# Brian Sarto's Manager Readme **Product Manager at Realtair Inc** # Motivation for this document This is my manager READme. This document helps me introduce to you my leadership style, what motivates me & my expectations from everyone, and that includes myself.  You're reading this because we would be working together on something great and of value as effective as possible. And for us to do that, I need you to understand how I think, what I expect from myself and my team.  You can refer back to this document if you feel I'm already out-of-line, and I'd be happy for you to call me out and remind me. # My role As Product Manager, I am responsible for defining the product vision, formulating product strategy _(from different inputs),_ and providing direction on the product lifecycle - from discovery, requirements gathering, prioritization, development iteration up to when the product is live. I will ensure that we would be shipping something with value to our customers and not just features. On top of that, I should be able to help remove or take care of any roadblocks of the team, so everyone focuses on building something with value that makes the lives of people easier. Take note that I encourage the team to be an [empowered product team](https://svpg.com/empowered-product-teams/), not a delivery team or feature team. I focus on outcomes rather than outputs, and everyone is empowered to discover the best way to solve the problems they’ve been asked to solve. # What do I value most? I value trust and honesty and I don't micromanage and promise myself not to do it. I might give some pressure from time-to-time, this is because I trust that the team can give more and not settle for mediocrity. I usually form sprints that provide value and not based on how many tickets you've completed. People would come first before anything -- deadlines & deliverables. I am entrusted and given responsibility by the organization to deliver, but without a well-functioning team in terms of physical, emotional & mental state, I won't be able to accomplish any of it. Be honest, be open. Provide feedback, everyone is free to express what's on their mind.  I was once asked by a CEO during an interview, _How can you say that your product is successful?_ My brief answer is first, the customers are happy and the product is doing what is expected, plus the team is fulfilled, wants to improve the product more, and most especially not burned out. It should always go hand-in-hand. # Expectations **What would you expect of me?** - **Provide context.**  I will, to the best of my abilities: - **Help you prioritize your personal life,** to an acceptable and reasonable level, but please do not abuse it.  - **Draw a full picture of the business**  and its priorities, so that you can make good & informed decisions. - **Ask a lot of validation questions ** because I need to fully-understand things before making any decisions - **Shield the team**  from people, issues, problems that will divert the attention of the team from accomplishing what is expected. - **H**** elp remove obstacles** that prevent you from getting sh!t done. [The ownership of removing the obstacles](https://hbr.org/1999/11/management-time-whos-got-the-monkey) is on you, but I will be there to help with whatever is necessary - **I value outcomes more than outputs. ** This might be unacceptable for people who are output-driven _(don't get confused with results-driven)_, outputs don't measure the value or impact of what was delivered **. ** - **Challenge the status quo. ** I usually ask questions on current practices and find ways to make things better. Nothing great is ever achieved by doing things the way they have always been done.  - **I'm available to listen to you ** whenever for anything that bothers or excites you. I'll be making my calendar available to you if you need to schedule something. - **I don't have all the answers** as I also learn things along the way and I admit there are lots of things that I don't know. - **I'm not better than you. ** I might be knowledgeable on some things, but I'm sure, you also are **.** So don't be scared to share your thoughts. **What I would expect from you?** - **Make your personal life your priority. ** This pandemic showed us how fragile life is. There is time for work and there is time for personal life. Provide time to your loved ones, practice your craft & take care of yourself. Work is just an aspect of our life, you have other roles outside it to fulfill. But here are some of my _disclaimers_: - But if there's a production issue, I expect you to be there. - Inform me ahead of time if you will take a vacation leave especially if \>1 day, so I can plan our sprint accordingly. 99% I will approve it. - **Do as little work as possible to achieve as much as possible.** We have sprint planning, daily stand-ups, burndown charts, and other metrics to evaluate if work is becoming overwhelming. I don't want you working long hours to just work to work. If I see my team work long hours to just complete a sprint, here are items that we as a team missed -  - I wasn't able to provide clear context and evaluate what I asked you to do. - We did not fully understand the problem we are trying to solve resulting in going in circles. Again, be open, and do not be afraid to ask questions. - **If you keep working on bug fixes,** our team is not delivering something of good quality & I need to understand why and this is not put blame but to mitigate it. - **If we keep changing on requirements and product direction,** there is a problem with how we do things in the organization in general, and these need to be addressed from top-to-bottom. I'm very particular about this on organizations I'm joining. - Your body and mind need rest, health is our #1 priority now. - **I expect you to be a responsible individual and take ownership. ** You were hired because of your skills, experience, potential, and attitude. I trust you to make smart decisions, and I assure to guide you along the way. - **Call out my mistakes. ** I'm a human being and mistakes are inevitable. If you feel or think that I made a mistake in my decisions, actions, or anything. Say it to me right away. I might not be seeing the big picture, or you might have experienced the same thing and you know what should be our course of action.  - And in any way, I might have offended you or made you feel uncomfortable. Feel free to approach me. I won't justify it, I'll say sorry and we will move on. - **I will bring you to product discovery meetings.** To build an empowered product team, we should be able to foresee and mitigate [risks](https://svpg.com/four-big-risks/) before locking up the deal. I will expect you to ask questions and listen attentively. Then you, me, and the product team to discuss it thoroughly. - **Take ownership.** Take the product as your own, if you find something wrong, feel free to raise it and fix it. The not-my-job mentality is detrimental to the team. - **Respond to Calendar Invites and include agenda if you create a meeting invitation.** - **Find solutions to problems. ** As I mentioned above. I want us to be an empowered product team. We as a team solve problems, and we will find & create solutions. Don't expect me just to give a requirement and say 'build this', [as a team we would be doing product discoveries and solutions to problems.](https://svpg.com/product-discovery/) - **Learn to Unlearn to Relearn. ** Be willing to let go of bad or outdated practices, we are in the tech space and things change over time, see how the cloud changes the way of computing, and [agile came to life.](https://www.macadamian.com/learn/when-to-use-waterfall-vs-agile/) Challenge the status quo. - **Respect everyone.**  No need for explanation. # 1:1s I prefer regular 1:1s (bi-monthly or at least once a month) and I expect you to lead the flow. This is more about you than me and this will **NOT** be a status reporting about the projects. I would like to know more about you, your aspirations, motivations and where do you see yourself after X years. If there is anything that you would share, in and outside of work. This is also a safe space for you to share anything - about your job, the team, and the company, I'd provide feedback on how you're doing. If I'm concerned about your performance, I'll let you know. # Personality quirks I am usually quiet in the morning and active by mid-day to late afternoon. If I have my earphones on or in DND in chats, I'm usually focused on working on deliverables but feel free to approach if you have questions, I often answer right away or will inform you that I'll reach out after X mins. During product meetings, I usually ask questions and point at somebody to get your inputs - no right or wrong answers, I encourage everyone to speak up. I will throw some random questions out of the blue -- this is more of a conversation starter because I would like you to be comfortable as a person and not as your product manager. One habit I am trying to remove is multitasking, there are times I feel inefficient because of it. That's why I usually block my calendars if I'm working on something.