# Alex Jones's Manager Readme

**Engineering Director at American Express**

![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/managerreadme/images/243BD5AF-FA0E-4527-8D42-F8BD03AA8E57.jpeg)

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# Motivation

I wanted to create a document to distil how my brain works to help others navigate how to get the best out of me. The measure of whether this document works will be whether it enables our conversations, collaboration and empowers us to make you successful within the organisation. I want to continue to refine this practice and learn. My goal is to become the best servant leader I can be and see you achieve your ambitions.

# What This README Is

-  A view into how I think and hopefully a way to help you work with me.

- A collection of my values and behaviours.

# What This README Is Not

- A replacement for me explaining this in person or interacting with you.

- A replacement for me continuously learning and improving myself.

# My Personality

I am the sort of person with many hobbies. I love to build things and dream about connecting the dots together. I really enjoy speculation about the _what-ifs_. I am a logical thinker and believe in a world without technology I'd have to be a person creating order out of chaos in some capacity. 

I am reserved with a small circle of close friends and colleagues that I care deeply about. For those I love and admire - I try to involve in my projects, ideas and dream; supporting theirs and enjoying them succeeding.

I am interested in human nature, _why we do things_, _will we ever learn from our mistakes_, and _what the future holds_ as a species. As I get older I reflect on this more and have become interested in anthropology, philosophy, mythology and mysticism. I think this is part of gaining a healthy appreciation of how much I don't know outside of my bubble.

- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: [INTJ](https://www.16personalities.com/intj-personality)

- Keirsey Temperament Sorter: **Rational Architect**

# Values & Expectations

**- What do I value most from people I work with: ** Infectious passion and continuous feedback.

**- What can you expect from me: ** I don't have management down to a science. I am constantly trying to improve and I do get things wrong. But where I do I'll own it and try to do better.

**- What I expect from you: ** A positive self-starting attitude. Happy to proactively experiment and form an opinion. A challenger to make sure I am giving you what you need to succeed and feeding back to me how I can do better.

# How to talk to me

I like to talk frequently through written comms. It gives me the time & space to respond to my own pace.  You can message me whenever; 24/7. You always have a direct line to interact with me and often I'll surprise you and reply intensely to try and jam on something then and there.

Face to face meetings too are fine but let's get a coffee, I don't want either of us to squirm in a seat and we can talk directly in a relaxed setting.  

If you are thinking of leaving, uncomfortable with a colleague at work or just feeling down about life. I want to be there to talk too, I can't guarantee I'll be able to help but I will certainly do anything in my power to try. 

# I prefer to Give Feedback by

I prefer to give feedback 1:1 and vocally. I like to be able to incorporate body language and humour to break the tension and put you at ease. 

# I prefer to Receive Feedback by

I like to receive feedback 1:1 and in writing. When I am digesting what you have to say I want to be able to refer to it. As an introvert, this helps me to learn and grow from it.

# Don't be offended if I...

- Ask you for details when you are explaining a problem. I characteristically will continue to dig into the detail until I feel I understand the problem as well as you in realtime. I **t is my way of engaging and is not a challenge of your knowledge. **

**-** Overly communicate. I hate a vacuum on calls and want to encourage participation. Sometimes I do this to my detriment and talk too much.

- Have fewer ceremonies than you are used too. It takes emotional energy to have meetings and I try to keep them to a minimum level rather than waste peoples time.

# Things about Me That May Seem Weird to You

1. When we are talking about a problem or technical architecture, I will probably go away and build it on my own on a small scale. I like to scratch the mental itch and understand components working together. I have been known to build microservice architecture with dataflow and observabilities in a tiny repository same day, to help me articulate an idea.
2. **I care deeply about howe we name things and uniformity**. It pains me to see multiple conventions and I physically feel uncomfortable working with them.
3. I sometimes get inspired and excited and just want to share it with colleagues. 
4. I will go away and think about discussions and how other people at work are thinking and feeling as an outcome of them. Often overthinking.

This is a photograph I took on the island of Islay in 2015 and I find it incredibly beautiful and peaceful.

![](https://s3.amazonaws.com/managerreadme/images/IMG_1222.jpeg)