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Ask HN: What's your opinion on weekly 1:1s?

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Re: Ask HN: What's your opinion on weekly 1:1s?

#51

Post by codingdave »

I think they are critical to making sure the communication path is open enough that you can "just schedule an hour together". Sometimes self-managed people get so disconnected from their boss that it can feel weird to call them up.

So have the weekly call. If it only takes 30 seconds to say, "Nothing this week", fine. But you have the habit established so that it is easy to talk when something does come up. And I've found that over time, it helps build a productive working relationship so you don't end up being a lone worker hiding in your corner, stagnating away.

Re: Ask HN: What's your opinion on weekly 1:1s?

#52

Post by skered »

oe wrote: post #37
koliber wrote: post #24

Weekly 1:1 with your manager should provide benefits for you and for your manager. Different people have different needs and the benefits such 1:1s provide may feel more or less useful. For the employee, it’s a way to receive undivided attention from the manager. You can ask followup questions on an initiative that may not be right for a group call. The manager can share some context about what is happening that is m…

Did ChatGPT write this?

As an AI language model, I don't have opinions, but I can provide some information.

Weekly 1:1 meetings can be very beneficial for both the manager and the employee. It provides a regular forum for open communication, feedback, and goal setting. It also helps to build trust and maintain a strong working relationship between the two parties.

During these meetings, both the manager and employee can discuss progress on goals, address any concerns or roadblocks, provide feedback, and address any personal or professional development needs. This can help to ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals and can lead to increased performance and job satisfaction.

Overall, the effectiveness of these meetings may depend on the individuals involved and the nature of their work. Some may benefit more from more frequent or less frequent check-ins. It's important to find what works best for each situation and adjust accordingly.

Re: Ask HN: What's your opinion on weekly 1:1s?

#53

Post by nathants »

work for interesting people who hold significant power, not interesting companies with powerless human interfaces.

no need for artificial mandated interactions when you organically interact all the time.

1:1 serve an important role in companies of a certain size, but come at a terrible cost.

Re: Ask HN: What's your opinion on weekly 1:1s?

#54

Post by kledru »

regular 1-1 meetings may be necessary for those who need close supervision (juniors, newcomers) or for those who need "a form of organizational liturgy, offering them a rhythm and structure to their working lives".

They can also be "an opportunity to subtly shake up the conventional wisdom in the course of a regular corporate ceremony".

Re: Ask HN: What's your opinion on weekly 1:1s?

#56

Post by ranguna »

ranguna wrote: post #9

To me they are great, so much so that our team has expanded 1:1s to the point where everyone has a one on one with each other (one 30 mins meeting every two weeks where the participants change every session). The benefit I take out of these sessions is that it allows people to be human easily. Big calls like a retro are incredibly useful but no matter how much people are comfortable with each other, due to size of th…

Hummmm... Thanks for the downvote?

If anyone sees anything wrong with my statement, I'm happy to discuss. Hopefully I'll learn something new.

Re: Ask HN: What's your opinion on weekly 1:1s?

#57

Post by drewcoo »

danwee wrote: post #42
wokwokwok wrote: post #18

You should do it. An hour is too long, just cut it short if you’ve got nothing to chat about. The other comments about never talking to your boss and being productive are stupid wishful thinking and you should ignore them. Your job as a senior is not to sit and hack away at code; that is a job for juniors. You have to do “team” things too, and part of that is knowing what your team mates and boss are doing and expect…

> You have to do “team” things too, and part of that is knowing what your team mates and boss are doing and expecting. How are you planning on doing that without talking to them? You can talk without having weekly scheduled 1:1s. If there's a topic that needs to be addressed and you are the one thinking about it first, then you gather the necessary people, you write the necessary text for them to know the context bef…

> You can talk without having weekly scheduled 1:1s.

And you can have unlimited PTO, too, but does it really happen if you don't have some minimum set amount of time you have to use?

Re: Ask HN: What's your opinion on weekly 1:1s?

#58

Post by koliber »

oe wrote: post #37
koliber wrote: post #24

Weekly 1:1 with your manager should provide benefits for you and for your manager. Different people have different needs and the benefits such 1:1s provide may feel more or less useful. For the employee, it’s a way to receive undivided attention from the manager. You can ask followup questions on an initiative that may not be right for a group call. The manager can share some context about what is happening that is m…

Did ChatGPT write this?

Haha. No. But I’ll mark the date when someone confused me for a computer. In the near future everyone will get to have that moment.

Side note: not sure if I should take that as a positive or negative signal about the quality of my writing.

Re: Ask HN: What's your opinion on weekly 1:1s?

#59

Post by kbruce »

I've been fortunate to set the pace, culture, and flow of information at my company from the bottom up. As both an engineer and an exec, I say it should be on a per-person basis, and that the manager shouldn't be the one setting the status quo.

I have a VP with whom I spontaneously meet or even go to eat with, cuz it works best for them. I have engineers who enjoy the pace and cadence of a regular sync to chat about anything and everything (or just major progress), and I have engineers who will just poke me if anything comes up. And they love it!

If you have to question the potential ramifications of this, it means you should look more carefully at your culture and who you're hiring (and perhaps yourself, to validate if your concerns are even justified).

It's all about what works best for you, so I believe a good manager will let their engineers set the pace -- I encourage everyone under me to do the same, and it's been phenomenal for our collective dev health and passion as my #1 focus... the progress and profit will come as byproducts.

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