# Gal Vigdor's Manager Readme

**VP Engineering at Tactile Mobility**

# Motivation for this document

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.

# My role

I am measured by the following points : 

1. Working software delivered on time, doing whet it designed for
2. The quality of the delivered software
3. Impact of the engineering on other departments of the company
4. Retention and satisfaction of the engineering members 
5. The efficiency of the engineering group (lines of code per cost)

While some points can contradict others, my job is to prioritize and adjust, per case and need, and create  clear expectations for the developer, the team and externally. 

Therefore, my job is to:

1. Make sure you know what your mission is, and what is its DoD & KPIs
2. Over time, adjust your missions that you will grow and be impactful
3. Define processes for work, to improve quality and/or efficiency  
4. Push towards automation where recurring tasks can be improved 
5. Identify opportunities for collaboration and connect you and others 

When you feel you don't know your mission & KPIs,  or the impact on the company, or not being efficient - please come to me to share, I'd love to hear that so we can fix that. 

# What do I value most?

I Love to see people being committed to their work - enthusiastic by the mission/task, doing their best to meet deadline, extending their boundaries by talking to others or learning new stuff. 

Sometimes we will have conflicts - on deadline, on quality, on process, design, whatever. In that case - it will help me a lot if you will keep open mind and try to see the issue from others' perspective. Looking for collaborating instead of being right - is a key to success.

I will sometimes get wrong decisions and mistakes. When you think so, please let me know. Don't hesitate to do that - with a clear voice and positive attitude, so I don't need to guess. I promise to hear you out with an open mind. Sometimes I'll adopt your opinion, and sometimes not, but it will always have an impact as I get to understand another perspective.

# My Expectations

Some of my important expectations that I have for you:

- Be a [Mensch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensch). Try to live by your words. Have respect for others. 
- Be professional. Close your tasks in time and in full. "Done" is when we don't need to reopen the task and fix stuff unintentionally left out. 
- Be committed. Look for the value you are requested to create in your tasks/epics, and try succeed in that. Note that value is a combination of capability & cost (time, resources).
- Give feedback and ask for it. Be open for that, it will help you to improve your performance.
- Look at what you can do before expecting others to do stuff. 
- I'm always available for you, including non working days/hours. Feel free to reach me. From my side, I will NOT call you outside working hours, except for a major crisis.

# 1:1s

These meetings are designed to give you a dedicated time and place to ask anything and everything.

- Hopefully we talk about [things you wouldn’t otherwise bring up](https://medium.com/@mrabkin/the-art-of-the-awkward-1-1-f4e1dcbd1c5c) in a group setting. I want our 1:1 to be a safe place; if this isn’t the case please tell my boss.
- We will go through your agenda first and if time permits I will always have some questions. First and foremost these meetings are for you.
- Urgent matters should not wait for a 1:1.

# Personality quirks

- I tend to prefer external results (like customer features) over internal ones (like refactor code for future maintenance). It doesn't intentionally mean I want to take risks or create future holes, so please let me know if you think I've missed something.
- I can look and behave calmly and obscure the management stress, even in times of high volume. It doesn't mean I'm relaxed, but just keep it away from you. I expect you to do your best when you know times call for that.  
- I believe in keeping optimistic thought in front of challenges or tough times, as long as I can see a possible optimistic outcome as the end picture in mind. Ask me what it is if you don't know what it is.
- I get better focus under deadline stress. It doesn't mean I'm not planning ahead, just sometimes reaching for that muse later. 
- I tend towards internal [locus of control](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locus_of_control). It means I'll mostly look at what I and we could do, rather than on the "they" part.  
- I tend to be like a sponge for other's ideas and opinions, and quite flexibly adopt them when making sense. Feel free to use me to empower your ideas.
-  I love my CrossFit workouts. They help me to reset my work's stress and keep my sanity. Just sharing (-:

# Where to focus on your first 90 days?

First, you will get an onboarding plan from your manager. Start by first listening, and look for a broad picture of things before jumping to some conclusions or framing you thoughts.  Ask questions to deepen you understanding.

I believe that a good onboarding include an opportunity to reach some real outcomes in the first 30 days. Look for that, make sure that you understand your opportunity to shine. First tasks are important part of your journey for success, so take them seriously. If you have some issues with these first tasks - ask your team lead or let me know, Probably it's our fault. We will start our 1:1 sessions and give you feedback mainly on these first tasks.

Your next days will turn into work as part of the team. Continue to look for opportunities to shine, by taking tasks and deliver them. You will learn best by that.

After 3 months, we will have a session to review your onboarding and performance together, so we all can calibrate the work together.