# Tiago Costa's Manager Readme

**Engineering Manager at Blip.pt**

# Motivation for this document

> **_"Management and leadership come in many shapes and forms."_**

This was true during my youth as an athlete, and later, it became a fact of my life as a professional software developer. No manager is the same, and each manager leaves an impact on their teams and their people. I hope that this document can help you understand my management style, philosophy and expectations.

If you find me sleeping on any of my promises, you are welcome to let me know.   
Please let me know if anything you feel needs to be added.

# My role

My role is generally focused on four areas: **People, Delivery, Engineering** and **Strategy.**

**People**

My focus will be to make people happy, challenged, empowered and with a concrete career path in whatever direction they want.

We are only trully productive when we are happy, so fostering an environment in the team that can make everyone happy is my role. That will enable us to execute the delivery. 

**Delivery**

A team is only good if it delivers value to any customer in what form. Therefore, I will focus on creating situations where the team can provide any work they must.  

The best we become at delivering things and quality work, either from a business or a Tech standpoint, will open doors for everyone in the team. 

**Engineering **

Although I'm not coding daily, I still like to be around for technical discussions and try to keep up with industry standards. This helps me be aware and able to voice over needs or directions that will help the devEx (developer experience) while also being able to interact and provide some of my experience to the teams and mentor and guide the team. 

**Strategy**

What we will be doing next? What is the next priority or the next big thing? 

That will happen a bit away from the team, but I always give insight and help you navigate the company strategy and how those decisions impact our day-to-day. In the same way, we should pair up with the Product team to allow us to drive the ball into the next piece of work we should tackle. 

# 

# My Management Philosophy

I was lucky to join the Search team on the product Display Cluster on Farfetch. That piloted the [Hyper Productive Patterns](https://www.slideshare.net/BrunoCacho3/agilept-2016-hyp-a-journey-to-greater-efficiency), which would be adopted in the cluster. I spent a lot of my onboarding going to read sessions about these patterns, basically one-week 1-hour reading and discussing these patterns in depth in a forum that had individual contributor managers and even scrum masters.   
  
This became a core element later in my time in Farfetch as my team grew and created a cluster of teams, which meant at that point, we started to operate in [LeSS](http://less.works/) style (although we didn't know then).

In 2020, I became a manager, and these patterns became the base of my teams because  I believe we should **limit the number of work in Progress** , and they need to **swarm** up as much as possible to make their tasks **flow** as fast as possible. While on the other hand, I consider that a cluster/tribe of teams should be more than just a group of teams under a name tag. I believe clusters should be able to communicate and work in a product/platform easily.

As a manager, I empower the team by giving them space to develop solutions.  
 

# What you can expect of me as your manager

You can expect me to empower you and make the team successful. I have an open door policy; therefore, you can nudge me to join into a call/technical discussion/conflict/\<\<insert whatever you want\>\> and if my agenda allows me, I&nbsp;will be happy to join.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Since I'm a bit closer to the team, I&nbsp;have a bit of a grasp of what is happening; however, if you need more details, I will ask you so I can prepare for any meetings I&nbsp;have.&nbsp;

I'm always willing to give context and share information on the company strategy and any changes.&nbsp;

To summarise, I'm here to help the team achieve excellent&nbsp;results while allowing individuals to grow and have more autonomy.&nbsp;

# 1:1s

1:1s should be made for you and not for myself. However, I start with a standard format that will evolve to your liking.&nbsp;  
  
By default, I&nbsp;run a 30-minute every week. I&nbsp;like to check how things are going since we last spoke. I try to learn any achievements or something you have learned. You are free to bring topics and lead the meeting if you feel like it.&nbsp;

I will also give you any strategy information coming, and even if you want to discuss the direction of the product or the company, I'm always open to having a bit of conversation.&nbsp;

From time to time, we will focus on performance feedback and how your development goals are going. This will depend on the process/frameworks in place from the company.&nbsp;

I can also bring some things to experiment with, some from Management 3.0.&nbsp;&nbsp;

# Where to focus on your first 90 days?

As a developer, you should learn the current team stack while learning more about the business and tooling. During the first 30 days, I think it's the regular get to know everyone that you can get some coffee with the people I&nbsp;have pointed out and check with everyone you meet if there's someone else you should also check in.&nbsp;

After all that is set and done, you should start to join the team activities, and the aim should be to put something into production to learn the ropes.&nbsp;&nbsp;  
By this point, you should be at the 60-day mark, and then we should aim to start to take unplanned work, and with that, you should pave the way to become a fully-fledged&nbsp;team member.&nbsp;