# Luke Hansell's Manager Readme

**Developer Lead at Holiday Extras Ltd**

# Motivation for this document

In the interests of transparency, openness and understanding I've decided to follow suit with so many other managers and write myself a manager's README. 

As an Engineer README's make sense to me. They provide the initial burst of documentation required to get you on your feet with a project. Like a repo's README this'll be a quick start guide on how I work, what my goals are, how to work well with me and how to debug me. As a README it's open for anyone to use as a reference and as something to hold me accountable to. 

As with any README, this document is subject to change and iterations. It is also open to feedback and improvement from the community. I can't promise no breaking changes, but I can promise to be the best version of me - or a least a stable canary.

# My role

The simplest way I've found to describe my role is as an analogy (I'll do these a lot) with a football coach. Their responsibility is to help the players improve. A football coach doesn't set the matches, but they do work with the team and individuals to help the team succeed. They show techniques and provide guidance but it is ultimately down to the players to improve and ultimately to play and win.

It was summed up nicely in a quote I heard at last years Lead Developer conference from Alicia Liu:

> A gardener doesn't tell the plants how to grow.

I became a Developer Lead due to my desire to help people succeed. As an engineer I spent a lot of my time working on tools and pushing processes that helped other engineers. I then stumbled across an acronym "DX" - developer experience. From that point on I focussed the majority of my efforts on improving the DX for others at HX. It was my key driver in my work and the question I always asked during planning. The natural progression of this for me was to move to a supporting role. Now within this role I don't write code any more, but I help others to write better code continuously.

# What do I value most?

In short I value honesty, respectfulness and a drive to improve.

If you're having a problem or need support then let me know. I believe everyone should bring their whole selves to work and that we should all work to help each other out. So if you ever have anything you need to talk about, work related or not, I'm here.

With honesty comes transparency. If someone gives me feedback for you I will ask them to deliver the feedback to you themselves and likewise the other way around. We're all professional adults and all I ask is that we treat each other as such. I won't stand for bullying or talking behind people's backs, but I will promote honest feedback that enables someone to be the best version of themselves.

I've always been metric driven. I like to have metrics behind everything that we do and I appreciate evidence to support those metrics. If you say you're doing something then that's great. If you can show me that you're doing something then that's better!

# My Expectations

If I'm working then I'm available via Slack (@luke) or email. If you need me for anything then you can contact me through these channels. Though I may not reply immediately if I'm in a meeting or in my focus zone I will reply as soon as I next get a chance. If something is _really_ important then please message me so and let me know!

I'm all about learning and improving. I love to talk about amplifying the awesome, but mistakes happen. As an engineer I've made mistakes and bad decisions. It happens. All I ask is that if you do make a mistake that we talk about it openly and honestly. We need to learn from our failures, not simply learn to fail. So I will ask you "what could have gone better?" or "how could you prevent this in the future?". I may have ideas, but I'll try to keep them to myself. That way I'm allowing you the best opportunity to grow and move along your own path.

My key expectation for people is that you're honest, transparent and respectful. This manifests itself in lots of ways, from always being on time to meetings to providing feedback to letting me know if you need any support.

Our relationship is also two ways. If you have any feedback for me then please do give it. I'm on a journey just like you and am looking to be the best version of myself. For this I need honest feedback. You should feel empowered to give me feedback whether its as a strength or a development opportunity. Remember I'm here to support you, so if I'm not doing that in a way that suits you then I need to know! If you need support in framing or writing feedback for me then the other people leads, agile coaches etc around you will be more than happy to assist. However you choose to feed back to me please don't leave it bubbling, let's start a conversation sooner and work towards an improved relation.

At Holiday Extras we have a flexible working policy which allows for you to work from anywhere and at any time (within certain guidelines). I'd ask that, if you wish to use this to work either away from the office or outside the core 9-5:30 that we have a discussion about it first. 

 I do work from home on most Tuesdays and Thursdays so you won't be able to find me in the office then. The upshot of this is that I know what it's like to work remotely and can help support in this regard. I believe being remote first is necessary in HX and in engineering. You won't always be colocated with the person you require so it's best to get practice in early with how to deal with these situations and not block yourself

# 121s and Check Ins

After onboarding we'll have monthly 121s unless we decide that it's necessary to hold them more frequently. We will also hold quarterly performance check ins and, at your request, development check ins. These meetings are for you and your progression, they're not about me checking up on you, but about you taking time to consider your progress and goals.

For each of these meetings I'll put the emphasis on you to bring the topics of conversation. For our 121s there are three key questions that I'll ask you: 

- What has gone well in the past month?
- What could have gone better?
- What are your plans for the next month?

Now you know, you can be prepared for each of these questions! 

If you've done something that progresses one of your objectives or you have something that you want to shout about then let me know! I'm all about celebrating successes. I even created an [online tool to help you do it](https://windiary.app)!

During these conversations I'd like you to be honest and I'll do the same. Like I said above though, my role is as a coach to help guide you on your path. I won't provide answers I'll just help you to see the signposts.

In 121s I hear a lot of "I worked on ticket XYZ-123 and shipped that". That's great, but I don't need to know the specifics and the technicalities. What I'm interested in is _how_ did you go about it? What things went well, what could have gone better? What did you learn? What would you change in the future? Basically I want to know how you'll use what you've done to  **grow**.

For each of our check-ins the responsibility is on you to prepare, and prepare in advance. I can't effectively coach you if you haven't given me any time to prepare. We'll set our time for check-ins well in advance to enable you to send out feedback requests and write the docs. Share me into these at the earliest opportunity. If you leave writing it until an hour before then you won't get as much benefit as if you'd spent time thinking about it. Equally, if you don't share me in with enough time to review your feedback and what you've written then I won't be able to provide as much value to you. Preparation and time management are key here!

# Personality quirks

I manage a large team and have other responsibilities on the side and I will make an effort to capture any actions from meetings and fulfil them as soon as possible. However some things may slip through the gaps. If I'm not meeting your standards or have forgotten something we agreed I'd take on as an action then please challenge me on it.

I am an engineer at heart, though not currently for HX. I therefore like talking tech. If you want to spend most of our conversations talking tech then I will gladly do so. However, think about what you want from the conversation and I'll try to deliver that.

I can be direct, I'm not a fan of unnecessary smalltalk in Slack messages. I do understand that you might need something from me and you should feel able to ask directly. Likewise I will do the same with you. The most annoying thing for me on instant chat is a message that pops up saying "Hey" awaiting a response. That being said, if you do want to know how I am or have some smalltalk then feel free! Just don't feel that you have to!

# Where to focus on your first 90 days?

We create objectives within your onboarding document for you to focus on. I need you to bring examples of where you're fulfilling these objectives and to spend time learning how we do things at HX before really applying yourself. Don't pick up big tasks to prove yourself, start small and build up. And bring examples!

Feedback is really important to me and to HX as well. So be constantly looking for feedback. Ask questions and don't be afraid to maybe feel a bit silly. You may be an expert in your field, but are you an expert in the context of the team you're joining? Use this time to really get to grips with your team and what they do. By doing this you'll set yourself up for success brilliantly!