# Fraser Pearce's Manager Readme

**Director of Engineering at Trustpilot A/S**

# Motivation for this document

TL; DR: This is a snapshot in time overview of my leadership approach and not a substitute for building a good relationship with me. 😉

I partially wrote this document to aid with introspection and, in turn, my personal development. Being a good, effective leader is an ever-evolving process; it depends a lot on the phase of a company’s growth and the needs of the specific role, combined with an individual’s capability (all of which are moving targets).

This document is not meant as a shortcut for in-person relationship building, nor does it in any way override anything discussed in our day-to-day interactions. This document reflects a point in time (see last update date) and, as such, may change over time based on lessons learned and experience gained on my journey through leadership.

# Leadership Style

I see my role in part as a catalyst or accelerator: I aim to clear the runway to make it as smooth and frictionless as possible for my teams/reports to use their skill and capability for the benefit and betterment of the product/organisation. Of course, that also means sometimes I’m going to be acting as a heat shield, and other times more as a coach pushing you to go further and improve.

Most would describe me as a servant leader. I believe that teams are greater than the sum of their parts, and to get to a place of high-performing teams requires investments in the capabilities of the individuals and in the overall team dynamics. Longer term, I also aim for high autonomy for individuals and teams once the relationship and capability maturity are in the right place (e.g. a Laissez-faire leader). Equally at times I favour a democratic leadership approach where the situation allows – I like the whole team to own the approach/solution, so the whole team needs to have had the opportunity to contribute and commit to the chosen direction.

# 1:1s

I highly value relationships and, as part of that, 1:1s - primarily with those reporting directly to me, but I also include indirect reports and peers outside of my organisation. For anyone reporting to me (and often for anyone I see as a key peer), you should know that while I may on occasion need to move a 1:1 meeting, I will do everything I can not to, and I really don’t like cancelling them. They are high-value meetings for me.

I aim to have regular skip-level 1:1s (or sometimes skip n level) with my wider team. Depending on the org size and general workload, these might not be super frequent, but it’s still important to me that I know the individuals who work in my organisation since I have a duty of care for them, so that they have the opportunity to self-represent and be heard as needed. It's also useful for me to get feedback on different layers of my organisation from different perspectives.

If anyone ever needs to talk more urgently – be that just general professional conversation, career advice or perhaps something more serious – reach out and we can set up some time.

# Active Listening & Transparency

Generally, I’m not afraid to do a lot of talking (this wordy document as an example of that), but sometimes I can be notably quiet, patricianly in group meetings – sometimes it’s because I’m in active listening mode, sometimes it’s because I just don’t have anything useful/constructive to add and I just need time to process. Equally, if I just don’t understand, I’ll not be afraid to be the person to ask the stupid questions. IMO, there are no stupid questions if they need to be asked, and it's often useful to talk through the basic assumptions to get the room onto the same page.

I also strongly favour transparency. New developments and challenges are normally best discussed openly so that everyone is armed with the most relevant information, which in turn helps everyone make the best decisions. I therefore also want to hear good and bad news promptly – I love to celebrate successes. I’m also super keen to understand problems quickly so I can ensure we are giving the correct support, pulling the right levers and working to minimise/contain/negate any serious impact.

# Work/Life Balance

Work/life balance is important to me, and I try to lead by example. I have an active family & social life, and I value my downtime. Similarly, I encourage those in my team to take appropriate time off, and try to protect them when they do. I do my best (but occasionally fail) to use message scheduling and avoid adding stress to people’s plates late in the week or over the weekend unless it’s an absolute emergency.

# Fail Fast, Fix Forward & Learn

Things don’t always go to plan – but we must remember that what we do is often in some way new or groundbreaking – we are likely writing software that solves a problem in a new way or a unique context. As such, we are ‘by definition’ making it up as we go along, and even the most carefully constructed plans can go wrong. Broadly, I’m not all that worried about the failure itself (with some exceptions for severe business/legal/life impact) so long as we focus on fixing promptly, moving forward (rather than rolling back) and learning. I’m a big fan of a no-blame post-mortem that ends up with clearly understood learning and actions to take forward.

# Software Development Processes

I’m a big fan of agile, but by that I mean the mindset and the intent of agile – I get quickly frustrated with folk misusing agile terminology layered on traditional project management or waterfall processes. I believe agile is not about controlling the people; instead, it’s about structuring the approach to solving problems and being able to adapt to changing conditions.

I’m agnostic on a specific approach, but I do like some structure – I value transparency and want to see pragmatism and sensible approaches to the use of capacity/capability within a team. It's also good to show your working and expose that you are also thinking ahead. These factors are all super useful in stakeholder management and building the internal profile of a team.

# When I’m not working, I’m…

• Gardening and growing (mainly chillies 🌶️)

• Travelling (and/or spending time with my family ✈️)

• PC Gaming (which is how I got into software development 🕹️)

• Enjoying a craft beer (and I’ve been known to brew on occasion 🍺)

• Tinkering with tech (DIY IoT devices, Home Automation, Homelab 🖥️)

• Metal ‘til I die 🤘🏻 (but I also like a bit of electronic music too 🤖)