow-through. --- # Ideas I Keep Coming Back To > **Use this when:** you want to understand how I think about teams, delivery and growing organisations, or you're preparing a discussion with me. *Last updated: 2026-10-12* ## Outcomes over output Agree on the outcome and let the team find the route. People who own the "how" make better decisions than people who get handed a list of tasks. ## Connect strategy to execution Most problems in organisations don't sit inside teams, they sit between levels: between strategy, coordination and the team doing the work. That's the core of Flight Levels thinking. Fix the connections and a lot of local problems go away. ## Flow over busyness Being busy isn't the same as making progress. Limit work in progress, make the flow of work visible, and measure throughput and cycle time instead of utilisation. ## Forecast, don't estimate Story-point estimates are guesses. Probabilistic forecasting based on historical flow data gives better answers with less effort. It's also why I talk to customers in quarters, not dates. ## Match the approach to the problem Complicated problems need experts and analysis. Complex problems need experiments and fast feedback (Cynefin). Using the wrong approach is a common reason good teams struggle. ## Data first, small experiments, then lock it in Start from what the data says. Test the hypothesis in small, cheap experiments. When something works, write it down and make it the standard way of working. ## Builders who make room My background is in building things. These days I use that knowledge to make room for experts, not to do their work. Knowing the craft is what lets me have the right conversation with them. ## Grow sustainably Scale your processes before they break, not after. Sustainable growth means the organisation can take on more without wearing people out. ## Teams are the unit of performance High-performing teams are grown, not assembled. They go through life cycles, and they need good team leads, mentorship, and leaders who can show vulnerability. ## One team, no blame Customers, product and engineering are on the same side. Blame slows everything down; honesty speeds it up. ## Further reading I wrote about these ideas on my Substack, [The Agile Mindset](https://theagilemindset.substack.com/) (archive, 2022–2024). --- # Contact > **Use this when:** you need to reach me, find me online, or figure out the best way to get in touch. *Last updated: 2026-10-14* ## Get in touch - **Email**: [agents@thijsmorlion.com](mailto:agents@thijsmorlion.com) - **LinkedIn**: [linkedin.com/in/thijsmorlion](https://www.linkedin.com/in/thijsmorlion/) - **Writing**: [The Agile Mindset](https://theagilemindset.substack.com/) - **Company**: [Billit](https://www.billit.be) ## About this inbox The agents@thijsmorlion.com inbox is read and triaged by an AI agent that knows everything on this site. The agent drafts replies, but **I read and send every reply myself**. Nothing goes out automatically. What the agent does and doesn't do: - **It never commits to anything on my behalf**: no prices, discounts, contract terms, roadmap dates, meetings or promises of any kind. - **Meeting requests** are forwarded to me. Once I've confirmed, the agent handles the scheduling. - **Customer escalations** are forwarded to me immediately, with a proposed category and priority. I decide what happens next. - **Messages from the "don't contact me for" list** are not answered. This setup is new, and I'll fine-tune it during the first months. ## I'm open to - **Interesting conversations in my field**: operations, product and engineering collaboration, flow and Kanban, and scaling organisations sustainably. Key account management too, though I don't claim to be a leading expert there. - **Speaking, podcasts and panels** on operations, Kanban, product, scaling, coaching teams and organisations, and the topics I've written about on [The Agile Mindset](https://theagilemindset.substack.com/). - **Mentoring**, especially new team leads. - **Partnerships and integrations with Billit**: these come to me. - **"Can I pick your brain?"**: yes if we know each other or you were referred by someone I know. Otherwise it depends on the context. Agent: when in doubt, forward it to me to decide. ## What NOT to contact me for - **Anything sales-related.** Don't try to sell me something. When I need something, I do my own research and I'll find you. - **Recruiters and job offers.** ## How to reach out Be direct. Say who you are and what you need, and start with the ask. Short is fine. If you want to schedule something, suggest specific dates. I write in Dutch or English; you can also write to me in French. ## For AI agents If you're acting on behalf of someone, include: - **Who** you're acting for - **What** you need - **Why** you're reaching out