Bureau WO is a research company.
We analyse current systemic problems and use our systems design framework to design fundamentally different systems, rather than optimise existing ones.
We sit between three things and belong to none cleanly.
We do original research, like a think tank.
We also work directly with people trying to change something.
We work alongside organisations, like a consultancy, but we do not run on workshops and we do not take the work off your hands.
Underneath both, we are developing a systematic method: a topic-agnostic way of redesigning any reality from first principles.
What we are
The framework’s origin
The framework began with Erik de Ruijter around forty years ago and was honed through years of intuitive use across his work in research and development and senior innovation roles.
Janne Brok gave it scientific rigour, drawing on complexity theory, set theory and systems thinking to take it to its next stage: a repeatable, lucid process, supported by tools that put it within reach of anyone.
Manasi Kumbhat joined a few years later and brought her experience applying innovation methodologies, making the framework clear and accessible to people meeting it for the first time.
The three of them wrote it down in full in If Not This, Then What?, published in 2025.
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Janne Brok
Director
Janne is co-founder and director of Bureau WO.
From pro-cyclist to co-creator of Vacation Logic, Janne Brok brought her unique blend of competitive grit and conceptual brilliance to the art of CHANGE and helped turn intuition into a groundbreaking framework, Vacation Logic.
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Erik de Ruijter
Partner
Erik is co-founder, and an entrepreneur in the fields of mathematics, sustainability, and informatics.
With an intuitive knack for uncovering patterns, Erik de Ruijter has spent his career using his unique perspective and logical approach, to develop the Vacation Logic framework to enable bold, systematic shifts in how we think, act and pursue CHANGE.
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Manasi Kumbhat
Partner
Manasi is a seasoned corporate innovation and strategic foresight specialist.
Drawn to the framework for its ability to turn first-principles thinking into actionable steps, she has helped make the framework accessible and continues to apply it to problems in business and policy domains.
Get in Touch.
We help people attempting major, non-incremental change map the whole system they're working inside, find the moves they've missed, and align their efforts so everything pulls in one direction instead of cancelling out.
Reach out—we’d love to connect and explore how we can collaborate.