# Nick's Manager Readme

**Senior Manager, Engineering at NewStore**

# 👋 Hello

This document covers my leadership style, expectations, and how I work. It's a living document - it'll evolve as I reflect on myself and my expectations, so don't hesitate to give me feedback or ask questions if something's missing or off.

# 🎯 My role

My role is to help you thrive in your position and enable you to grow further. I want you to be self-sufficient and make decisions based on all the facts you know, but I can and will support you in this.

# 🧭 My values

⚖️  **Mindful work-life integration**  While work is important to me, I don't want to regret not spending enough time with my wife or daughter.

⏱️  **Get results fast, and iterate to improve**  I'm motivated by visible impact and get frustrated when progress is slow. Once I have first results and learnings, I iterate to improve on the foundation.

🏁  **Start finishing, stop starting**  I prioritise focus by limiting WIP, to get results faster.

🏅  **Poor quality is not an option**  If I can't do something properly, then I prefer to not do it at all. This sometimes leads to perfectionism - although I actively fight it.

# ⚙️ How to work with me

- I expect a lot from myself and often do the same from others. Tell me if it's too much at any point.
- I rely almost entirely on facts and logical thinking and often miss the emotional side. If you want to tell me something important or get my buy-in - focus on explaining the logic behind that, otherwise, I may not understand and need you to spell it out.
- While I may miss the emotional aspects of a situation, I'm aware they matter and push myself to consider them. Know that it's not natural for me and may take more time.
- I'm poor at small talk and don't start social conversation easily. That's personality - I do care about you, I just won't naturally ask about your life. Take the initiative and I'll join in.
- I'm a rather impatient person and get frustrated when progress seems slow or there are no visible results fast.
- I'm an extremely structured and organised person. I work less productively in chaos, so I may try to bring order first before focusing on the task.
- If your style is the opposite, and you thrive in chaos - tell me. I will adapt to not break your flow. But expect that it may be harder for me and take more time.
- I plan everything to ensure that I can accomplish my tasks. If you need anything from me, please let me know and make sure I write it down, so I can plan accordingly.
- I'm very open to your feedback so share it whenever you want. I have no problems receiving feedback publicly, so you can do that immediately when a situation occurs.
- I believe in collaboration and dislike silos. We're in the same boat, there's no "we" versus "they", "[there is no they on Santa Fe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e754hUwPTaI&t=1751s)". I'll call it out when I see it.
- By default, I work 9 to 5 and am generally unavailable outside of those hours, unless it's truly important. The same applies to weekends and holidays.

# 🤝 What you can expect from me

- **Clear direction**  I'll be clear where we're going and how I'll evaluate success. You choose how to get there.
- **Ownership**  We'll align on which decisions are yours, where I want to be consulted and what's mine.
- **Intent, not permission**  When I share what I intend to do, it's your chance to stop me if I got something wrong. I want to hear objections rather than move blindly, and I work the same way with my manager and peers.
- **Feedback**  I'll raise things as soon as I notice them, and never for the first time in an official review. Criticism comes to you privately. Praise I'll happily give in public.
- **Blockers**  If something outside your control is in the way, tell me, and I'll deal with it.
- **Growth**  We'll regularly discuss where you are and where you want to get to. I'll be straight with you about where you sit in the company framework. That view is built from work I've seen. If your strongest work isn't visible to me, tell me - I won't assume it happened.
- **Working hours**  You shouldn't need to work overtime or weekends. If it happens consistently, let's talk about fixing it.

# 🫵🏻 What I expect from you

- **Take the Lead**  If you know what to do and how, state your intention and just do it. If you don't know yet, ask me, and we'll work together to get you up to speed. I expect you to be proactive and not wait for instructions.
- **Honesty and Transparency**  I want your honest views and opinions, especially when they go against mine or what's agreed. The same goes for mistakes: if there's a fuck up, incident, or delay, communicate it clearly and early - to me, the team, stakeholders, and whoever else should be informed.
- **Learn and Improve**  I know that shit happens, but I expect you to learn from it and prevent repeats. I'll raise it the first time and expect improvement. Take feedback seriously, argue with it if you disagree, and use your judgement on what to act on. If we've discussed the same thing several times, and it still happens, that's a problem and I'll say so.
- **Speak Up**  If you need help or an answer to a question - ask. If you want me to do anything - tell me. If you want to share your feedback - do it. Don't assume that something will happen if you don't bring it up.
- **Achieve Results Fast, Iteratively**  If something takes more time, explain the reasons why, and expect that I may challenge them. Effort isn't the point. What counts is the outcome for the business and users. When speed and quality collide, cut the scope. I'd rather ship half of it properly.
- **Follow up on Tasks**  If you have a task assigned, follow up on it without being reminded. Reporting that it's done, even just marking it complete, is part of the task itself.
- **Effective Meetings**  Be on time, end on time, and while a meeting is on, be in it - if something more important comes up, say so and skip it or drop out. If you plan and lead a meeting, provide a clear goal and agenda beforehand, then share notes afterwards and make sure the follow-ups happen.

# 💬 Communicating with me

When you approach me, you can consider the following SLAs for the response time:

- **email**  - up to 48 hours. Email is an asynchronous communication method that can wait. I process my mailbox 3 times a day and not more.
- **slack**  - up to 8 hours. Slack is my preferred communication medium which I check frequently throughout the day: between meetings or my focus time blocks.
- **call**  - immediately. Direct calls (Meets or whatever else tool we use) are reserved only for urgent topics like live incidents.

The same applies when I approach you. If I call you - it's urgent and I need your fast answer. If it's Slack - I can wait for an answer. If it's mail, there's even less urgency and I usually communicate my expectation.

I tend to default to Slack - if I expect a different response time, I will include such information in the message.

Unless it's a call due to an urgent incident, I won't check messages or answer out of hours, at weekends, or on holiday - and I don't expect you to either.

If I email you or Slack message out of hours, I do not expect you to answer until you're back. It shouldn't happen as I heavily use the schedule message function, but sometimes I may miss or mix up the day you're back.

If I exceptionally call you out of hours, then know it's because of an urgent situation we cannot deal with, and I'd appreciate your support.

## Calendar and task manager

I use my task manager to free up my brain from what I must do and ensure I do not forget about them. My calendar guides my daily schedule and often consists of explicit blockers for focused work and meetings in the second place.

What does it mean to you?

If you want something from me, ensure that I note it down as a task. Otherwise, I may forget about it or only remember it too late.

If you see an empty slot in my calendar, feel free to grab it.

If you don't see any available slot and still need me at a particular time, please let me know in advance. There's a high chance I will be able to rearrange my schedule.

## 1:1s

By default, I schedule weekly 1:1 meetings. However, if we both see that there's not much to discuss weekly, we can switch to fortnightly meetings. Our meetings will last for 30 minutes by default, but we can extend them if necessary.

We have a shared document for 1:1 topics and notes, which we can both access before and during the meeting. I use it to note down things I want to discuss with you, and I encourage you to do the same. If you add topics in advance, I'll be better prepared to address them.

During the meeting, drive the agenda - bring up any topic that's on your mind. Don't just give me a report of what's happening, but bring ideas, challenges, and problems that you want to discuss. If you have a problem, it's better to bring it up early so that we can address it. I don't expect you to come up with a solution every time, but I do expect you to come prepared with ideas on how to move things forward.

## Skip levels

_(Only relevant if you're not a direct report of mine - skip this section otherwise.)_

I do regular skip-level 1:1s with the team members not reporting to me directly. The exact cadence depends on the circumstances like the team's size, but I've learnt that they happen only when I schedule upfront so expect me to set up a recurring meeting.

I want to learn from those meetings how the team is running, how your manager is doing, and if there's anything I should get involved in and support with. Please bring topics you see relevant too.

A secondary goal is for you to get to know me, and vice versa. Feel free to come with questions about my work or wider about the business and our strategy.