Hi, I’m Remkus de Vries, founder of Truer than North. I have been active in WordPress for over two decades. I have worked with small teams and large enterprises alike, advised agencies and product companies, and spent years operating at the intersection of product, infrastructure, and community.
I initiated WordCamp Europe and WordPress Netherlands, founded Within WordPress, and remain closely involved in the ecosystem today.
That background matters because most WordPress problems do not exist in isolation. Good decisions require understanding how technical choices, business incentives, and ecosystem realities interact.
Consultancy is for situations where something specific needs to be figured out, decided, or fixed.
I work hands-on with companies that need clarity around architecture, performance, product direction, workflows, or technical strategy, and want decisions made rather than documents delivered. The work is scoped, opinionated, and focused on outcomes.
If you are looking for long-term ecosystem navigation or retained strategic involvement across partnerships inside the WordPress ecosystem, check out the Northbound offering.
What this work is for
Most consultancy engagements start because something feels off, stuck, or uncertain. Common reasons companies reach out include:
- Platform and architecture decisions You need to make foundational choices about hosting, infrastructure, environments, caching, integrations, or data flows, and want to avoid decisions that create long-term drag or lock-in.
- Product strategy and development direction You need clarity on what to build next, what not to build, and how technical constraints, ecosystem realities, and commercial goals should shape product development, pricing, and positioning.
- Performance, scalability, and reliability Your site or platform works, but not well enough. Performance issues, traffic growth, WooCommerce complexity, or operational risk require structural fixes rather than incremental tweaks.
- Workflow, tooling, and team enablement Your team is capable, but slowed down by unclear processes, brittle setups, or avoidable complexity. You want systems that make people faster, not more dependent.
The work goes deep across the WordPress stack, from hosting and infrastructure to code, plugins, data flows, and the realities of the ecosystem your product lives in.
How engagements typically work
What consultancy is not
This is important. Consultancy is not:
- ongoing advisory without scope,
- retained involvement across partnerships,
- ecosystem navigation as a service,
- or execution disguised as strategy.
When work shifts from solving defined problems to shaping long-term direction across products, companies, or partnerships, Northbound becomes the more appropriate model.
Keeping that boundary clear protects both sides.
“Working with Remkus is an absolute pleasure. He has a deep and thorough understanding of everything WordPress – from the core to the most cutting-edge developments in the ecosystem. What really stands out is his ability to assess a project and determine exactly how complex a solution needs to be (or not). That clarity, combined with his experience, makes him an invaluable partner. He doesn’t just follow best practices – he helps define them.”
Rosanne van Staalduinen
How we work
Listen, model, decide, ship, transfer. We start with goals and constraints, define two or three clear options with trade‑offs, align stakeholders, and move. Knowledge transfer is built in, so your team gets faster, not more dependent.
Consultancy is always scoped.
We start by clarifying the problem, the constraints, and what a good outcome looks like. From there, the work may take the form of focused analysis, hands-on problem-solving, structured sparring with decision-makers, or short, intensive engagements aimed at unlocking progress.
A core principle in all work is knowledge transfer. The goal is not to become a permanent dependency, but to leave teams with clearer understanding, stronger decisions, and systems they can operate with confidence.
You get decisions, not just advice.
If you want a second set of eyes on an important project, or you are ready to future‑proof your WordPress stack, use the form below to share your goals and constraints. I will reply with the exact ways I can help, or connect you with someone who can if I am not the right fit.
“Working with Remkus was amazing. Communication could not have been better. He was thorough, detail-oriented, and results driven. We received a comprehensive report from him that he explained until I truly understood my next steps. Highly recommended.”
Corey Maass