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“Manager READMEs” from some tech companies

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Re: “Manager READMEs” from some tech companies

#11

Post by ggambetta »

silveroriole wrote: post #8

Interesting that many seem to prefer weekly 1:1s. That seems far too much to me. I would absolutely dread having to spend so much time on that with my manager or my managees and I can’t imagine there are substantial benefits to it (does anyone REALLY have meaningful thoughts about their job/career path EVERY WEEK?)

Whenever I've managed people, I've made a point of scheduling weekly 1:1s; did that even with 12 or so reports, and it did take a significant chunk of time, but it was IMO one of the most important things, if not the most important thing, I could do for them as a manager (and also the one I enjoyed the most about the role).

As other commenters have said, the 1:1 time is the report's time. It's a chunk of time in which I'm entirely and exclusively available to them. I have a set of standard questions I can default to, mostly trying to understand how they're feeling, and open-ended enough that they can talk about whatever they want. Some are done in 5 minutes with a progress report, some take close to an hour in which they sometimes share personal stuff; it's all good from my POV, happy employees are productive employees.

It's absolutely not just about their job/career path. You wouldn't believe what a MASSIVE difference it makes for people just to be heard and have your undivided attention.

Re: “Manager READMEs” from some tech companies

#12

Post by elliottcarlson »

bertjk wrote: post #10
elliottcarlson wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(I'm one of the managers with a README in the article) It really depends - I've had direct reports that have had plenty to cover on a weekly basis, and others that don't really have anything new -- the point of the weekly 1:1's is that they have dedicated time whatever they want or need from me - and it's their time to use as they see fit. If they want to skip that week because there's nothing new on their side, that…

I'm really curious now, for those who want more 1:1 time, what sort of topics are often covered?

Career progression, walking through or pairing on problems, even personal life topics - remote employees sometimes desire some additional contact as well.

Re: “Manager READMEs” from some tech companies

#13

Post by [deleted] »

silveroriole wrote: post #8

Interesting that many seem to prefer weekly 1:1s. That seems far too much to me. I would absolutely dread having to spend so much time on that with my manager or my managees and I can’t imagine there are substantial benefits to it (does anyone REALLY have meaningful thoughts about their job/career path EVERY WEEK?)

[deleted]

Re: “Manager READMEs” from some tech companies

#14

Post by kelnos »

silveroriole wrote: post #8

Interesting that many seem to prefer weekly 1:1s. That seems far too much to me. I would absolutely dread having to spend so much time on that with my manager or my managees and I can’t imagine there are substantial benefits to it (does anyone REALLY have meaningful thoughts about their job/career path EVERY WEEK?)

Eh, I think it depends on the individual. I have a 1:1 with my manager every three weeks, and that's plenty for me. If something urgent comes up between meetings (which is pretty rare), he's just a Slack message away. But some employees have enough to discuss that weekly is great for them. I think it's nice for a manager to at least give their reports the option of a weekly 1:1; if there's nothing to discuss sometimes, it should be ok to cancel, and if you just need a 5-minute check-in, that should be fine too.

Re: “Manager READMEs” from some tech companies

#15

Post by kelnos »

RexM wrote: post #6

How about an employee README? > This is how I prefer to be managed...

Yeah, I think this would be pretty useful. I'll admit that I'm not very easy to manage, and with me, less is more. I notice that many managers, especially new managers, seem to think they need to be very visible in their reports' day-to-day in order to feel like they're doing something, but that doesn't work with everyone.

Being able to easily tell your manager up front what you think you need from them, and what you don't, could be pretty useful.

Then again, that's part of what 1:1s are for.

Re: “Manager READMEs” from some tech companies

#16

Post by angersock »

silveroriole wrote: post #8

Interesting that many seem to prefer weekly 1:1s. That seems far too much to me. I would absolutely dread having to spend so much time on that with my manager or my managees and I can’t imagine there are substantial benefits to it (does anyone REALLY have meaningful thoughts about their job/career path EVERY WEEK?)

40 hours a week is spent reliant on the behaviors of these other people. I'd be surprised if 30 minutes or whatever a week was enough!

Re: “Manager READMEs” from some tech companies

#17

Post by meesterdude »

bertjk wrote: post #10
elliottcarlson wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(I'm one of the managers with a README in the article) It really depends - I've had direct reports that have had plenty to cover on a weekly basis, and others that don't really have anything new -- the point of the weekly 1:1's is that they have dedicated time whatever they want or need from me - and it's their time to use as they see fit. If they want to skip that week because there's nothing new on their side, that…

I'm really curious now, for those who want more 1:1 time, what sort of topics are often covered?

I worked with a team of remote devs, and ended up on both sides.

As a dev seeking manager time, I wanted/needed information. Diagrams, access, contacts, meetings. There was no onboarding and nothing but a codebase for a massive system. This was more like every other week, though.

As a peer, I ran interference with a lot of the junior devs to make sure they had the info they need, to push for the info they didn't, and to get them hooked up with the people who had it. The lack of information enabled a lot of isolation and feelings of imposter syndrome, and the weekly chats gave my peers a forum to vent.

Being remote, communication & culture require a lot more attention and effort.

Re: “Manager READMEs” from some tech companies

#20

Post by bitL »

The best company I've ever worked for had no managers (beside owners). They made it to $1B, loved by HN crowd, their products used by many of you, and nobody ever wanted to manage anything there. People just discussed stuff and decided to do whatever looked super interesting. One team there had actually a person that was behaving like a manager, and that product completely flopped on the market.
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