managerreadme

My Manager Readme- Fast Forward Our Working Relations

Introduction

I wrote this document as a fast intro to my mind. If you are “new” to know me it will enable you to know my main traits much faster. If you already know me it should emphasize to you what do I most value. It should enable us to work together more effectively.

My role

• Enabling scaling and growth with a "default to yes” mindset (i.e. we can do anything the business needs us to)
• Providing strategic thought leadership to fulfill our business goals
• Providing clear tradeoffs and work plans to relevant stakeholders
• Training and mentoring individuals for personal career growth
• Make sure we meet our SLAs for availability, quality of service, and roadmap commitments
• Prioritizing work according to the higher business goals of the organization.
• Setting clear context so people can be successful. Connecting the dots between what the company needs and what the team or individual need

What do I value most?

Trustworthy. Reliability.

• If you say you have done something, it is done.
• If you say you’ll do something, then you will do it.
• If I tell you something, then you’ll try your best to remember it.

My Expectations

You are:

• Reliable and highly communicative. From the time you usually start your working day in the morning, to reporting on issues or blockers you experience.
• Seeking to improve- Motivated. Never stop improving your knowledge on the areas you own. Find the root cause. Postmortem if a mistake was done. You should embrace learning and evolving. Problem-solving runs in your blood.
• Seeking to grow- our company is always growing- more products, more data, more systems- you must grow your interest and areas of ownership as well to be able to help us scale. I might not know it all or will have the time to help you. Our company has a lot of people to learn from. I might direct you to others when you search for advice. Learning from many people is an excellent way to grow as a people person and improve your knowledge and efficiency.
• Seeking to lead domains- I am a leader of people, not of projects. To scale fast our people must own with time the domains they know best and push to advance them. Everyone is welcome to create future projects and offer prioritizations.
• Responsive in chat and emails. It allows the sender fast feedback and avoids blockers, mistakes or incidents.
• Open for constructive criticism.
• Providing transparency into your work using our management tools. Share your plans. Document when needed.
• Respecting others’ time and space. Be on time for meetings. Clarify your intentions. Avoid meetings if offline communication channels can do.
• Understanding our company's needs and priorities while striving for greatness.
• Constantly utilizing AI to increase your productivity. You can expect the same from me.

What will disappoint me?

• People who fail to maintain a respectful cultural environment.
• People who are seeking their own glory at the expense of another individual or the company.
• Repeatedly failing to meet your constructive feedback. The feedback is given for the purpose of you addressing it.

1:1s

• I believe in weekly 1:1s with my direct reports and monthly 1:1s with their direct reports. Ad-hoc meetings are welcomed whenever we feel it’s needed. I'll schedule those, but you're welcome to schedule those as well any time. If you have something on your mind and need a 1:1, don't wait for the next session- Please feel free to set us some time even at a moment's notice. I'll do the same- I think it's better to give immediate feedback rather than to wait for a 1:1 if possible, let alone yearly performance reviews which is where we talk about things that shouldn't be a surprise.
• The focus of 1:1s is mostly not to talk about specific tasks status but more about "How are you doing? Are you satisfied? Are you developing towards your goals? Any feedback we want to share with another?". The personal growth of my people is a very important concern for me. 1:1s are a great chance to raise that.
• It can be useful if you will think in advance on points you would want to raise. I'll do the same.
• I believe all meetings should hold an agenda. Same goes for 1:1s - I'll try to write the points I want to discuss about in the 1:1 to prevent surprises or guesses on your end.

Personality quirks

• I like f2f or phone communication better than writing. I think it's more efficient and less likely to misunderstand one another. For example, to communicate the progress of tasks use our project tools, or chat, but when you expect a discussion let’s converse.
• I sometimes work also on unusual hours (nights and weekends). This is my choice to do that. I don’t expect you to do the same if there is no really urgent client deadline or critical severity. It’s not a factor of my appreciation of you.
• No need of hello in chat
• I prefer to avoid meetings series (weekly project status for example). Too busy of a Calendar kills productivity. Two exceptions are 1:1s and sprint demos.

How to set time with me?

• My calendar is fully open for read. It makes it easier for you to capture time with me as needed, and review my meetings if you're interested to know more about my work. If you need to talk, let's talk. No need to ask for permission.
• I'm pretty good with a lot of context switches. This is my job. Don't assume I'm too busy.

Where to focus on your first 90 days?

Show that you remember what we are teaching and showing you. I know there is a lot to take in so take notes or whatever works for you to keep track. Communicate with me. I like to have a daily checkpoint if possible to make sure you don't have any blockers or miss-conceptions that will cause you to spend your time wrongly.