# Dave Igoe's Manager Readme

**Software Development Manager at AO**

# Motivation for this document

This is my Manager README, a document that sets out my role and my expectations so that we can work effectively together.

This document is primarily intended for anyone that reports to me, anyone I report to and then anyone else interested in how I operate.

This document is the expectation to which I hold myself accountable, I request that if there is a dissonance of how I act compared to this document please do provide candid feedback so I can be the best manager possible for you.

This is how I operate and shouldn't be considered applicable to other managers in AO.

I have found this process valuable so I would encourage you to consider writing your own README.

Ok, so that’s the weirdness and disclaimers out the way! (And breathe.)

# My Role

“I build amazing teams that produce amazing, valuable experiences.”  

**What I do?**

I coach individuals and teams to be the best versions of themselves while delivering value to the business.

I put systems in place to achieve consistent, desired outcomes regardless of the actors in the system.

I create and foster a blameless culture in which people continually learn and grow while innovating on the systems and products they own.

I endeavour to put the right people in the right positions to form a team which is greater than the sum of its parts.

I provide context, facilitate and resolve conflicts.

**What I don't do?**

I don't code anymore. There I said it. (I was a

.Net developer for over a decade!) I’m more valuable to a business as a manager than as a developer.

I don't micromanage. I don't plan then execute without feedback. I don't provide designs for others to implement.

**How do I measure my success?**

- Customer satisfaction, reviews and NPS scores
- Staff satisfaction surveys
- Feedback from peers
- The contribution of my teams to the commercial success of AO
- Uptime of our estate
- Absence of my team's involvement in incidents, issues, outages and problems
- When my teams do something unexpected and amazing for the benefit of others

# How I operate

By managing in a complex system I have come to terms with the fact that I do not/cannot have all the answers or hold an up-to-date mental model. I have therefore focused on asking the right questions to leverage the knowledge of others.

**What should you take from this?**

- You should expect a lot of questions.  Not to catch you out, but to aid my understanding, to bring clarity to your thoughts and to challenge your own assumptions and biases.

I am no longer an individual contributor so my success is inextricably tied to your success.

**What should you take from this?**

- I want you to be successful and will provide a supportive push for you and your team to be the best they can be
- Together we will define what success looks like and define measures so that I can manage with the lightest of touches
- I will provide constructive feedback at the earliest opportunity to help you be successful
- There should be no surprises if either of us decide not to continue trying to be successful

# What I value

Experimentation.  I expect my teams to continually run experiments, build a hypothesis, predict an expected outcome, run an experiment and then learn by contrasting the actual outcome to the expected outcome.

A growth mindset. It is simply not an option to stop learning in IT. I value people that are constantly improving themselves; researching, reading, exploring new ideas and different perspectives.

A can-do, positive attitude. I value mentally resilient people that when faced with adversity and challenge show grit and find options

This [README](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TPSwdqDqVfWG9anfiOjGUjk0k6zQDij5xPvatPg7NFE/edit#slide=id.p) was inspired by Roy Rapoport@Netflix (@royrapoport)