The following is the same document I send to folks that I work with for them to get to know a little bit about me, my working style, and what I value most.
If you don't have your own then now is the perfect time to write one!
Welcome, and thanks for stopping by!
Welcome and thank you for visiting this page. If you are reading this, you are likely a member of my immediate team or work with me. I have created this document to share my management style, philosophies, and expectations. I firmly believe that a company's success is built upon the relationships among its employees. I hope to establish a successful working relationship with you at $Company. This is a living document that may evolve over time.
A brief introduction about myself
I live in MA with my wife, two sons, and two red labrador retrievers. I come from the world of front-end engineering, specializing in JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. In my free time, I enjoy traveling to new places, spending time at my family's lake house, reading, listening to music, watching and playing sports, and staying active and healthy.
My role and responsibilities
As an engineering leader, my responsibilities include:
- Delivering business value and impact that align with the vision of $Company
- Creating a safe, collaborative, trusting, and engaging work environment
- Ensuring my teams operate at their highest potential and adopt a growth mindset
- Ensuring that my teams are learning, feeling challenged, and delivering high-value, quality software
- Lead with context, not control. I don’t tell teams what to do, instead hand them business objectives
- Work with you individually on your career goals and providing you with opportunities for professional development
- Ensuring my teams are happy with their work, and ensuring my teams have a significant impact on the growth of $Company.
Logistics
I am usually available and working between 9:00 am-5:00 pm EST. If anything comes up during the day, or if I have an appointment, I will notify the team. I try to step away from the computer during lunchtime for 45-60 minutes for fresh air or a mental break. I have three 90-minute blocks of "focus time" throughout the week to focus on to-do's.
By default, I use "speedy meetings" in Google Calendar. This allows me a few minutes to take notes, context-switch, or grab a drink between meetings. You can Slack me 24 hours a day. It's my preferred work communication medium, and I like to respond quickly. If you cannot reach me through Slack, and it's an urgent issue, please call me at #.
Values
Ownership and accountability are important to me. I encourage you to ask questions, work with your peers and PM, work with QA to understand how the team will test your work, update your stakeholders regularly, and always put our customers first. If you find an undocumented feature or area of the code, please add a page in Confluence, leave a comment in the code, or share your knowledge and record it in a lightning talk. Leaving it better for the next person will allow this team to grow and get up to speed faster.
I value your time and will work to shield you from distractions. I believe in timely feedback and will likely send a Slack DM, huddle, or Zoom call if I have feedback for you. I would rather not wait for 1:1s or review season. I will praise you publicly if you are comfortable with that and offer you constructive criticism in private.
I believe in feeling happy, engaged, and challenged in your work environment. We must be supportive and trust one another as a team. This comes back to relationship building. It's important to be open, candid, and communicate with each other. It's important to offer constructive feedback. It's important to be in constant pursuit of mastering your craft. We have one of the best jobs in the world in software.
Let's make the best of it by celebrating team wins, sharing life events, cracking a joke, etc. Try to get to know your teammates on a personal level and build lasting relationships!
1:1s
1:1s are one of the most valuable tools for building our working relationship. I would like you to schedule and own your 1:1 meeting with me. It is your choice whether you'd like to meet weekly or bi-weekly. I prefer not to go two weeks without conversing. Your 1:1 is your time. You should be driving this meeting and the topics. I will have topics I'd like to discuss, but it's secondary. It would be helpful if you had a couple of bullet points to talk through, but it's not a requirement. I would like you to offer any feedback you have for me. I'm here to grow and listen to what you have to say. I will hold you accountable and want you to do the same with me. I will support you by seeking opportunities of interest to help you achieve your goals. I love to talk through how you solved particular problems. Disagreement is feedback; when we learn how to disagree with each other efficiently, we'll trust and respect each other more. Ideas don't get better with agreement. I am always available for a Zoom call if you need to speak with me more urgently and not wait for your 1:1 time.
Work/Life Balance
Work/Life Balance is important. With work so close to us, it can often lead to overworking and burnout. Here are some of my thoughts on work/life balance: Appointments, errands, children, and many other life happenings can interrupt our work. I encourage you to communicate these needs with your team and managers. We should respect each other's time and schedules. We all need to take breaks, step away from work, and recharge. Balancing work with personal life will ultimately lead to happier and more productive work.