# Phil Hale's Manager Readme

**Engineering manager at Brightcove**

# Motivation for this document

My aim is understanding. For myself, because converting what's in my brain into words always helps me clarify my thoughts. For others, so they can better understand how to work with me and how my brain works. It’s also a statement of intent. I may not be there yet but this is what I’m aiming for.

# My role

My job is to help the team succeed. 

- Helping the team achieve their goals. Ensuring everyone knows what the goals are and why. 
- Ensuring the team works well together. Lines of communication are open and there is a healthy level of conflict.
- Removing blockers. 
- Focussing on individuals. Is the level of work sustainable? Are people growing? Are they motivated?

# 

# What do I value most?

- Trust. I aim to build good relationships with all team members. I believe this is the foundation of the all the points below.
- Kind over nice. Nice is ignoring problems and always saying everything is okay. Kind is facing the truth and having hard conversations.
- Feedback is a gift. It's hard, but it's the fastest way to improve. 
- Psychological safety. Everyone should get a chance to speak and feel their voice is heard.
- Autonomy. Teams should have the tools, knowledge and processes to get things done without rely ing on other teams
- Alignment. Everyone should understand what the team is working on and why.

# 

# My expectations

Self care.

- Look after your mental and physical health. If you think work is negatively affecting your health, please tell me so I can support you. 
- Take time out if you need it. 

Communication. 

- If you want to speak before our 1 to 1, send me a message. I will make time.
- If you want a quick response, send me a message on Slack. If time isn't a factor, email me. 
- Please acknowledge all messages, even if it's just a thumbs up. 

Getting things done.

- I trust you to get your work done in a reasonable time frame, whatever your schedule. It's important that you have some cross over with your team and are available for team meetings. Outside that, I trust you to fit work around your life. Do you need to service your car, or drop kids off at school. No problem. Did you sleep badly last night and would benefit from a lunch time walk? No problem.
- If you are struggling with a task and need help, let the team know. Don't bang your head against a wall for several days before asking for help.
- Work should be sustainable. Working long hours or regularly working outside normal hours should be avoided unless there is a really good reason. 

Growth and progression.

  - Career development. This is a partnership. I will guide and coach. Ultimately it’s you who must choose the path and do the work.   
  - Record your successes in an achievement log. It's for you to promote yourself. Not everyone is comfortable with this, but it's invaluable when it's time for a performance review or to update your CV. It's also a great resource for me. As your manager I'm aware of your work, but you will contribute things that I'm not aware of. Tell me about them.
  - While performance reviews happen on a schedule, the results should not be a surprise. Performance should be an ongoing conversation.

Team.

- Engineers don't just contribute code. It's important for everyone to raise concerns, understand team priorities, challenge anything they disagree with and so on.

Meetings.

- Be on time.
- Keep your calendar up to date and reply to meeting requests.
- Add an agenda so all attendees know what the meeting is about, can prepare, or can decline it's it's not relevant. 

# 

# 1:1s

- It's your meeting. Bring topics for discussion. Tell me what's on your mind. Concerns, blockers, work you are proud of, challenges, etc.

- Tell me about what's going on outside of work. I'm interested in you as a person, not just your work. 
- Weekly or biweekly 1:1s. Whatever you prefer.
- Not everyone is super talkative. That's fine. I will bring an agenda.
- Feedback is a gift. Please tell me what I'm doing well any why. Tell me how I can improve and why. I will do the same for you.

- Career development. This is a partnership. I will guide and coach. Ultimately it’s you who must choose the path and progress. 

- I will make notes so we can both remember what was discussed.

- If there is something you want, ask for it. How can I help you succeed? E.g. Training, a promotion, moving teams. 

- If you are unhappy about something, this is the time to tell me. If you hand in your notice, I don't want it to be a surprise. My job is to support you. If moving to another company is the the move for you, I will support you with that.

- Occasionally skipping a 1 to 1 is fine, but I will rarely skip two in a row. It's important to check in regularly, particularly when working from home.

# Personality quirks

- I like to make notes. A lot of notes. This may mean I ask questions like, can you repeat that? Or pause for a screenshot. 
- I can sometimes be too influenced by my emotions. Internally anyway. I don't have good gauge of how it looks externally. E.g. If I feel down I may be quieter than usual. 

# 

# Where to focus on your first 90 days?

- Building relationships with your team is really important.
  - Introduce yourself on Slack and in person.
  - Speak to everyone on the team. Pair with other engineers.
  - Speak to people outside the team. Find out what their teams do.
  - I will book in one or two meetings so we can get to know each other better.

- Learn the code, the product and the ecosystem. You need to understand the big picture so you can make better decisions about the details.
- Don't be afraid to ask questions, it's the best way to learn.
- Be respectful of what you don't know, but suggest improvements in team processes and onboarding. Fresh eyes are invaluable.
- Let me know if I can help with anything.