# Victor Neo's Manager Readme

**Head of Engineering at Carousell**

# Victor, as your Manager

- Hello! While we’ll get more opportunities to chat and work with each other over time, this document serves as a introduction of myself as your manager.
- I’m here to help and support you for you to be successful, to set context for what you’re working on, and to advocate for you and the team with the rest of the company.
- Through this document, you will also learn about the values that I treasure, and some shared expectations of our work relationship.

# Communications

- We’ll be meeting 1-1 on a weekly (30 mins) or bi-weekly cadence (1 hour), with a shared Google document for tracking our meeting agenda
  - You should be driving the agenda 1-1 for these sessions, and I will also use the chance to share any major company updates or feedback for you
  - I expect you to follow through on the action items marked on the agenda, and you should not feel shy to prompt me if I’m blocking you from completing them
  - I will always take notes in our 1-1 agenda doc so that we can have a joint-reference on what was discussed

- If you need to grab me to discuss any urgent matters outside of our meeting cadence, you can book my calendar directly
- I travel to TWDC and VNDC once a month and spend about 2 days in each center, hence we may skip meeting 1-1 that week

# Email, Slack and other Comms

- Both email and Slack works fine for me, and I try to respond at my first immediate availability
- I try very hard not check Slack messages when I am in meetings so I can give generative attention to the meeting
- I am terrible with Whatsapp and other messaging apps during and after work, and Slack remains the fastest way to reach me
- I’m a believer of work-life harmony, and while I have long and erratic working hours, I do not expect the same hours from you.
  - I do my best not to send messages or emails over weekends, but you may ping me any-time
  - Unless I indicate something as urgent, you do not have not reply me immediately

# Values I Treasure

- The [Carousell core values](http://careers.carousell.com/core-values/) were shaped by our experiences and reason for working on Carousell in the early days, and I treasure them dearly
- Get things done (GTD): If you have committed to completing something, I expect you to get them done in a timely manner. You will be empowered to take on bigger tasks and projects if you consistently GTD.
- Collaboration over silos: The strength of an engineering team is measured not by the number of wins by individual teams, but the amount of impact we deliver as a whole. Say “Let’s figure out how to solve this” instead “Not my OKR”
- Risk taking while being relentlessly resourceful: We are a startup, and speed is both our best friend and enemy. To move fast, we sometimes need to take creative and evaluated-risks in order to ship while minimizing tech debt accumulation

# How I Approach Work

- Default to High Autonomy: My default management mode is to let you handle your work without much guidance or direction from me.
  - I will define goals and outcomes, and occasionally suggest some approaches or solutions, but you are ultimately responsible for achieving the goals and outcomes through your approach.
  - We hired you because you are smart and capable. I trust you to know your own limits and get support from me / your peers when needed.
  - Feel free to clarify with me on my expectations on outcomes and goals for projects that you are working on

- Communicate and Establish Context: A huge part of my role is to communicate context on why we are working on certain priorities. You should always ask questions to clarify on the “Why”s for you to have the full context.

# If you are an Eng Manager / Director at Carousell...

- I have high expectations for Engineering leaders at Carousell, and I would like to reverse the industry trend of having bad managers for Engineering teams
- You will receive a physical copy of my favourite book on Engineering Management book, [The Manager’s Path](http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920056843.do), to help you at different stages of your management career
- [Act like an owner](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140703163619-12571684-3-reasons-you-should-act-like-an-owner-and-not-a-renter-at-work/), and you will be empowered to do more, and grow more rapidly.
- Insufficient communication and lack of individual initiative are probably the two biggest offenders when it comes to poor performance:
  - I don't like surprises when we get close to project deadlines. Keep me well-informed of both your progress and your availability.
  - I expect you to be well organized and manage the information you are responsible for. You have control over how you go about it, but if you fail to keep track of the things you are responsible for, this will cause problems.

# Others

- I get sick very often and easily: Based on past on historical data, I get sick at least once every quarter. I will not show up in office when I am very sick, and will show up with a mask when I feel better.
- I’m not used to giving praises (yet): This is partly due to (Chinese / Asian) family upbringing, but I am learning and working to make sure that praises and due credits are given appropriately.