# Tom Sommer's Manager Readme

**Director of Engineering at Redbubble**

# The purpose of this document

In short, I want you to get to know me a little bit and make sure you know how I think and work.

It is meant to work as a presentation, as well as something to be able to read without me talking about it. That being said, I will walk you through at least once. Please remind me if that hasn’t happened yet.

This is a living document, which will change. Please let me know if you have any feedback on how to make this more useful to you and the next person.

# My Values & Ideals

**Personal Growth**

I am here to make sure you’re happy at work and help you grow. That’s my main objective. Everything else is less important, including making money for Redbubble.

**Autonomy**

Everybody is an adult and perfectly capable of making their own decisions. I aim to never tell you what to do, but to give you enough support to set you up for success.

**Trust & Safety?**

# My Approach to Leadership

The leadership framework I identify with the most is [situational leadership](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_leadership_theory).

In a nutshell, I try to find the best approach depending on the situation.

![](http://leadership.org.au/wp-content/themes/coworker/images/models/leadership_styles.png)

# Giving and Receiving Feedback

Being able to give and receive feedback is absolutely crucial for all of us. Not only it is the most useful tool to enable personal growth, but it is also mandatory to establish trust.

I am trying to follow the [radical candor](https://www.radicalcandor.com/) approach, which is based on the idea of giving constructive feedback in the moment. I try hard not to bring feedback to our 1:1’s.

# Catch ups

Regular 1:1’s are extremely important for me, and to be frank, it’s one of the few things I will make mandatory. The cadence, length, etc. is totally up for discussion though. This is **your time** , so it will be most productive if you bring topics, concerns or just thoughts.

The other regular time (usually quarterly) we will have together is to talk through your goals. It is used to assess progress and set / adapt your goals for the upcoming quarter. They are **your goals**. I won’t be setting them on your behalf, but I’ll do everything I can to help you reach them.

# Weaknesses

I haven’t mastered any of the things mentioned in this document. I have only been a people manager / leader for 3.5 years. Please give me feedback when I’m not living up to my own values and standards.

When faced with a new idea, I might need some time to process it. Especially in group situations, it can happen that I remain quiet for a bit before speaking up. Don’t take my silence as disagreement or judgment.

I am to some extent a people pleaser. I try to make everybody happy, especially when I care about someone.

# Taking Ownership and Responsibility

As mentioned before, I aim to provide a great amount of Autonomy. This only works if everybody on the team is willing to take on a great deal of ownership and responsibility.

I expect you to take initiative for team related things. To drive discussions, whiteboarding sessions and ensure stuff gets done.

This **does not mean** to be cowboying on decisions or work, but to do what’s best for all of us and facilitate a good outcome.

# Willingness to share and collaborate

We’re all here to help Redbubble become the biggest marketplace for independent artists. We can’t get there if we aren’t willing to share ideas and collaborate as much as possible.

I expect you to share lots, at least with your immediate team. To start conversations about all kinds of things. Get feedback on a PR or architecture you’ve been working on.

This **is not about** over-sharing and collaborating on the mundane things. I don’t expect you to show a timesheet with 100% pairing on it ;)

# Respect & Honesty

Great teams have a huge amount of safety, trust and respect for each other. A great deal of that happens when we’re all willing to **give and**  **receive feedback** on a regular basis. And that is precisely what I expect of you.

**Ground Rule** : Assume good intent. We’re all in this together and committed to the cause.

**Format** : Lean on SBI (Situation, Behaviour, Impact)

When you did/say \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, I felt \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ because \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.