- Default to "yes": I trust you know what to do, so you rarely need to ask me for affirmation. Exceptions: you aren't clear what to do, or your choices may cause irreversible harm.
- Default to "open": Ask Me Anything. My intention is to be open and honest. I prefer to over-communicate than under-communicate. Likewise, I greatly value feedback so please be open and honest with me too.
- I'm quite hands off (I won't tell you how to do your job) but I'm there if you need me (just ask!). I prefer to provide context and broad constraints ("guardrails") and let you apply your skills and knowledge to the problem.
- I am happy when people feel comfortable and confident enough to challenge me.
Most of my discussions (written or F2F) and my calendar are visible to everyone. You're welcome to participate.Unfortunately my work calendar currently cannot be set to visible. But I try my best to conduct my discussions openly and I welcome participation.
I'm extremely impatient and this manifests in a few ways:
- I tend to interrupt people when speaking, sometimes jumping to conclusions. I'm very sorry for this and I'm trying hard to improve.
- Discussions with me can be quite intense ("strong opinions, weakly held") but we will get to a useful outcome. Please be prepared and get to the point so we can be productive.
- Please don't hide problems for me until they are too big: let me know early and we can work them out together. If you disagree with a plan, please tell me upfront rather than silently deviating.
- I nearly always seem aloof and unapproachable at first. Don't let that scare you off. I've been told I'm more bearable after a couple of drinks.
- I enjoy working in startups and I'm happy to swap war stories.
- I'm happy to talk about:
- Food (making and consuming) and coffee,
- PC gaming, movies, music,
- Tools of the trade: Text editors (Emacs!), mechanical keyboards, programming languages, custom-built PCs.