# Elliott Carlson's Manager Readme **Engineering Manager at Rent The Runway** # What is this? This is my Manager README, a document that helps introduce you to my management style, philosophy, and expectations. The intended audience is primarily anyone who reports in to me, though anyone is free to read it - or even provide feedback on it! Please treat it as a reference and promise on how I will conduct myself as a manager, and what I expect from you. I urge you to hold me accountable to my promises, and to call out anything that might be missing from this document. Without your guidance, I will not be able to improve as a manager. # Disclaimer This document only applies to me, and in no way should be considered to apply to any other team or manager at Rent The Runway. # My Job As an Engineering Manager at Rent The Runway, it is my job to: 1. Attract and Retain world-class talent (that's you) 2. Manage and Build well-functioning engineering teams  3. Set context If I fail at any of these - especially anything that puts retaining you at risk - you would be doing me a **huge** favor by letting me know as soon as possible. I don't expect everyone to stick around forever, however, if a departure is potentially due to something we could have done different, I would appreciate the chance to make things right first. # How I approach my job I am not the authoritarian boss. I do **not** want to micromanage anyone - it's not a good use of my time, or yours. My teams come first, the company comes second. Obviously, I have a responsibility to the company, but without a well operating, well staffed, and well-functioning team, I am unable to live up to those responsibilities. Your success is ultimately my success - so I will go out of my way to try and make you successful. I am without doubt busy with meetings most of the time. Regardless of how busy I am, nothing is more important than the time I can spend with you. If you need to chat - find time on my calendar - no need to ask. If you can't find time, I will make time. # How I expect you to approach your job 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 are able to 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. # Process  I believe that there is a place for process on a team. I need certain processes in place to be able to manage up and out to the rest of the organization, however I do not believe in process for the sake of process. I know that what works for one team, will not work for another - and I know that dictating process is not ideal. I will attempt to improve process, but I want to make sure that any changes I make are beneficial for all parties. If you ever have feedback on process - please let me know - I want the team to operate at it's best at all times, and having a process that makes sense for everyone is critical. # 1-on-1's I'm big on 1-on-1's. I believe that these meetings are for you to set the agenda. What would you like to talk about? What’s going well? What's bugging you? These don’t need to be about work updates unless you really want to talk about work. If there are things that I want to ask you, I’ll do it, but this is your time. If I have feedback, I will also provide it during this time. While I have a preference to meeting for 30 minutes every week, that is not always feasible. By default, I will book us time to meet for 30 minutes every two weeks. Additionally, I will have Office Hours scheduled every Tuesday from 12 to 2pm - this time slot is available to my direct reports only. If you want to have an additional 1-on-1 during an off-week, feel free to book this time with no guilt. As mentioned before, this is not the only time you can reach me - if there is ever something on your mind - please reach out. If I am busy, I will find time for you. # Feedback I am a strong believer of [Radical Candor](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIh_992Nfes); I want to ensure that you are receiving honest and actionable feedback on a consistent basis. There should never be a scenario where a performance review, or in the worst case scenario, a Performance Improvement Plan, is the first time that you hear negative comments or feedback. I will provide you with feedback and guidance to the best of my ability, and will do my best to ensure that you understand the feedback that I provide to you. I will always ensure that feedback is given in a private setting. Feedback should go both ways. I am relying on you to let me know when I am doing something detrimental to my position, our relationship, or the company. If at any point you feel you have feedback to provide to me, I will listen and internalize the feedback you give me. Beyond that, I will go one step further and ask you three questions at the end of every 1-on-1 we have: 1. "Anything else on your mind?" - Just in case you forgot something! 2. "What do you need from me?" - Am I blocking you on anything? Do you have any additional requests? 3. "What can I do better?" - This is me opening the conversation to receive feedback from you - please provide it if you have it! I know that this gets repetitive - but it's very important to me to ask those questions every session. # "Where do I stand?" Part of my job is to track where everyone stands at all time - and obviously provide you with feedback on how to improve. I categorize people based on one of five particular levels of performance rating (based on standard HR rating scales): 1. Exceptional - Performance far exceeds expectations 2. Exceeds expectations - Performance consistently exceeds expectations 3. Meets expectations - Performance consistently meets expectations 4. Improvement needed - Performance did not consistently meet expectations 5. Unsatisfactory - Performance was consistently below expectations It is **really** important to note that a Meets Expectations is **not** a bad level to be at - I have **high** expectations of everyone that reports to me, and meeting those expectations is a great thing! If you ever disagree with my rating of your performance, please bring it up - I am happy to discuss why I see you at a certain level. You will generally know when you are in the Improvement Needed level. You will **definitely** know when you are approaching or are at the Unsatisfactory level. # Things you should know about me I have personality quirks. We all do.  Here are some things that I am both aware of, and that may impact how you work with me: - I am an Internal Thinker. I will take my time to purposefully choose the words that I am going to use. I will take my time to rationalize a situation to ensure that I fully grasp what I am commenting on/contributing to. I am not loud. I have been told that this sometimes feels like I am not engaged or interested in participating (especially in larger discussions) - but often it means that I am trying to internalize everything before I add my 2 cents. Feel free to call me out if you want to hear from me. - I am traditionally a People Pleaser. While I no longer am unable to say "no", I still want to find a way to help everyone. I try my best to not let this impact my ability to do my job, and more importantly, impact my team. If I do this, please call me out. I have grounded myself extensively over the years, so for the most part this is no longer an issue - but it does slip through at times. - According to random personality tests I've taken at random company team building events, I am classified as an INTJ personality. While I find bucketing someone in to a single identifier is much like a star sign defining you as an individual, I certainly see traits that match my personality. Feel free to read up on that personality type if you want to get some insight in to some broad categorization of who I may or may not be.