Welcome to my Working with me Doc!

The goal of this document is to describe my work style in order to minimise misunderstandings, rapidly establish effective/efficient collaborations, and be happier at work.

Please mind that this is an evolving document and be sure to reference it as frequently as you need.

Table of contents

🦅 High-level operating principles

Feedback

I believe good Feedback to be the single most important aspect in a well working team.

My style of Feedback is largely based on the Radical Candor Approach- LINK.

A couple of rules I go by:

• Feedback needs to be delivered as soon as possible after the event in question has happened.

• Feedback delivery:

  In person (usually not possible) > On a sync call > Async video message > Async voice message > Async text.

  But most importantly: Delivering it ASAP >> Waiting to deliver it at some later time

  • Since feedback is always best delivered synchronously, face to face - I might ask you for a quick 5 mins call right after I spot some aspect that needs talking about to deliver the feedback quickly. Please always do the same once you spot areas like that.

• Feedback needs to be direct, to the point, strong but always compassionate. If you feel like the last part is missing in my feedback for you, do let me know asap.

• Please don’t be shy in criticising me - this is essential for me to grow as a manager and as a person*.* Whenever I have some negative feedback for you, I will make sure to deliver it in private but, since I am your manager, please also feel free to criticise me in public. This makes things more efficient (as I don’t have to hear the same criticism a couple of times from different people) and builds a culture of embracing criticism that makes us do our jobs better.

• Signs of bitterness and resentment you might feel towards me or other people on the team are an important indication that a change is needed and should never be ignored - these are always tough conversations but please bring them to light as soon as you spot them. The wellbeing and integrity of this team and this company rely on us overcoming the short term discomfort and solving such issues quickly before they snowball out of control.

• Being right or wrong is not important here - even feedback you would consider inaccurate afterwards but delivered quickly gives me an important temp check about your emotions towards me/team/work/company and can lead to a much needed change in the way we operate.

What annoys me:

1. Unclear Communication:

   • Clarity: Always reread your longer/external-facing messages before publication. Make sure they are self-explanatory, even if tge receiver is exhausted or distracted.

     Even in short Direct Messages with me, make sure I know what you refer to (referencing previous messages comes in handy) so that, if possible, I don’t have to ask additional clarifying questions.

   • Shareability: Provide comprehensive details in your longer/external-facing messages to make them easily shareable. We work asynchronously a lot so it's always good to avoid making others rewrite context.

     • Example: If a Developer announces that a new feed is production-ready, the message should include feed details, deployment chain, a clear statement that the feed can be used in production, and any relevant addresses or links. The Sales/BD team can instantly use such messages in prospect conversations without asking additional questions.

   • Synchronous Calls:

     Be direct and to the point during sync calls to respect everyone's time.

2. Untidy Internal Materials:

   • Organisational Entropy:

     Every internal material/piece of context starts gradually losing relevance the moment you publish it. If internal materials are not kept tidy, they deteriorate twice as fast. Keep things organised to prevent this. If something is no longer used/relevant - make sure to move it to the Archived folder (if such folder does not exist where you need it - feel free to create it) .

     For a deeper dive on the concept of Organisational Entropy please refer to this link.

3. Dropping Tasks and/or Streams:

   • If you work with me, I expect you to diligently track all tasks and streams assigned to you, whether they have been delegated to you formally or just mentioned in a call or async conversation.
   • If a given task is currently on hold, let me know that you remember about it but explain why it's being postponed or why it doesn't make sense to address it now.

4. Unorganised Reporting:

   • Please report your work to me in an organised way. I may provide a document or Loom video outlining the reporting format, and I expect you to stick to it without cutting corners.
   • If you think some procedures included in that format are unnecessary, let's discuss that. I'm always open to removing redundant steps and making sure this never is a tedious task for you but once we agree on a format, please stick to it to avoid chaos.

5. Creative Flow vs. Polishing:

   • I enjoy writing and adding context during a creative flow state but dislike polishing it afterwards. This task drains my energy (e.g., finalising Google Docs for publication).

     I use tools like ChatGPT for assistance, but if you have other suggestions to streamline this process, please share them! (yes, making this doc publishable was a major pain in the ass)

What I highly appreciate: