Manager Readme

How do I manage?

• I like to empower people, make them stronger through coaching and frequent feedback and get out of the way allowing them to perform their duties.

  • I will give you frequent feedback. More so if I don’t like what I am seeing

  • If you don’t receive specific feedback, assume you are doing the right thing.

• Sometimes I don’t stay true to 1 either because of time constraints in decision making or because that’s my nature I’m fighting against. Feel free to ask why or tell me off.

• When I say something, assume it’s “my opinion” and not “an order”. If it’s something more than my opinion, because we have that need, I will tell you explicitly.

• When I say something, assume it’s not urgent (I like to deal with things early). If it’s urgent, I’ll tell you

• I trust that you know, that non-urgent things left to rot become urgent, so eventually, I’ll ask again about the things in the point above.

• For transparency, I don’t like urgent things, less so when they started from non-urgent.

• I don’t like excuses (but reaaaaally, reallly don’t like them).

  • I prefer we are realistic in setting out to do something rather than to have to make excuses at the end.

  • When there are foreseeable blockers, we should manage expectations, or have a different plan.

  • Keep me accountable if it looks that I am making excuses for something.

• I like to have clear (discussed and agreed) goals, and then move out of the way and go back to (1), and removing obstacles.

Communication

• You can ping me on Slack at any time (when it’s convenient for you)

  • Please do not expect I’ll reply at any time.

  • I use “Do not disturb” when I cannot be disturbed, so, don’t worry It’s not possible to disturb me

• I will ping you at any time

  • I don’t expect you to answer at any time. You’ll answer when it works for you.

  • If it’s something urgent I’ll say it.

• You can Whatsapp me on +XXXXXXX if Slack doesn’t work or I’m not replying and there’s something urgent

• Assume good intention, please: if I said something that could be interpreted in a good or a bad way, please take the good one and then ask me what I meant. As much as I keep working on it, at times, I miscommunicate, same as anyone else.

• I send thousands of Slack messages per month, sometimes I result a bit dry. Apologies if that’s the case, in 99% of the cases I don’t mean to be dry.

  • At the same time I read thousands of messages and confluence pages, if you are direct and brief I will appreciate that because it’ll help me to reply in a timely fashion.

• I am direct, please don’t read between the lines because there’s nothing. If you have a doubt, just ask.

Time off and requests

• I assume we are all adults and know what we’re doing, which means it’s highly unlikely that I reject holidays or time off requests.

  • I assume you are making the choice of days knowing it’s the right time to be off.

• The only case in which I might reject is if you are missing some context (e.g. all the rest of the team is already off that day, or there’s an important meeting that you should attend), and in that case I will share that context with you.

• I will, every now and then, nudge you if you didn’t take enough time off

  • You should take time off

• I aim to approve/reject requests very quickly (within the next working day)

  • if that hasn't happened, I may have missed something, so you absolutely have the right to nudge me.

My personality

I don’t write this because you should adapt to my personality, but it could help you read my behaviours

• I like making jokes. A lot. They aren’t always funny… I am pretty sure that a joke told at the wrong time is how I’m going to get fired , or arrested, or something.

  • Feel free to make jokes back .

• I am told I have RBF syndrome i.e. my neutral face looks angry, I am working on it. Assume I am neutral, and calm even if my face looks disappointed. If I am angry you will know, not from my face (except the color)

• I don’t like Hero culture, I’ll do my best to make sure we don’t have one.

• I value “being kind” a lot more than “being nice”, and I value being kind a lot.

Leadership Principles

For some leadership training we have been asked to document our principles, i.e. those things that drive our leadership style and keep being our lighthouses even in moment when visibility is low. 

Here are mine. Sorry for the low refinement, I will one day write with a little more depth about them.

Integrity 

• Be honest

• Actions match words

• Words match actions

• Don’t say “yes” just to let the conversation end

Trust People

• Don’t micromanage

• Treat people as adults 

• Assume good intentions

• Empower and hold accountable

• Respect the human before the professional

• Remember what people want, share opportunities.

Cooperation beats competition. Always

• Share opportunities

• Share knowledge

• Don’t hog merit