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README ​

How I work and what to expect from me.

Last updated: Nov 23, 2023

Hi, I'm Andro ​

First of all, I'm really excited to be working with each of you and your teams.

This document is intended to fasten up our relationship and set expectations from an early stage. Mind you that this is a living document where I'll always try to improve myself based on your feedback.

General Principles ​

Hoshin Kanri ​

Planning is done in rounds of communication between managers and their reports. At each round, interrogate whether the plan is feasible and targeted towards the right goals. If you're a manager, push your reports hard on choosing the right metrics and priorities. The best thing you can do is identify what's truly important and limit the amount of time wasted in support of unimportant goals.

Plans are worthless, planning is valuable ​

The plan represents our best guess about what we should do, but it is inherently worthless. Value comes from delivering the right thing, and we may not know what the right thing is at the beginning of the quarter. We are allowed to change anything in the plan whenever it is necessary without feeling guilty. We make changes to our plan obvious and communicate those changes to our stakeholders.

Focus on the craft, not on the mission ​

I prefer teams of competent professionals focused on their craft over enthusiastic novices focused on any particular mission.

People focused on craft spent a lot of time building skills outside of delivering on a particular mission. Examples include Brown Bags, Hack Nights (skill-focused, not necessarily idea-focused), coding dojos, mob code reviews, etc.

Mission command ​

The lead describes what they want and why they want it, but the choice of how to implement it is on the person who works on it. The bulk of this document should be written by the people who end up having to write the code; tech leads own their tactical plan.

Operating Approach ​

Bi-weekly 1:1s

  • We'll try to keep the times consistent so you can plan. I'm a big fan of a joint 1:1 doc to track our agendas, actions, goals, and updates.

Weekly team meetings

  • As appropriate—I view these as both update and decision-making/work review forums. I expect people to be prepared and to participate, even though we'll have to manage video conferences and time zones.

Quarterly planning sessions

  • It's my hope we make this happen with strong pre-work and good follow-up afterward with our teams and partners (internal or external).

Speaking of 1:1s

  • We'll do a career session at some point in our first few months of working together - Your history, why you've made choices you have made, what your ambitions are for the future, etc. These help me know where you are in terms of personal development interests and ambitions with respect to longer-term plans.
  • Personal goals - I believe in the two of us reviewing the top 3-5 personal goals you have each quarter or so (these are the things that you personally spend your time on, not your team plans, which I know you also spend time on…). We can discuss them each Q and then mark out a plan on how we make sure you get the time, space, and support to accomplish what you need. I do these every 3–6 months.

Your teams

  • Please add me to emails, threads, or documents that might be helpful for me to see as a way to understand the team and day-to-day work.
  • As work is ongoing or a team member does a great job on something, forward it or link from our 1:1 doc. I like to see WIP and I am happy to meet with folks who have done great work so they can walk me through it at your discretion.
  • Finally, I look forward to personally meeting everyone on your team and let's keep an eye to make sure I've done that over the next few months.

Management Style ​

Collaborative ​

I like to discuss decisions and options and whiteboard big stuff in a group. I will rarely get stuck in one position or opinion but the downside is that you won't always get a quick judgment out of me—I need to talk it through and see some ideas/data/options. Due to this bias, I can sometimes be slow to decide and if you need a decision quickly, make sure I know it.

Hands-off ​

  • I'm not a micro-manager and I won't sweat your details unless I think things are off track and if I do, I'll tell you my concern and we can work together to make sure I understand and plan together on how to communicate better or right the situation.
  • I expect you are making reversible decisions a lot without me and if you come to me I'll usually put it back on you with, "What do you want to do?" or "What should you do?" and just help you decide.
  • That said, please loop me in before making irreversible decisions.
  • When you've made a decision, I expect you to weigh in the important points beforehand.
  • Also if there is a big one brewing, I'd love to know about it and I'm always here to talk it out. I like to know what's going on with you and your team.

Read on two-way-door rule if you're not aware

Accountable and organized ​

  • I take action items really seriously and I expect you to know what your action items are, when they are due, and get them done. I don't like chasing them but I do notice when things slip—it's fine to renegotiate deadlines but I'll be annoyed if it's the day after the deadline….
  • I dislike being caught last-minute with people working hard on something we could have gotten ahead of—please help anticipate big work efforts and let's be in front of them together. Similarly, I want us to be ruthless in priorities while we are resource-constrained. I need you all sane…and me too.

Data-driven ​

  • I like data and dashboards so there is one, objective (ideally) way to measure progress and results but I dislike being bogged down in data and torturing the numbers. Let's review consistent information on what really matters and use data to get insight, not to lull ourselves into thinking we know what's going on or to try to find answers that might involve going with our gut.
  • I also like to make agreements on "how we do things" that we then agree to vary/make exceptions on as a group versus everyone inventing their own process/frameworks.
  • If we're discussing something and you know of or can imagine data that would be useful to our decision, bring it up. (See below—sometimes I go into intuitive mode and I should be analyzing first.)

But intuitive?! ​

  • I'm also intuitive about people, products, and decisions which means I'm happy to handle situations when I don't have a lot of facts or data. You're thinking uh-oh, he's going to jump to conclusions, but I've worked hard in my career not to be that person. Ultimately, I think I have a good gut but I'm not wedded to it. Your job is to get my sense of something and argue it out with me. I love a good fight to a better outcome.
  • I use my intuition a lot with talent management and I've been told I am a good read on people. Again, I work hard not to judge or jump to conclusions but I will put forward hypotheses about your team members and your job is to make sure I really know the people.
  • I always like to know what's going on personally with people so I can see the whole picture. I am a believer that we are "whole selves," not work selves and home selves and it will help me know you and your team better if I know the context. If something hard is going on with someone on your team, I'd love to know and be there to support you/them.

Strategic ​

I try to think about where things will end up and the straightest line to get there but I'm pretty flexible along the way. If there is swirl I usually think to myself: "What's the big lever here?" "What problem are we trying to solve?" "Why do we need to solve it?" "When do we need to solve it?" "What information do we need and when will we get it?" and I expect you to do the same. Everyday I try to think about what's the most important thing I can do and do that above all else. But sometimes I get buried under email and fail.

Communication ​

1:1s ​

  • Use 1:1s for items better discussed verbally and items that can wait for our weekly check-in. Email takes a ton of time, so use it wisely.
  • If we don't have a 1:1 for a while, feel free to ping, of course.

Threads ​

  • I will try to read every thread I get in a day but I don't respond just so you know I read it—I'll only respond if you ask me something directly or I have a question. Thus, assume I did read the thread within 18 hours, but if you think I owe you a response please resend or ping me and I won't be offended.
  • I love fyi messages/threads when you send me something you saw, an article, some data, or something someone on your team did.
  • If you write fyi in the message, I'll know it's for my information but not requiring response or urgent reading and I'll do the same for you. FYI/CC = no response required.

DM/ping ​

  • If it's important/timely or super short, feel free to ping any time, even when I am "red".
  • Short questions on ping are fine but I might be inconsistent in response times since I am often in meetings.
  • If it's urgent, feel free to call me any time even at odd hours.
  • If it's a long topic and not time sensitive, maybe just wait for our 1:1.

Overall, I like more communication rather than less and I like to know what's going on with you and your team and that helps me do a better job for you. I don't view that as micromanagement but if you feel like I am too much in the weeds, please tell me.

Finally, I don't believe I will create a lot of msg/thread volume and I'll be the first to recommend we do a quick in-person sync to resolve something versus a long message exchange. Or better yet, you can be the first to recommend it, and I'll be the second.

I also like plans that are documented. I don't care if it's slides or docs or spreadsheets but I expect detailed work has been done when needed and if you have WIP or plans, I love to be included early and often in their development but I'll generally only weigh in when asked or on final review, even if I have draft access.

Feedback ​

I like it. I like to give it and I like to receive it, particularly constructive. We're in this to get better together. We'll have a quarterly official session but I'll try to be timely when I observe or hear something and please do the same. I also like to know how and what your team is thinking and feeling and I will do skip-levels, office hours, etc. Remember, whatever I hear or see, I have your back and I'll tell you when I'm concerned. Anyone who vents to me about you is going to get my help to tell you directly.

Management & People ​

I care a lot about you, your people, and all of your development. Please make sure we're touching base on your team, building our teams' skills as individuals and as teams constantly, and that I know when there are superstars and challenges so we can help people together.