# Mikhail Morozkov's Manager Readme

**Head of Delivery Unit at Devexperts**

# Motivation for this document

This document's purpose is to come up with a sort of "user manual" that hopefully would help people directly working with me to better understand me both as a person and professional: my traits, approach to work, views and expectations of effective team work organization. 

**Caveat** : read this with a grain of salt, as my perception can easily be way off compared to what you might have experienced with me. In that case I can only hope that you feel comfortable bringing it up to me in any convenient and comfortable way.

**Disclaimer** : This document reflects _my views_, thus applies only to me, and in no way, shape or form should be extrapolated.

# My role

There are several areas I'm responsible for as a head of a delivery unit at Devexperts, most notable ones include:

- making sure the teams are constantly delighting the stakeholders
- helping company reaching its strategic goals via setting OKRs and following through on them with the teams
- driving process and technical excellence of the teams as well as change management
- making sure the teams and all the members are individually successful and happy
- developing, mentoring and sponsoring members
- unit's project portfolio and headcount growth

**Note** : this list could/should change over time

# What do I value most?

When hiring I look for people who are[ ](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2007/06/05/smart-and-gets-things-done/)[smart and get things done](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2007/06/05/smart-and-gets-things-done/) and also bear [1-(wo)man startups](https://venturehacks.com/1-wo-man-startups) mentality. On top of that I also highly value productivity, proactivity and curiosity, following through, good will in communications, constant learning, taking [ownership and responsibility](https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/10/02/how-well-does-apples-directly-responsible-individual-dri-model-work-in-practice/#61b165cc194c) as well as [default to yes ](https://chirp.cyrusstoller.com/default-to-yes/)mindset (prefer doing anything the client/business needs us to instead of coming up with excuses/explanations why it's not a good idea). I am also one of those people who thinks there's always room for improvement, thus I am big on following [the boy scout rule](https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/97-things-every/9780596809515/ch08.html) and maintaining [no broken windows](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory) paradigms.

I also don't believe there are stupid questions out there. So, I tend to get scared when people (especially new ones) stop asking questions! Probably the only bad question one can ask is the one they've been given an answer to multiple times.

**Bottom line** : it will be hard to succeed for an engineer or a manager who silently waits for instructions what to do, wants just to be left alone, hesitates to [ask questions](https://jvns.ca/blog/good-questions/) and generally would love to never talk to the colleagues.

# Work hours

We are expected to work 8 hours a day, with office hours from noon till 5pm. That doesn't mean one needs to physically be present at their desk or answer Slack DMs in a matter of seconds during this time, quite opposite it's the time interval when everyone _expects_ you to be working. Therefore, with our flexible hours, one just has to make sure that people they're working with are aware of their absence. Just set a proper status in slack and shoot an email to your team!

I usually start my working day at 10:30am and finish around 7pm, although reserve first 90 minutes and last hour for focused work/planning/self-development, thus I prefer to run my communications from 12pm till 6pm and tend to decline meeting invitations that fall out of that time interval. Having said that, people should feel free to Slack me 24/7 (No, I don't work that much. Yes, I manage my Slack notifications) - I try to respond as quickly as I can.

With all that said, I sometimes work late and/or on weekends. This is my personal choice, I don't expect anybody to follow the suit. I might occasionally send emails/Slack messages during that time, but under no circumstances do I expect a quick response, on contrary it can always wait until working hours begin.

# Communications

I believe that everyone in our organization is fully qualified for their job from the standpoint of technical expertise, as our engineering culture fosters constant pursue of technical and processes excellence. With that said I often find that it's achieved at the expense of soft skills. Unfortunately, [studies and surveys](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312040736_Project_success_and_new_ventures%27_outcomes_How_often_do_partners%27_potential_benefits_and_losses_really_converge) show that bad communication or lack thereof attributes to the failure of a project far more than raw engineering skills. I also tend to believe that often times issues are a direct result of poor/infrequent/ambiguous communication, hence could be avoided. Thus, it's  **crucial**  to do it well and often, hence this guideline of a protocol should set us up on that track.

Hierarchy of communication (from most to least urgent): Phone call → Messenger DMs → Zoom Call → Slack → Email. I expect us to mostly oscillate between Zoom and Slack in our day to day work, reserving emails for FYIs/broader audience/escalation/external communications. Unfortunately, sometimes systems break, projects/company may be in danger or I myself could enter a berserk mode, and during that time my usual people, process and communication protocols are temporarily disabled.

Although my calendar can be packed with meetings and sometimes I might be slow to answer in Slack, I need you to know that there might be really few things more urgent than talking to you. Thus, don't hesitate to book a time slot for us to talk, and if it's urgent and can't wait that long - give me a call!

**Pro tips**** :**

- A sign of acknowledgement helps a lot in written communications. Simple “got it”/“on it” type of message and/or emoji frees my brain and ensures you're in control of the situation
- A clear agenda makes meetings productive. If you schedule an appointment, please let me know what you want to talk about. It will allow me to come prepared!

**Anti-patterns:**

- Don't say just [hello](https://www.nohello.com/). Please, respect your peers and don't make them wait till you can finally formulate your thoughts.

# Meetings

My job assumes a lot of meetings. Actually, most of my day consists of meetings. Like everybody else, I want to be productive, which means these meetings have to be tailored to be productive. Here's the list of prerequisites for that: an agenda and/or intended purpose, the appropriate amount of productive attendees, and a responsible individual running the meeting to a schedule. 

If it’s not clear to me why I am invited, I will ask for clarification on my attendance. Both as an attendee and organizer I’d prefer starting on time. If a meeting completes its intended purpose before time is up, let’s give the time back to everyone. If it’s clear the intended goal won’t be achieved in the allotted time, let’s stop the meeting before time is up and determine how to finish the meeting later.

I have some introvert tendencies which means in meetings with a lot of people (like 8+ attendees) you could occasionally find me strangely quiet. Please don't confuse that with lack of engagement.

# 1:1s

We'll have dedicated 1:1 for at least 45 minutes no less frequently than biweekly. A couple of first ones will be an hour long and occur on a weekly basis, until we both agree on the most comfortable schedule if needed. If you never had such meetings before - this will help us be more productive, set and achieve new goals, build more cohesive relationship and have a shorter feedback loop. If you have had 1:1s before, please share what worked for you previously and things that you didn't like - we'll build upon what's been good first!

The format we could be sticking with for starters (we can easily change that in future if/when we realize there's a better way to do it):

- First 20-30 minutes are yours. You bring up topics and we're discussing them 😊Here's a [good list for starters](https://larahogan.me/blog/first-one-on-one-questions/)
- Next 15-20 minutes are mine. I'll share things with you that I care about personal/professional -wise.
- Last 10-15 minutes are optional and reserved for tracking of our ongoing activities like education, career and professional opportunities 

**Pro-tips:**

- Agenda should be primarily driven by you
- Prepare in advance, it'd be super helpful if you could share your topics beforehand
- Take notes and share as a follow-up with action items for both of us. Have a place where we could track all those notes
- Do hold me accountable for my action items

**Anti-patterns:**

- using 1-1 as a status update (although, it may be ok to occasionally go that route too, if we both feel so)

**Important notes** :

- Treat it as _your_ time and make most out of it!
- By _no_ means is this the only time you can reach me
- I do take notes during our meetings too - I swear, I'm not answering slack DMs
- If there's something important to discuss - no need to wait till our next scheduled 1-1

Additionally, I have Team Hours scheduled every Tuesday and Wednesday from 11am to 12pm - this time slot is specifically reserved for team members only. If you want to have an additional 1-on-1 or there is something  to discuss on your mind, feel free to book this time with no guilt.

Here's also a couple of good reads on the topic:

- [https://medium.com/@mrabkin/the-art-of-the-awkward-1-1-f4e1dcbd1c5c](https://medium.com/@mrabkin/the-art-of-the-awkward-1-1-f4e1dcbd1c5c)
- [https://getlighthouse.com/blog/effective-1-on-1-meetings/](https://getlighthouse.com/blog/effective-1-on-1-meetings/)
- [https://getlighthouse.com/blog/one-on-ones-employee-know/](https://getlighthouse.com/blog/one-on-ones-employee-know/)

# Now what

I’ve attempted to provide my views and needs here, but by no means is it full and/or set in stone. Quite opposite, our work together starts with getting to know each other and adapting to values and philosophies of each other, and I am thrilled and look forward to talking to you about them!

If you stumbled upon something while reading this - please do tell/ask me! I'd also be grateful to hear your feedback like what important things are missing or need to be elaborated more.

**P.S: ** I know there has been a lot of external links posted throughout this write up, however the information you can find there is 100% worth the time investment!