# Sean Filiatrault's Manager Readme

**Product Design Lead at Clio**

# Motivation for this document

I took the time to write this readme to give those I work with (or may work with in the future) a better sense of who I am, what I value, and how I operate. I want you to understand what you can expect from me, what I expect from you, and how we can most effectively use our time together. 

# Who I am

I've been in Digital since 2007. I've worked in startups, a [public television network](https://www.knowledge.ca), a [digital agency](http://www.workatplay.com/), and have been with [Clio](http://clio.com) since 2016. I've held many the roles over my career: UX Designer, Front-end Developer, Project Manager, Agile Product Owner, Product Designer, and Design Lead. 

Outside of the 9-5 I try to keep myself busy: I give talks to students at UBC and Emily Carr (my favourite topic is on design careers), I've volunteered as a Local Leader with the [IxDA](https://ixda.org/), and have been the Lead UX Educator at [BrainStation Vancouver](https://brainstation.io/). Right now I focus my "outside of work time" on helping my team grow and changing how we work at Clio. This readme is one of those initiatives.

Some other facts about me:

- I'm a Vancouverite, born and raised.
- I try to enjoy a healthy lifestyle: cycling, yoga, and hiking are all things I do.
- I (purposefully) spend too much time cooking.
- I have [extremely eclectic music tastes](https://open.spotify.com/user/seanfiliatrault/playlist/34eRYnyUeLWQEF0keyyCe4?si=bhdBnHKzSh2FkUSNsucK3g).
- I'm goal-driven. I spend a weekend every January reviewing the last year and creating my 10-year vision, goals, and a plan to get there. I keep them pinned up beside my desk if you're curious.

# What do I value most?

- **Honesty and integrity.**  With me, what you see is what you get. When I say I'll do something, I'll follow through. You should always assume positive intent with me, even if I am blunt in my honesty. I try my best to be a decent human.
- **Trust and transparency.**  Establishing trust is the most important thing we can do with one another. I believe the best and fasted way to do that is by being completely open and transparent with you. I bring my whole self to work and I let my thoughts, feelings, and emotions show. I hope you do too.
- **Compassion and empathy**  for our users, but also for each other. Unless we get to know one another that cannot happen. I want to understand what you care about, what your aspirations are, and what you're grappling with so that I help.
- **Inclusiveness and collaboration.**  I don't believe great design can be achieved by a single person working by themselves, nor by a group of designers all by themselves. Great design happens when people with many different perspectives work toward the same goal together.
- **Strong opinions loosely held.**  Designers are opinionated, but don't let that cloud our ultimate goal. We're a team and we all want what's best for ourselves and our customers. Getting it right is more important than being right.
- **Create positive impact.**  Design can be a powerful multiplier. What we decide to work on can make real change in the world. I am at my best when I'm doing work that makes lives better, whether that's helping our customers or mentoring someone through an obstacle.

# My role

- I’m here to help you succeed. My primary goal is to help each designer I work with realize their aspirations and grow in their careers.
- I look for ways to improve the processes of the entire design team by make them leaner and making us more effective communicators and collaborators.
- I lead Clio's Platform theme by helping set and evangelize our long-term vision and strategy, and by giving guidance and feedback.

# My expectations for our team

- Support each other and help us all improve. Hold yourself and the rest of our team to a high standard.
- Process is important, but every designer has their own tools and ways of working. Teach us about yours and help us all improve the way we work.
- Be curious. If you don't understand something get more context by digging deeper and asking great questions.
- If you see a problem, fix it. If you're not finding something valuable, figure out how you can make it valuable.
- Practice [Radical Candour](https://www.radicalcandor.com/). Honest feedback is so important in helping us grow so take the time to care personally about one another and always assume positive intent.
- Do what you need to re-energize yourself. When you enjoy what you do it's extremely easy to over do it. I never want you to experience burnout so figure out what you need to be at your best and make it happen.

# 1:1s

Our 1:1 time is extremely important and you should leave every session having gained value.

- Decide ahead of time what you want to discuss with me so that you can lead our time together. I might have some things to bring up with you, but it's your time with me first and foremost.
- Do not focus on updates. I want to know how things are going, but only enough to give context to deeper conversation about your goals and aspirations or the problems you're working through.
- I am there to be your coach, offer advice, be a sounding board, or someone to vent to. By the end of our time together you should feel supported, have clearer next steps, or learned something useful.
- **I am **** alway ****s available for you**. Please do not wait for our next scheduled time if something arises that you want to talk to me about. Just Slack me and I'll make time.

# Personality quirks

- In any interaction, especially one to one interactions, I aim to give you my entire focus. This means that in many meetings I keep my laptop closed. If I do not, please call me on it.
- That said, I'm also juggling many balls. This means that I am occasionally a few minutes late or have to continue a Slack conversation. I will endeavour to give you a heads up if I'll be late and will try to keep those conversations brief.
  - **1:1s are exempt from the above.** You have my entire focus during that time.

- I know myself and understand that I do my best work in the evenings and some weekend mornings. That doesn't mean you need to work late as well.
- My work-life balance may seem off from the outside, but since I genuinely enjoy what I do and I bring my whole self to work, I'm actually closer to equilibrium that it might seem. For example, the prospect of writing this readme got me excited and I'm up at 6am on a Saturday, not because my Director asked me to write it, but because I woke up thinking about this and wanted to get my thoughts out. I live and breathe this stuff.