This is a document about working with me. One of the hardest parts about joining a new position is knowing how to fit your working style into those of the people around you, and I find that people that work for me are a lot more productive if they start out with an understanding of how I work.
I look forward to getting to know you. This document isn't designed to replace that process, but instead to give you a jumping off point, so you know and understand the basics and the often-hidden qualities that often take awhile to become obvious.
This is a document in git on purpose. Have something about me you want future folks to know? Send a pull request. I'll probably accept it.
These are the core principles in my life and work life.
- You and your family come before the company. There's nothing so important going on at work that it should take precedence over yourself and your family. Whether it's time off or a shift in workload to deal with a family emergency or just a need to take an hour every afternoon to pick up your kids from school, I want you to take it.
- A bias for action. If presented with the choice between acting and analyzing, I'm going to act. I value experimentation over analysis and I'd rather reach a conclusion through doing something, gathering the results, and iterating, than thinking through all the possible ways of doing something and guessing which is best.
- Activity isn't achievement. It's important to learn to distinguish output from activity. One of the biggest time sinks in our lives are things we do that are urgent, but not important. Those urgent things that keep us busy, but don't help us advance should be discontinued. The goal of work isn't to be busy, it's to reach objectives, so I look for things that are keeping me busy that aren't moving us toward our objectives.
- Outcomes over outputs. A corollary the above. Let’s focus on achieving an outcome instead of just aiming to complete a task. If we’re trying to solve a problem with code, then shipping that code isn’t successful unless the problem gets solved.
- I assume everyone's trying to help. I hate office politics and trying to get ahead at expense of others. We're all here to move the company forward, not build personal fiefdoms. I like to believe that others act the same way. This is probably part of why I am so outcome focused. When the focus is on results, shallow politics can't succeed.
- I want you to succeed. In work, in life, in everything. My primary job is to help you with that by setting goals, coaching you through those goals, and removing barriers. I'm committed to your improvement as a person, and if this means it's time for you to move on, let me know and I'll help you find another job if that's what you need.
- Nothing I’m doing is as important as what you’re doing. If you need something from me, I can always find time to help you. Find an open spot on my calendar, or if you need something sooner, let me know and I'll clear space for you. Call or message me any time you need something.
I like to stretch you and your abilities. I'll often give you projects that might be a little outside your comfort zone, with a goal of helping you grow into something new. Don't stress about these stretch assignments. I'll give you tasks I think you can achieve, and I'll usually stretch you only when the task is not super critical. This gives you room to fail and learn.
You're not alone on these stretch assignments. I'm here to coach you. Ask for help if you need it or when you get stuck. Don't spend days banging your head against a wall, ask for guidance or a help getting a roadblock remove to unstick you.
In fact, I prefer to coach instead of manage. I don't want to tell you how to do something, I want you to figure it out. I'll provide nudges and guidance. These sometimes will sound like I'm telling you how to do something, even though I don't mean to. I'm working on improving this aspect of myself. What I'm trying to do is tell you how I would do something, rather than telling you how to do it. Think of these as "here's one way you could do it" and then feel free to go off on your own. I might be wrong.
The newer a task or project is to you (like those stretch assignments), the more handholding I'll give you. This might include actually giving you step-by-step instructions on how to do something. Feel free to try it my way or reject those. You are here because you're smart and capable, and gave you the task so you could do it. You're not a minion here to carry out my instructions.
We'll set goals together through a framework called OKRs. These stand for Objectives and Key Results, and are a set of team objectives and a description of how to measure them, changing quarterly. I don't dictate the OKRs, we work on setting them as a team. I present the goals and strategy that we're being asked to drive toward, and then we'll all figure out together how to get there. Every team's OKRs are visible to everyone else, so we all know what we're working on and why we're doing it. I don't do individual level OKRs for team work, at least not unless the team is super advanced with OKRs. If you read any books and articles about implementing OKRs you might see people extending OKRs to individual people, but I've found that rarely works in practice.
In addition to the OKRs that you'll use to drive the team ahead, you'll have a an objective each quarter to drive yourself ahead. Everyone has a personal growth objective each quarter that's designed to make them more valuable to the team. Examples that we've seen in the past are "Learn Javascript", "Become a fantastic public speaker", and "Get my PMP certification."
You'll update and grade your team's OKRs on a weekly basis.
We'll have a weekly one on one meeting (1:1). This isn't the only time you can talk to me! Bring things up as you need to, and the 1:1 is there to make sure we're talking at least once a week. We'll schedule these for one hour, every week. I like to group these together trying for all the same day or about the same time each day.
I treat this time as sacred, and won't ever move or cancel them unless it's unavoidable, often because I'm on an airplane, on vacation, or because someone higher up in the company has scheduled something critical that overlaps. If you don't feel you need the meeting or have something else that's going on, you can cancel them. But do this too often, and I'm going to start asking why.
This is your meeting, with your agenda. It's there for whatever you need. I'd rather discuss topics of substance on these, not status updates, unless you really just need to tell me the status on all your projects that week. The day before our 1:1, I'd like you to send an agenda to help organize us both.
I prefer text instead of voice for unscheduled conversations. If you want to talk over voice, that's cool, but I'd love it if you send a message first to see if I'm free. Especially if I’m out of the office. When I’m not at the office, I like to work from odd places (coffee shops, backyard, parks), so I might need time to change locations for a call. If you do call and I don't answer, don't leave a voicemail, send a Slack message or text message.
I might message you on weekends or after hours. I'm not actually asking you to work or think about the message on evenings and weekends. I just want to capture the thought while I have it. Feel free to ignore it until working hours. Don't feel the pressure to respond right away, since that's not what I'm expecting with these messages. If there's an emergency and it’s critical you do NOW, I’ll let you know. This will almost never happen.
Instead of annual reviews or formal feedback cycles, I'll give you feedback as it happens, usually during our 1:1. I firmly believe that annual performance reviews are terrible, as they end up covering recent activities and never truly encompass the entire year. Besides, would you want to wait an entire year to learn what you've been doing well or poorly?
I also want feedback from you. What am I not doing for you that you need? Where am I not honoring the commitments in this document? What am I doing well, and what am I doing poorly? I'll try and explicitly ask for this every few 1:1s, but I'm pretty inconsistent about this. I'm trying to get better at it.
- Humor is my public face. I have a quick wit and will use it often. I tend to wisecrack constantly. Tell me if I step over the line, I'll learn your limits.
- I'm friendly, but don't like people very much. I may appear outgoing and extroverted, but it's mostly an act. I used to be a professional performer, so when I'm in public, I tend to be "on" in groups. But I'm easily annoyed by things individuals do. I'll usually hide this from you, but if I seem irritated, try not to take it personally, as that's my default state. Likewise, small talk, like "how was your weekend" baffles me. For example, everyone in a past company wished each other happy birthday with dozens of chat messages of "Happy Birthday, [person]", and I didn't participate. Heck, the most other people don't even know when my birthday is.
- If I'm not looking at you when we're talking, it's because I'm thinking. I often stare off into space, or appear to be watching something else when I'm listening or thinking hard. I'm not distracted, I'm focusing.
- I think several steps ahead and pattern match like crazy, but don't always make how I reached a conclusion clear, or explain the path that took me to where I got to. Showing my work wasn't my strong suit in school, and that's continued in my life. I tend to forget that everyone else isn't in my brain, so if you don't understand how I got to a conclusion, ask me to step through it. I won't mind at all.