# Spyros Kalaitzis's Manager Readme

**Engineering Manager at Interim CTO**

 **What’s this?**

This is a living document where I capture my guiding principles and expectations as a manager.

## **What do I do?**

I am accountable for:

1. Our team's performance, deliveries, and relationships with stakeholders & other teams.
2. Your personal growth, job satisfaction, and well-being.

My main responsibilities are:

1. **Create the conditions for you to do your best work.**
2. **[Align our course to meet our goals](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1493569303030816770.html).**

## **My** [Principles](https://adactio.com/journal/16811) **:**

1. Your mental and physical well-being comes first.

- No [heroes](https://blog.professorbeekums.com/heroes-in-software-development/).
- No [brilliant jerks](https://www.brendangregg.com/blog/2017-11-13/brilliant-jerks.html).
- No long hours.
- No replying when _Out Of Office._
- Take breaks:
  - Consider time off requests of 2 days or less automatically approved, there is no need to check first.
  - For more than 2 days, please give us a heads up 1-2 weeks earlier to plan capacity.

1. [Remote collaboration requires richer but decoupled communication](https://ben.balter.com/2023/08/04/remote-work-communicate-more-with-less/):

- Before working we must [get our thoughts in order](https://fs.blog/how-to-think/). A written document [reduces interruptions](https://www.inc.com/matt-plummer/interruptions-steal-a-ton-of-your-time-here-are-3-ways-to-get-those-hours-back.html) for the rest of the team.
- Don't be spooky 👻
  - We don't leave others guessing about our intentions and plans.
  - I will never reach out to you with a **_"hey, got 5 mins to chat?"_** without specifying the topic of the discussion.
  - We are specific in our expectations around timings & deliverables. If adjustments are necessary, we communicate them the moment we become aware of this need.
  - All meetings must have:
    - A purpose
    - A written agenda
    - A desired outcome.
    - A clear reason for each participant to be there.
    - If any of the above is missing, feel free to decline the invitation.

1. We are not always responsible for what happened, but [we are always responsible for how we react (⚠️ NSFW Language 🤬)](https://markmanson.net/responsibility-fault-fallacy):

- [Mistakes are a byproduct of learning](https://hagakure.substack.com/p/twh52-dont-yell-at-the-weather); if we aren’t making mistakes then we aren’t trying. 
- When something “bad” happens we communicate:
  - [_What happened_](https://www.computerworld.com/article/2565077/i-m-ok--the-bull-is-dead.html)_. (Conclusion 1st)_
  - [_How we will fix it._](https://trainingmag.com/change-top-down-leadership-with-i-intend-to/) _(I intend to..)_
  - _How we plan to prevent it from happening again._

- We argue with passion when disagreeing with an idea, but, [once a decision is made we commit](https://tomtunguz.com/disagree-and-commit/).
- We are the first to celebrate the victories of others.
- We give feedback ASAP & in private. [It must be kind, clear, specific, and sincere.](https://www.radicalcandor.com/blog/what-is-radical-candor/)
- [We care for each other and share our thoughts freely.](https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/what-is-psychological-safety-at-work/)
- We will have some [moments of friction as we learn how to collaborate](https://www.mindtools.com/abyj5fi/forming-storming-norming-and-performing).  
This is natural and completely OK.
- I will never lie to you, but there may be some instances where I won't be able to share all information. I will let you know when we are dealing with such a situation.

1. We don’t write blank checks:

- We seek to understand the [drivers](https://patterns.sociocracy30.org/driver.html) before working on something.  
Why does this matter? What are we hoping to achieve? Is this moving us toward the outcome we want?
- Open-ended tasks must be time-boxed. If you reach the time limit: pause, share your findings with the team, and decide if we need a new direction.
- We deliver customer value through [feature flags, not experiments](https://thysniu.medium.com/coding-with-feature-flags-how-to-guide-and-best-practices-3f9637f51265#:~:text=Just%20like%20merging%20hell%2C%20there,after%20they%20are%20enabled%20increases.)).  
The purpose of any experiment is to answer 2 questions:
  - _Will this work?_
  - _How difficult will it be to do it “the right way”?_

- Our daily [focus is on closing WIP first.](https://agileauthority.com/daily-standup-greatness/)

## **Where I’m trying to improve:**

- [Changing our team culture from top-down to leader-to-leader.](https://leadhonestly.com/blog/i-intend-to/) To do this we need to abolish bad habits. Be willing to change & catch each other when we slip into the old routines.
- Removing [Null Processes](https://www.kateheddleston.com/blog/the-null-process) without overburdening the team with rigid structures. I need your help to identify gaps & points of friction.
- Being more specific: When asking questions, setting expectations, or giving feedback. Please let me know if there’s a gap between what I said & what I expected.
- Live up to these principles. I would appreciate it if you told me when I’m not doing so.