# Scott Connerly's Manager Readme **Director I at Nelnet** # This is... a quick way to introduce me as a human, answer some likely questions, and set expectations about what you can depend on from me as your coworker. # Motivation for this document Communication is hard. Nuance is hard. When joining this team, its useful to get a jump-start on high level perspectives and expectations, rather than have to learn them peace-meal over time. I don't like that "Manager README"s are a person-centric document, I prefer to talk more abstractly about our team and my goals for it, but I suppose that as a perspective-centric doc, it does make some sense for it to be in the first person. # My role What Engineering does for the company is to convert capital into software in production that works.  My role is to build and maintain a healthy, top-notch team that can do that efficiently and predictably, with high quality. Quality is the thing we don't compromise on. Given that, the most common thing my boss asks me for is date predictability of what we are delivering. Predictability wins over speed or scope every time. Of course, you can't just get all that by singing "Quality! Predictability!" to the wind. I work both in front and behind of the scenes to help the team be the most well-oiled machine we can be. Sometimes that work is through 1:1 coaching, or through coordination, or process tweaking, etc. It always starts with listening. Back to the maintaining a healthy team thing -- retention is a key piece to our success. If you're thinking about leaving, for **any** reason, you'd be doing me a **huge** favor if you let me (and/or your manager) know about that, as **soon** as possible. Maybe I can help, maybe I can't, but these kinds of surprises are the **worst** kind of surprises. # What do I value most? I value collaboration and communication. If you haven't seen it yet, please go check out [Tapas Teamwork](https://medium.com/@aware3/tapas-teamwork-850b0b06f43d). For example, when something's not going according to plan, I hope you rally the team to better understand the problem, and then communicate out to interested parties what what the new plan is. The best way to help me is to bring challenges to light earlier than later. Late-breaking surprises are some of the most disruptive things in our team. This can be hard with a remote-first team, because all communication has to be intentional, but it's always worth the time to take a breath and think, "who all should I tell about this?" When in doubt, hop on a quick call. This usually resolves most problems. # My Expectations Feel free to hit me up on Slack for just about anything. If you want to set aside some dedicated time to work through something together, throw a meeting on my calendar, its always up to date. I've always got your back, and am respectful if you have something confidential to share. My job is to help you be as successful as you can be, so please arm me with as much info as you feel is relevant. I've got a few things to do around here. Very few of them are more important than spending time talking with you if you want to talk with me. # 1:1s I like to do 1:1's with my direct reports every two weeks. They should be all about you, your experiences, and your goals. I have [a standard template](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_obfb_PeiCUn9vvEYvby3yTdN0OOhDEPvMFzvDz0pV0/edit#slide=id.p) to get the discussion rolling, as well as a long [list of thought-starter questions](https://aireal.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PL/pages/49381411/One-on-ones) if you want some, but the bulk of the conversation will be driven by you and what's on your mind. Please prepare your discussion topics about a day in advance so I can show up to our meeting prepared to help meet your needs. Related, if there's feedback you need to give me on how I'm doing my job, 1:1s are a great place to tell me; I love constructive criticism. # Personality quirks I butcher & tragically mix metaphors frequently. I hate the word "synergy", but have begrudgingly used it non-sarcastically about 5 times. I always think about posting the [Friday](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfVsfOSbJY0) video every week, even though I rarely follow-through any more. I abhor sycophancy and much prefer a healthy, respectful (even if heated) debate. I like to gently antagonize Joe, sometimes with glitter. # Me I live in Castle Rock, Colorado with Jamie (wife), Leo & Micah (two boys), and Roger (the sometimes-office dog). Good to meet you!