Hi, I’m Jason. This is my personal readme.
In my 20s I worked with children and families involved in the foster care system. It was deeply rewarding work. In my 30s I decided to pursue software, which has been a passion of mine since childhood. As an engineering manager I enjoy combining my passion to help others, with my passion to write beautiful software.
My primary leadership style is Servant Leadership. I believe if my team members have what they need to thrive, they will thrive. I also use Democratic Leadership and Transformational Leadership on a regular basis.
I rarely use Laissez-Faire Leadership. I do not micro manage, and I will completely leave people alone to the degree that is beneficial to them, but I wouldn’t really consider that completely hands-off. More like a light touch style.
I never use Autocratic Leadership with important decisions, but will occasionally use it when I know it’s expedient and the team won’t care.
Leadership shapes culture through implicit and explicit means. If there’s an issue and leadership doesn’t address it, it might as well be considered something that leadership actively wants. Don’t be heavy handed, focus on identifying the existing culture and helping it thrive.
Tools like retros, 1-1s, humor, humility, transparency, respect.
Here are my very brief thoughts on high-performing teams, and how I help teams to become high-performing
Team must have:
- trust
- respect
- ownership
- communication
- servant leadership
Creating an environment with these characteristics requires a lot of subtle, difficult work on the part of leadership. Leadership doesn’t only mean “management”, but also includes the informal leaders on a team. It requires empathy and an understanding of forgiveness and reconciliation and how to apply them to foster and repair trust and respect. Celebrate failure, don’t shame or blame. Ownership requires that the team completely know the what, why, and how of what they work on. Communication must be clear and empathetic. Servant leadership is primarily the manager’s job, but as the manager grows team leaders that skill must be passed on.
Measuring with DORA Metrics:
- deployment frequency
- lead time for changes
- change failure rate
- time to restore service
Here are the tools I use to help people do their best work
- get them a mentor
- help them identify career goals
- encourage them to improve mental, physical, and emotional health
- give them work to do that excites them
- trust and respect them
- provide continuous, actionable feedback
- praise more than criticize
At one point in my career my goals were “address depression, insomnia, and migraines”. I’m sympathetic to people whose career goals are not the expected “become a <TITLE> in <NUM_YEARS> years”. I want to help you achieve your career goals no matter what they may be.
Whatever is required, but I prefer a 8-9am start and a 5-6pm end time. I’m almost always in the Eastern USA timezone
Slack, email, text, phone call, whatever works for you
I am very self-critical. I’m working on making this a more healthy thing. But whenever someone comes to me with critical feedback, please assume I’ve already thought about it… a ton. Ask my opinion on it before pointing it out.
For positive feedback, I like it often and public
Digging in, reading docs, implementing a proof of concept, or multiple if possible
A lifelong extrovert who is finding myself becoming an introvert. Also I don’t like the personality quizzes :D
manager, leader, coach, conflict resolver. I thrive when respectfullyquestioning systems and experimenting with different systems to find the best ones. I thrive when I get to see my folks grow as a person, and in their career
Honesty, transparency, empathy, accountability, humility, unceasing curiosity
Deeply technical, yet great communicators.
I stole this from Matthew Rechs
- We’ll have a weekly 1:1. I’ll never cancel this meeting, but you can cancel it whenever you like. It’s your time.
- Our 1:1 agenda will be in Lattice so we remember important topics. But you’re always free to use the time for whatever’s on your mind.
- When I schedule a meeting with you, I’ll always say when I schedule it what it’s meant to be about. I will not schedule meetings without an agenda.
- When I drop into your DM’s, I’ll always say “hi and why.” No suspense, no small talk while you are wondering what I want.
- News or announcements that significantly impact you, your work, or your team will come from me directly in a 1:1, not revealed in a big meeting.
- You’ll get feedback from me when it’s fresh. There will be no feedback in your performance review that you’re hearing for the first time.
- I trust you to manage your own time. You don’t need to clear with me in advance your time AFK or OOO.
- Your work gets done your way. My focus is on outcomes, not output. Once we’re clear on where we need to go, how to get there is up to you. If I ever find it necessary to suggest a specific approach, I will supply an example.
- A team is strongest when it’s working together, looking after one another, and taking care of each other. Please look to your left and to your right for opportunities to help your colleagues. Please ask for help when you need it. Nobody works alone.
- I trust you to skip level and talk to my manager or other senior management about anything you feel is relevant. You don’t need to clear it with me, and I’m not going to get weird about it when you do.
- I will attribute credit appropriately to you and your team. I will never exaggerate my own role or minimize your contribution. I’ll be especially certain to nail down attribution when senior management are hearing of our accomplishments.
If all of this sounds good to you, I hope you can reciprocate by giving me the one thing I need most: The truth. I want to hear your feedback, to know when you think I’m wrong, and your ideas for how we can do better. I’ll always welcome your thoughts, listen patiently, and never respond defensively. If we trust each other, we can learn and grow together. That’s how I want to work with you. And yet I know how difficult it can be to tell the truth sometimes, so when that happens I will not freak out. Instead I use this experience as an opportunity to improve our relationship so you will feel safer next time.
Stolen from https://betterprogramming.pub/why-an-engineering-manager-should-not-review-code-46f87c08db66. This is how I generally see the division of labor between EM and Tech Lead. (I don’t necessarily agree with everything else in this article, I only skimmed it)
| Things a Team Needs | Technical Lead | Engineering Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Leads | Weighs In |
| Execution | Leads | Coaches |
| On-Call | Leads | Builds Policy |
| Bug Triage | Leads | Supports |
| Team Process | Supports | Leads |
| Team Strategy | Supports | Leads (With Pm) |
| Prioritization | Supports | Leads (With Pm) |
| Stakeholders | Supports | Leads |
| Career & Growth | Supports | Leads |
| Hiring | Supports | Leads |