# Yonni Mendes's Manager Readme **Engineering Manager at The Right Context** # Motivation for this document I believe good management will save the world. Imagine a world where everyone just "did their job" - how much better will the daily life of the average person be? Good managers - people that care about their directs and the value they produce for society, are the first stepping stone (or blocking boulder) for this vision. For now, forget excellence, forget overcoming insurmountable challenges. Start with just getting through the day without burnout and without hating your environment at work. I wrote this document to make working together easier, clearer, and more human from day one. Management is often a black box - people guess expectations, read between the lines, or optimize for the wrong things. This README is my attempt to remove that ambiguity. My goal is simple: - You know what I care about - You know how I make decisions - You know how to succeed, ask for help, and disagree with me safely This is not a contract. It’s a starting point for a working relationship. A language we can share and leverage for the betterment of everyone around us. # My role My role as a manager is twofold: 1. Results: help the team produce the greatest value possible to society and the people around us. 2. Retention: make sure my organization is a healthy, safe, place that generates opportunities for advancement and professional growth. I’m typically measured on: - Predictable delivery over time (not heroics), good planning with smooth execution rather than an adventurous tumble through sprints - Team health, retention, and individual growth - Reliability and stability of the systems we own - Quality of decision-making under constraints I help teammates get better at their jobs by: - Creating clarity (goals, priorities, ownership) - Establishing simple, repeatable rhythms (cadence beats chaos) - Coaching on decision making, not just execution - Removing organizational, technical, and communication blockers - Translating between engineering, product, security, customers, and leadership I don’t aim to be the smartest person in the room. I aim to make the room work better so that individuals are at their best # What do I value most? ## Clarity over intensity I care more about _clear thinking_ than speed for speed’s sake. If something feels rushed, confused, or constantly on fire, I want to slow down and fix the system, not push harder. When the pressure is high and the adrenaline flows I try to slow down and increase our control and understanding of the situation. Please keep in mind I'm always looking for the easy solution. We have enough challenges as it is, if we have an easy, even short term solution, it may be viable as a way to reduce our pressure. ## Ownership with support I expect ownership, but ownership doesn’t mean being alone. Asking for help early is a strength. We own a domain of thought, a goal, a concept, not lines of code. ## Psychological safety You should be able to: - Say “I don’t know” - Admit mistakes, and get the opportunity to fix them - Challenge decisions …without fear of repercussion, even if I don't end up accepting your point of view. ## Honest conflict Disagreement is healthy. Silence is not. If you disagree with me, I want to hear it - preferably early, directly, and with context. Be ready to give examples, to answer questions, to dig into details. If you're asking me for help, be prepared to accept help - even if it's not exactly the help you were hoping for. If you want me to step into something, please keep in mind I might say no, or that I may have information or considerations you are not aware of. I may not be able to elaborate and in some extreme cases I may not even be allowed to say that there's information you're missing. ## My weaknesses (and how you can help) - I'm still an engineer. My first reaction to problems I become aware of is to want to fix them. Please stop me, tell me that there's more I must know or that I shouldn't actually solve anything. - I love novel challenges. But I sometimes jump ahead into the most complex and elaborate solution, cartwheeling in my mind and imagination through engineering hoops and doing mental acrobatics. Please bring me back down to the ground with the lions. I promise to be tank or healer, you'll be DPS. - I can get impatient with repeated ambiguity that never gets clarified, help me by naming what’s unclear. I also have a thing for terms and words, it's important to me to name a thing properly. Sorry for that. - I sometimes assume shared context, please stop me and ask. - When overloaded, I may default to problem-solving instead of listening, tell me if you need space before solutions. - When angry or defensive, I become sarcastic and cynical. Sorry. # My expectations ## Communication - If something is stuck, confusing, or risky, raise it early. - Bad news doesn’t improve with time. - I value written context (docs, bullets, async summaries), even if rough. If it's big, please provide a summary. Bottom Line Upfront (BLUF), please. - If you need a decision about something, please be sure to bring up 2-3 options you have in mind. But before presenting them, please let me digest the context. - The best way to get my focus on a problem and a decision is face to face. ## Mistakes Mistakes are expected. Hiding them or letting them fester is not. When something goes wrong: 1. Surface it 2. Contain impact 3. Learn systemically (not personally) 4. Improve the process No blame games. We really don't have time for that. If I ask for an RCA (post-mortem, debrief, lessons-learned,etc) it's because I think we (as an organization, not royalty) have something to learn from whatever it is that happened. ## “Done” means - The problem is actually solved in the customer's mind (not just deployed) - Trade-offs are (expected) understood and documented - Monitoring is part of the solution and ownership of any next steps is clear - We’re comfortable supporting this in production because it will not wake us up in the middle of the night ## Availability - I respect focused work time. If my calendar is marked busy, please respect that. - I reply to emails in 24 hours, I expect the same of you - I reply to IMs within 1 hour, I expect the same of you - I will not call you ever, if I can help it. I always answer my phone, because I assume whoever's calling is dying in a ditch somewhere and I am the only person that can help them. I expect the same of you. - If something is urgent, say so explicitly and use the correct medium (IMs or Phone call) - an urgent email titled "[URGENT] end of world, the demons are coming" will still get a reply after 24 hours. - Do not send me a whatsapp with business context. - Please keep in mind I may tell you "we should meet to discuss this", or that my response (on any medium) can also be "I will reply to this in \" ## Feedback - I use (or try to use) the Managers-tools feedback model. - I try to give around 5 positive-feedbacks for every 1 constructive-feedback. If we're not in that situation, let's discuss. You should expect lots of feedback - a few times a week at least. - If I am not aware of what you do, I cannot give you feedback. Please draw me in, ask to be seen. I will do my best to see and increase the seeing. - You will get spot feedback, as close as I can give it to the actual event. Usually it will be an informal tap on the shoulder. - I'm happy to answer requests for feedback - it helps me when you ask - I try to document all feedback. I use it for reference and to establish patterns - You (and I) are expected to internalize feedback and act on it. Ignoring feedback is not an option. ## 1:1s - I strongly believe in regular 1:1s. - They are  **your time** , not my status meeting. - Our agenda will be - 10 minutes your topics (anything you want to discuss) - 10 minutes my topics - 10 minutes our future **Future**  can be anything about your career, skills, challenges, aspirations, or maybe delegation, opportunities, a quick coaching session or some collaborative work time. Typical topics: - What’s energizing or draining you - Where you feel stuck or unsure - Growth, skills, career direction If all we talk about is tasks or status, we’re missing the point. ## Personality quirks - I think in systems and patterns; I may zoom out suddenly, pull me back if needed. I also sometimes think in circles - if you feel the conversation did a full 360 and we're back where we started, please tell me. - My memory is ... not very good. This is why I try to write everything down. It helps me remember and also tracks decisions and options. If I forgot something you said, or an agreement, please remind me. - I get genuinely excited when people grow, connect dots, or take ownership. Tell me about your success and a-ha moments! It will make my day. - I appreciate directness more than politeness theater. Please do not confuse directness and candidness with being blunt or rude. - Credit is important to me - but in the having. It's important to me that everyone that is part of an achievement, get their fair share of the credit and the treasure. I try to give credit like candy, take mine freely. If I took credit from you, it was not done maliciously - tell me please. If you take credit from someone else, you and I will be having words. - I value humor and humanity; work is serious, we don’t have to be. My ulterior persona in meetings, when I'm not running them, is the clown. # Where to focus in your first 90 days ## First 30 days - Learn the domain and the “why,” not just the code - Ask lots of questions - Understand how decisions are made and where pain exists - Please write down or tell me your impressions of things that are "weird, nuts, unhealthy" - chances are you're right and we just got used to it! If you’re confused, that’s expected. If you’re pretending not to be, that’s a problem. ## 60 days - Start owning meaningful pieces - Suggest improvements (process, tech, communication) - Build trust with teammates and partners ## 90 days - You should feel confident making decisions in your area - You should know where you’re strong and where you’re growing - We should both be able to say: “This is working.” If any of that isn’t true, we’ll talk and adjust.