# Sakis Kaliakoudas's Manager Readme

**Engineering Manager at Gradle**

👋 Hello there, fellow reader. I want to welcome you to my manager README, where I will hopefully convey what it feels like to work with me and what you should expect from me. I say "hopefully", as me talking about myself is probably biased 😅 The only real way to get to know me is for us to work together and spend time together!   
I am an engineering manager at Gradle. My job is to:

- Create an environment of psychological safety where everyone can challenge any idea or raise any concern they see.
- Remove blockers from anyone in the team.
- Provide context about what is happening in the business.
- Create processes so that the team can operate as smoothly as possible.
- Help drive the high-level engineering direction.
- Help people reach beyond their comfort zone to grow personally and professionally.
- Sneak in a build script into the repo when no one is looking 🤓

**Beliefs**

- I am this weird mix where I appear to be a very social creature, but at the same time, I find social interactions draining and need some time alone to recharge. I guess that's somewhere between introvert and extrovert?
- I favour action over talking about things. Sure, analyzing a situation is always useful, but I am a bit biased towards trying out solutions and iterating over them rather than over-thinking.
- I very much enjoy the idea of [marginal gains](https://jamesclear.com/marginal-gains) and try to implement it anywhere possible.
- I smile more than I should; I consider myself an optimist and think that there isn't a problem out there that cannot be solved. All it takes is will and sheer effort.
- I am a bit biased towards transparency, and I try to push that around me as much as possible. No question is off-limits! 🙂 
- What I value: empathy - ownership - communication.
- I believe that hard work beats talent every time.
- My management style is hands-off as much as possible and hands-on as much as necessary. I will always give you the space and the autonomy to make your own decisions, make mistakes, and grow.

**What I can do for you**

- Give you context, and create an environment where we can talk about anything.
- I’ll try my best to provide you with growth opportunities so that you can develop professionally. Sometimes things are too busy, and this slips through the cracks. If that does happen, I expect you to challenge me on this. It is your career. You set your goals. You set your priorities. Please let me know how I can help you get there.
- Provide you with feedback. What to do with feedback? Consider it. Acting on it is not required. Sometimes I may get it right, and sometimes I might get it wrong.
- There's a good chance that I’m not any good at your job. You know best. Sometimes, I'll challenge your ideas, but I won’t override you.
- Be available for you at any time: My calendar availability might look scary, but I’m here for you. You can message me on slack or What's App at any time or send me an email. I am usually in a meeting, so I will probably reply as soon as I get some time or at the end of the day. I never leave a message unanswered, that is for sure! If you feel that you need to urgently talk to me, you can always call me. You can also always put something in my diary, or come and grab me in person!

**What you can do for me**

- Come to the 1-1s prepared. This is your time.
- Disagree with me when you feel like it. I have opinions. This does not mean they are correct or you should blindly believe them. The best solutions come from a healthy level of debate. I’ll challenge your ideas with the goal of coming to the best possible solution; I hope you’ll challenge mine. 
- Tell me when I screw up. This is very important. I screw up and sometimes don’t notice. I need to know, or I’ll likely do it again.
- Heard a rumour? Need clarification on something? Blocked? I’d love to hear as soon as possible. Come by my desk, stop me in the hall or shoot me a Slack message. We don’t need to wait for our next scheduled 1:1.
- With regards to taking feedback, please give me as much as you have; happy to take it. If you're not comfortable giving me this feedback yourself, I'd love for you to give it to someone above me in the management chain so they can anonymously relay it to me and I can work on it. Similarly, if you have feedback for a team member, I encourage you to give it to them directly; if you're not comfortable doing so, please feel free to relay it to me to pass along. If you can, please give me this feedback in person; I'd prefer that. If you're only comfortable kicking off a discussion with an email or a Slack message, I would rather you do that than not bring it up at all.
- You’ll let me know if you can’t do your job. One of my main responsibilities is ensuring that you’re set up for success. Occasionally things slip through the cracks, and I won’t know I’m letting you down.
- I expect you to operate as a directly responsible individual. We hired you because of your experience and skills, and I am not here to tell you how to do your job. I believe you can operate as a professional adult and make smart decisions. This does not mean that I expect you to do everything on your own - I am here to provide you guidance and mentorship (either through me or by finding the people you should be getting it from). When you need help, I expect you to not hesitate and ask for it. If you feel you made a mistake, own up to it. I am not an authoritarian boss. I do not want to micro-manage anyone - it's not a good use of my time or yours. 

**1-1s?**

- Duration and frequency are up to you, but usually 30' every 1-2 weeks.
- I prefer to spend a bit more time when I get to know someone, probably around an hour per week for the first month or so.
- By the way, urgent matters should not wait for a 1-1. If you want to catch up about something before our next 1-1, please let me know or just book some time in my calendar.
- I will give you feedback on how you're doing in our 1-1s. If I'm worried about your performance, I will let you know. If you worry that I'm worried about your performance, please let me know.
- We will go through your agenda first; if time permits, I will always have some questions.
- First and foremost, these meetings are for you.

**FYI**

- This company may require me not to tell you about something. This company cannot require me to lie to you. I would not abide by such a requirement.
- These days I work from home quite often! I am a big believer in the productivity gains that [deep work](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/dp/0349411905) can bring.