# Aaron Sachs's Manager Readme

**Engineering Lead at WYRE Technology**

# Motivation for this document

As an individual contributor, I found that one of my early challenges in organizations was getting to know the manager or director that I would report to and how to best develop my working relationship with them. My goal with this README is to give you the inside track to how I think and how I work. I want you to know what you can expect from me as a leader and I absolutely do not want you to be surprised or caught off-guard with me. My hope is that be reading this document, you'll have a solid understanding of:

- My role and how I'm measured by the organization
- What I value in engineering team members
- What I expect from engineering team members
- How I do 1:1's
- Personality quirks
- What to focus on in the first 90 days

# My role

The Engineering Lead role at WYRE is first and foremost a player/coach position. We're not yet at the level where we have leaders who aren't "hands on keyboard." So I'm right in the thick of it with you, whether it's recovering from an AD cleanup gone awry, to following the same processes we have in place when planning projects. 

That said, evaluating my performance, as well as the team's, are key growth areas that I've identified with WYRE's senior leaders. During 2024, this is something that I'm committed to championing so that I can tell our story well to the rest of the company and how I as a leader fit into that story.

# What do I value most?

One of the best things to do with me is to "manage up". If you're not sure what that term means, take a moment and give [this article at Leadx](https://leadx.org/articles/managing-up/) a read. 

As a general rule, these are the things that I value most in the folks that are on the team:

- **Empathy over ego** - You're an expert! Otherwise, you wouldn't be on the team. That said, I come from a customer support and service background and while I trust you to be an expert, I also trust that you'll put yourself in our customers' shoes and approach problems with empathy for our customers.
- **Frequent and clear communication**  - Over-communication is not a thing with me. To the extent possible, I expect frequent and clear communication about any problems you run into, anything you need from me, and any feedback (positive or negative) that you have. 
- **Ownership of projects and improvements**  - Said a little bit differently, I value what Basecamp calls "managers of one." This means that you develop your own goals and execute them. You don’t need heavy direction or daily check-ins. To quote Gitlab: "Managers of one set the tone for their work, assign items and determine what needs to get done."

# What are my commitments to you?

As a leader, these are the things you can expect from me:

- **A high-trust default** - I trust in you, your expertise and your ability to do your job the way that you know best. 
- **[Impeccable agreements](https://conscious.is/blogs/holding-people-accountable-is-ineffective-leadership)** - I will never, ever pull a "got ya" on a project or task. Just as I default to high trust, I commit that when it comes to you and me, I will make impeccable agreements. That is, to the best of my ability, I will:
  - Make clear agreements (who, will do what, by when)
  - Keep 90% of my agreements
  - Renegotiate agreements I’m not planning to keep
  - Clear up broken agreements.

- **Always ask questions and be curious**  - When things don't go as planned or when there is conflict, I will ask questions first. That said, my questions (and ultimately, most conversations you'll have with me) will follow a pattern:
  - I'll share my observation and any feelings I have about that observation
  - I'll share with you the story that I've got about my observation
  - I'll check in with you to see if my version of reality matches yours

- **Check my ego at the door** - My goals aren't to be the smartest person in the room, the most technically accomplished person, or to move up at WYRE. My goals are to:
  - Make sure that you have what you need to do your job
  - To the extent possible, remove any blockers that are preventing you from doing your job
  - Work with you to identify growth opportunities

# 1:1s

I'm a strong believer that 1:1's are our chance to calibrate and collaborate. My hope is that they're used for more than just status updates. 1:1's with me should be less about what you're doing and more about:

- Any blockers you're running into
- Celebrating your successes
- Identifying opportunities for you to champion projects
- Identifying additional responsibilities you want to take on, or ways that you want to grow

I also believe that 1:1's should be largely driven by you. This time is yours, so I trust you to make the most of the time we spend in 1:1's. Since it's your time, I want to make sure that I also honor the time that you're taking to meet with me. I will commit to you that I will never cancel our 1:1, but will reschedule if that's ever needed (like if you or I are out on vacation, or one of us is sick).

If the 1:1 ever shifts to being solely about status updates, I'll stop the meeting. I'd rather us spend 2 minutes saying "I've got nothing for today" than shift to doing status updates. That's what our standups are for. 

# Personality quirks

I've got a few 😅😅😅, but hopefully none that make it difficult to work with me. If you see any of these come out, feel free to call me on them:

- **Monologuing/over-explaining**  - I'm prone to making sure that you have the full context, all the time, no matter what. It can make me long-winded and prone to over-explaining. It's not that I don't believe that you don't understand me, sometimes I make a judgement call that folks need the full context + the history of the world that led to that point in time. 
- **Working after hours** - There are projects that sometimes require after-hours work. Most of our projects don't. Sometimes, you'll see me working when I would normally be in bed. I have _ **0 ** _expectations that you work after hours. 

# Where to focus on your first 90 days?

When starting on the team, I generally recommend focusing on the following:

- **0-30 days**  
  - Getting to know the team, other teams and the company (in that order). I've often found that having some regular 1:1s with other key folks in the company (i.e., setting up a skip-level (meeting with Mike Wade), or meeting with the Support Manager, VP of Customer Success and the CEO) will help you understand how the business works and our role in it

- **30-60 days**
  - Identifying some projects with customers that you want to take on and champion. This will require working closely with other engineers to understand what they're working on 

- **60-90 days**
  - Contributing to the team. As of Q1'24, our team is pretty much a blank slate with few firm and fast processes. There's plenty of room for us to grow and mature, as well as ample opportunity for you to contribute to the team's and WYRE's growth.  

During each of these phases, you can expect there to be a 1:1 where we focus on evaluating how the respective phase has gone. At the 90 day mark, I expect that you'll be rocking and rolling on your own.