# João Martinho's Manager Readme **Engineering Manager at kevin.** # Motivation for this document This README serves as a way for other people to know what to expect of me, but also as a reflection of my work style and philosophy as a manager. It's not a promise but an expectation of how I work and what I look for in others that work with me. # My role I am a people manager, growing and retaining the engineers that work with me, in the direction that interests them the most. I usually manage 4-8 people at a time and focus on one or two small teams, in one product area, helping them reach their delivery goals by coaching and mentoring the engineers in all aspects of software delivery. This usually starts with planning and estimation, backlog management and prioritization with the PMs and analyzing, mitigating and reporting risks with PgMs. I am a constant advocate for continuous improvement in all aspects of software development so you'll see me interested in advancing Agile practices one quarter and possibly looking at quality metrics improvements the next. I'll contribute to team discussions on any topic that is appropriate, from architecture and technical design to favorite ice-cream flavor.  On the technical side, I can write code and help teams on deliveries, but my focus will be to target strategic user-stories (that might have instructional value, or that are PoCs to kickstart a project). # What do I value most? I don't micromanage people. I expect people to come to me with goals and plans on how to achieve them. I can then work to unblock them, offer advice, if needed, and resources that might help them reach those goals. I believe people should come first and if they work well, the delivery of quality work will take care of itself.  I am always available for 1:1 meetings and/or informal chats and that will always take precedence over technical work.  # My Expectations For You - I expect engineers to set their own goals and steps on how to reach them. - I expect engineers to communicate often and that whenever they don't know something they ask for help.  - I expect risks to a delivery to be communicated clearly and as early as possible to me or to the relevant delivery manager.  - I expect all engineers to look for opportunities to improve their team.  - Finally, I expect everyone to value their personal lives above their job and to understand that their personal well-being is important for their contributions while on the job to be top-notch. # What You Can Expect Of Me - You can expect me to help you set goals and steps to achieve them. - You can expect me to provide resources for you to deliver on your job and for you to reach your professional growth goals. - You can expect me to help you create opportunities for improvement and growth. - You can expect me to not message/email/call you outside of the 8am-6pm range. # # 1:1s You can expect to have regular 1:1s with me (weekly or at the most every other week) that should be ~30 minutes. If you need more time I'll make myself available. My preference is to have these conversations in person. If one of us (or both) is working remotely we can default to video call (Slack, Hangouts) or audio calls in low-bandwidth situations. I expect people to come prepared to 1:1s with topics to talk about. I usually like to have a mix of topics from: - Work Delivery - Personal Life - Career Development (Goals, Opportunities) - Random Topics This doesn't mean that we have to check every box on every meeting. It's perfectly fine to have sessions that dive deep into one area to focus on and forget about the others. # Personality quirks I listen to a lot of music with headphones, specifically heavy-metal, so if you see me moving my neck weirdly like I'm nodding it usually means I'm in the zone writing code, wiki articles or email. I can be perceived as withdrawn and aloof at times. Feel free to ping me or signal me if you need my attention, I try not to be scary and I'll always reply. If you're interested in the Myers-Briggs Personality Test my results say I'm an  **Advocate** (INFJ-T) but I've been known to vary in the Nature spectrum between Feeling and Thinking (which would make me a Logistician) and with a slight propensity to be more Turbulent than Assertive on the Identity dimension. # Where to focus on your first 90 days? Within the first 30 days, you should have a good grasp of the company culture and organization. You should have contributed code to the team's repository and participated in code reviews.  Within the first 90 days, you should have identified one improvement that the team could benefit from and present a PoC on it. It can be anything, from meeting and process improvements to a Git-Fu script that saves typing 3 commands in a row. In exchange, I will fully support everyone to assimilate the culture and make the new experience as pleasant as possible.