# Josh Assad's Manager Readme

**Software Development Manager at BinSentry**

# Motivation for this document

I've written this to help give clarity to my team about my&nbsp;management style and to help set expectations for my reports.&nbsp; I also wanted to use it as a vehicle for my own self-reflection about how I&nbsp;operate&nbsp;as a manager.

# My role

My role is to help my team to be successful contributors and innovators and to enable each person's growth to meet their full potential.&nbsp; I&nbsp;will protect my team from distractions so that they can do their best work, and ensure that they are recognized for their accomplishments.&nbsp;&nbsp;Some of the ways the team measures success are:

- How many other teams are benefiting from the work we do

- How much more effective our customers have become using our product.

- How well does our product run in production

I&nbsp;am measured based on my teams' level of engagement, productivity and job satisfaction.

I will try to find stretch/growth opportunities for members of my team to allow them to continuously learn, grow, and regularly work with different people to gain broader experiences.

# What do I value most?

I&nbsp;value a culture that allows my team to share its ideas and opinions openly, honestly&nbsp;and without fear.&nbsp; I&nbsp;believe that&nbsp;innovation is the most critical skill to nurture, and that it&nbsp;requires a sense of safety, trust and autonomy to thrive.&nbsp;&nbsp;

I&nbsp;appreciate feedback.&nbsp; If I&nbsp;need to start or stop doing something to help me team to be successful, I&nbsp;want to hear it.&nbsp; In kind, if I think someone could use feedback on how they work, I will provide it respectfully and tactfully.&nbsp;

If there are conflicts, I&nbsp;hope individuals can solve them without my intervention.&nbsp; If I do need to be involved I&nbsp;will seek out both sides of the story and will help to find compromises.&nbsp; I&nbsp;don't expect every solution to be perfect and will anticipate that many solutions may need to be revisited and iterated on and that this is a natural process to conflict resolution.

I'm quite an easy-going leader, and don't always sweat the details.&nbsp;&nbsp;I appreciate it greatly if important details are brought to my attention if it seems like I'm not considering them.&nbsp; I also tend to be fairly optimistic so injections of reality never hurt either.

# My Expectations

If you need my time just ask and I will always make it available.&nbsp; I&nbsp;prefer to answer quick questions via chat.&nbsp; If a conversation is warranted drop me a quick note and I'll likely ask you to book some time in our calendars after getting some quick details.

I love mistakes!&nbsp; If we're not making mistakes then we're not pushing the envelope hard enough and we're not learning.&nbsp;&nbsp;I expect everyone to own their mistakes and ask me and/or the team&nbsp;for help as soon as&nbsp;they realize something is wrong.&nbsp; &nbsp;You can approach me privately or with the team.&nbsp; &nbsp;I&nbsp;will not blame, but I&nbsp;will want to reflect on the situation objectively to understand what happened and why.&nbsp;&nbsp;I&nbsp;will encourage the team to be supportive (we all own any mistake made by someone on the team) and work to solve the problem, reflect on what we've learned and move on.&nbsp; &nbsp;Externally I&nbsp;will own mistakes made by the team if necessary, individuals will not be blamed.

I&nbsp;think work is "done" when it's integrated into a 'production-like build',&nbsp; includes automated tests,&nbsp;and has been tested thoroughly by the team (someone other than the creator), and a product owner / customer representative.&nbsp; &nbsp; At a larger scale I&nbsp;want to see features that we can track - are they being used by clients? are they responsive? secure? utilizing the appropriate resources? do we have a feedback mechanism from the user?

I&nbsp;expect everyone to maintain a healthy work/life balance.&nbsp; I'd prefer that we leave work at the office, and make time to recharge.&nbsp; &nbsp;I won't expect anyone to be responding to emails or IM's after core work hours (and/or when they're not at the office, like home sick) unless we're dealing some some kind of emergency.&nbsp; &nbsp;If I&nbsp;do have to reach out after hours I strive to indicate if I&nbsp;need a response right away or not.

# 1:1s

I like to have 1:1's every one to two weeks, with every person that reports to me.&nbsp; I really prefer my reports to run the agenda, but I&nbsp;will ask open, leading questions if you're not sure what to talk about.&nbsp; 1:1's are your time to talk about job satisfaction,&nbsp;career aspirations, ask for advice, get coaching or give feedback.&nbsp; I&nbsp;don't want to talk about project status at 1:1's.

# Personality quirks

I'm uncomfortable&nbsp;when I'm looked upon to have all the answers.&nbsp; I don't have them!&nbsp; I'd rather discuss options and draw the answers from the group.

I&nbsp;love it when I&nbsp;see someone get excited about an idea or accomplishment.&nbsp; I will get drawn up in that energy.

I&nbsp;find it challenging when I&nbsp;have to distill complex things into black-and-white terms.&nbsp; I tend to think in terms of a spectrum and gray areas and vague concepts.