# Nick H's Manager Readme

**Engineering Manager at Intuit**

# README motivation

This document is intended to jumpstart relationships. While there is no substitute for repeated 1:1 time, the tidbits here will help you get to know me better and more quickly.

# My top responsibilities as your manager

**1) Your champion.** Your success is my success. Please be vocal about your aspirations, big or small. The more ammunition you give me, the more doors I can open.

**2) ****Your "poop umbrella."** I'm here to combat anything that blocks your productivity. Please be vocal about what's going well and what's not. I can't get rid of poop if I don't know where it is!

**3) Your communications conduit.** If there's anything you want to know about leadership's vision or decisions, I will help get answers. If there's anything you want to communicate up or sideways but aren't sure how, I will help you get heard. Transparency can be difficult when things are hectic (and things should always be a little hectic!), but we'll work together to be on the same page.

# I expect you to...

- **Speak your mind.**  Give feedback to me. Give feedback to the team. You were hired for your skills, creativity, and opinions. Use them!
- **Be open to feedback.**  Just as I expect you to be vocal with feedback, I expect you to be receptive to others' feedback for you. Regardless if some details are off, remember there are nuggets of truth in all feedback. Mining these nuggets is a great investment in your personal and career growth.
- **Be on time.**  I do my best to honor my calendar (though my SLA has admittedly worsened with more kids). Please do the same.
- **Be available.**  Request your time off in advance when possible. Give notice to the team when you're unavailable. Set away messages letting folks know who to talk with if they can't reach you. Life happens, and we're all in the same boat...so don't leave us hanging! I'll always be respectful of your life outside of work, but unless you state otherwise I will expect you to be responsive on Slack during business hours (and occasionally after hours if things are apocalyptically on fire). 
- **Be a team player.**  I have little tolerance for folks who are more "me" than "we." We win as a team and fail as a team.
- **Take pride in your work.**  Whether you're building something big or small, act like an owner. Flex your muscles and prove to the world that what you built is amazing. Remember that your legacy is only as strong as others' ability to understand and appreciate it. Besides building something great, this also means documenting it, demoing it, measuring it, and evolving it with your customers.
- **Have fun**. I'm all about working hard and playing hard. If you have an idea on how to make work fun or blow off steam with the team, let's do it!

# Our 1:1s

## **Initial 1:1s**

Come with answers to the following:

- How do you like receiving feedback (i.e., do you prefer batch processing or stream processing ^\_^)? 
- What should I be sensitive to when giving you feedback?
- How often do you like to have 1:1's? 
- What 1:1 format works best for you?  
- Where do you want to focus your business impact in the next year?
- Where do you want to focus your personal growth in the next year?

Next, we'll collaborate on a few goals for you (both technical and non-technical). It can be as detailed as you want, as long as there is focus. We need a few memorable bullet points that we can regularly check-in on.

## **Regular 1:1's**

After our kick-off, I generally let you drive 1:1's and let me know what you want to talk about. Remember if you always use the time to talk about blockers and the tactics of your current workstreams, we won't have much time to discuss long-term goals and growth.

If you don't have an agenda, this is my mental checklist. The more thought you've put into these, the more productive our 1:1's will be:

- What are you blocked on?
- How are you progressing on your high-level goals?
- How are you enjoying what you're working on? What new things have you learned?
- What new feedback do I have for you?
- What new feedback do you have for me?

# Tips for keeping your performance on track

To avoid surprising feedback or year-end ratings, here is a recipe for success. If you do all these things throughout the year, we should always be on the same page.

- Ask for feedback in our 1:1s.
- Present your work, both within and beyond your immediate team. Ask me if you're unsure where else you can share your work.
- Proactively help your teammates and customers, and ask them to submit feedback for you.
- Leave a papertrail of your achievements. Design docs, release notes, user docs, and dashboards all go a long way towards making your achievements discoverable and explainable.
- Make sure you are pursuing some goals that are mostly within your control. If you feel like external factors are taking control, it's time for us to try tuning your goals to set you up for success.

# About me

Here are some things that may be helpful as you get to know me.

- Having a couple young kids means...
  - I will be most available 9am-3:30pm Pacific and after 9pm Pacific
  - I don't take calendar invites unless absolutely necessary outside of these times, but you all are encouraged to Slack/text me any time
  - I have to work late hours after the kids sleep, but I'll try not to ping you late at night. Wherever possible, I will schedule messages for the next morning or flag messages as non-urgent.

- I love instant messaging.
  - Corollary #1: I have given up on e-mail inbox zero. If you want a response in any reasonable amount of time, Slack is the way to go.
  - Corollary #2: I understand instant messaging isn't everyone's cup of tea...though I will challenge anyone "anti-Slack" that they are likely not using it effectively, and I am happy to give pointers!

- I love providing transparency whenever I can, as I strongly believe it reduces decision churn and drives deeper understanding. 
  - Corollary #1: I apologize in advance for being verbose and moving conversations to make them more visible.

- I hate adding unnecessary noise to a conversation. If I seem quiet, that usually means one of the following:
  - I'm still formulating an opinion or question
  - I think everything useful has already been said
  - There's too much noise in the room already and I'll sync one-on-one with folks later as needed