Hi! This is a guide to how I work generally, and how I'll work with you. I look forward to making some great stuff together. :)
I work on about a hundred projects and tasks at once. That means that generally I'm busy, but I'll always try and get back to you when I can. Often I will read anything you send me straight away, then depending on urgency, I'll triage it and get back to you when I get a chance.
You can ask me any question or loop me into any conversation at any time, and I am always happy to chat. If you ping me on an ongoing discussion and I don't feel I have anything to contribute, I will likely not respond; that doesn't mean I didn't read your message, just that I think I'll only be adding noise to the conversation.
Occasionally, I forget to follow up on things. If I don't get back to you and you need an answer, please ask me again; I will be grateful for the reminder.
When asking me for something, try and include the full question and all the details I need to get an answer to you. If I have to clarify with you, that's more time that we're both wasting. As much as I love talking to you, just sending me "hey!" isn't useful for either of us, and I'll end up mentally-triaging your message right to the bottom of the pile of things I need to do.
I prefer text communication over voice or video. This generally allows me to think through questions and points more fully, and contribute more meaningfully. With that said, there are plenty of cases where voice or video is a better avenue, so just ask if you prefer that.
I appreciate clear, direct feedback. If something I say or do rubs you the wrong way, please let me know and I will try and correct it as best I can. If you disagree with a decision I've made or my opinion on something, I am happy to debate it, and change my mind. (Note though, I can be stubborn at times, and I apologise for this in advance.)
I prefer feedback in private, particularly positive feedback. I generally find public praise embarassing.
Nothing I ever do is final, and everything is a process. I am always happy to change things based on feedback, and I would prefer to know your thoughts than have you suffer in silence.
I work from an office in Nottingham (GMT in winter, UTC+1 (BST) in summer) from roughly 10:30 through 18:30 every day, but I also jump online to check messages in the evenings, and occasionally throughout the weekend. I choose to do this, and I don't expect you to respond if I message you outside of your office hours.
I use do-not-disturb across all my devices and don't let things interrupt me when I'm busy or not working. Feel free to ping me any time, and rest assured you won't interrupt me if I don't want to be interrupted. I would rather you ping me too often than not enough.
If I'm working on code or writing, I typically use a pomodoro timer, working in blocks of 25 minutes. During those, I have do-not-disturb on in Slack; you are welcome to override this if you have something urgent.
At the start of every week, I plan out what I'm going to be doing. I try to follow this throughout the week, so any new tasks may need to wait until the next week. If you need something done earlier, tell me so that I can reschedule other items.
My time is generally all over the place, without much focus on a single overarching goal. Generally speaking though, I am working either on internal tools or processes, with the aim of improving way our engineers work.
Engineers do not report to me, and the engineering team does not work for me. I work for the engineers to improve their lives, and I represent the engineers in discussions. Engineers report to engineering managers, who report directly to the CTO (Joe). Engineers should not ask me for permission to do things, as it is not mine to give.
Once a year, Joe and I make a plan for what to do over the year. I combine this with the engineering survey to create a plan across the year. I will try and be as transparent as I can with regards to this plan, and I evaluate progress on this throughout the year. Some things will end up being dropped from the plan, and some things will be added, so things I'm planning on are not a promise that they'll happen.
Some things I do or plan on doing aren't public. This isn't because they're private necessarily, but is more likely because I haven't made decisions yet, and I'd prefer to think through the problem first. Sometimes, things may not be public so that I can get feedback from others first.
Hey @rmccue, you need to update your location here :)