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1-on-1 meeting questions

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Re: 1-on-1 meeting questions

#241

Post by mytailorisrich »

VectorLock wrote: post #86
RotaryTelephone wrote: post #63

My 1on1's at a 100k+ international corporation always went like this: Manager: so how's it going? Me: great Manager: any issues? anything you want to discuss? Me: everything is fantastic! I'm very happy with my job :D Manager: cool cool... well let's do this again next month. Me: yay! I don't want someone in a similar situation like I was to get inspired by lists like these and go into their next 1on1 wrecking havoc…

I find myself doing those exact kind of 1:1s with my reports and I HATE it. This at least provides, I think, maybe some inspiration on some better questions to ask.

It's perfectly fine to have nothing much to discuss in a monthly 1-to-1. Those meetings are just to set time aside to discuss and to give the opportunity to raise issues or give feedback.

The key, though, is to build trust first. If team members do not feel that they can trust their managers then they won't be open.

I've found that chatting about random, non-work related, things also helps building trust and rapport. Try to make the 1-to-1 an informal chat, not a formal 'interview'.

Re: 1-on-1 meeting questions

#242

Post by koonsolo »

bartread wrote: post #230
koonsolo wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a strange, helpless way to look at the world. Employment is not a boss->servant relationship, it's a relationship where both parties gain something. You offer a service, and they pay for that. End of story. They act out? Then you find someone else who needs your services. As a programmer myself, I'm in this great position where there is a shortage of good developers, and plenty of companies searching for good de…

> "Hey, fix your shit or I'll have a new job next week that pays more from day 1, and you will search the next 6 months for my replacement and train that person another 6 months before (s)he's somewhat productive." Yes, and with that attitude you are absolutely welcome to. Difficulty of replacing developers depends very much on where you are (I suspect, and amongst a welter of other factors), and where I live it does…

I fully agree with you. My comment was pretty much leaning towards the other end of the spectrum to make my point clear.

But I definitely agree that you should approach your manager from a constructive point of view. That makes you even more valuable.

Re: 1-on-1 meeting questions

#243

Post by mnsc »

notduncansmith wrote: post #193
empath75 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Personal life nonsense? I'm your co-worker, not your friend. Changing this attitude contributed as much to my doubling and then almost tripling my salary over the course of a few years as much as anything technical did. Your managers and coworkers are human beings and engaging with them like human beings will open doors for you. I pretty much only talk about personal stuff in one on ones, and will use maybe one out…

Username checks out. Also, I can say that the more I’ve opened up at work, the more my career has improved, from finding better-fitting positions to finding interesting and meaningful work within those positions, to enjoying my time at work more, to getting paid more. It’s really worth it. You may want (or may not) want to start by seeing a therapist.

I saw a talk with April Wensel many years ago that made me reevaluate the "soft" skills and how getting better at those produce better code _and_ more personal happiness. I think opening up is a good thing but it's also hard scary work sometimes. It's much easier to be cynical and detached. That lets you blame others for yourself feeling miserable (eg. many disillusioned commenters in this thread)

https://compassionatecoding.com/

Re: 1-on-1 meeting questions

#244

Post by gambiting »

krzyk wrote: post #153
dehrmann wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> career development is more of a once per year thing If you see it that way, it's a never thing. Career development is an always thing.

OK, and what should I tell? I want to code and I want money, more money the better. Oh, and I don't want bulshit meetings (1on1s included). That's basically it for my career, I don't want to be a manager, I don't want to be a tech lead (been there, hated every 3 years of it). What is there more to talk about? My manager thinks that to be a better individual contributor (go up a ladder) I should do something outside m…

At our company, your performance is evaluated in 5 metrics, with a grade for each. Those grades affect your salary during review. So even if all you care about is just doing your work and being paid well for it, then it would make sense to ask your manager "hey, what do you want me to do to achieve max score in all 5 categories". Then you do the things they tell you to do - it's no different than any other work task you might be given.

Re: 1-on-1 meeting questions

#245

Post by Drakar1903 »

bartread wrote: post #230
koonsolo wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a strange, helpless way to look at the world. Employment is not a boss->servant relationship, it's a relationship where both parties gain something. You offer a service, and they pay for that. End of story. They act out? Then you find someone else who needs your services. As a programmer myself, I'm in this great position where there is a shortage of good developers, and plenty of companies searching for good de…

> "Hey, fix your shit or I'll have a new job next week that pays more from day 1, and you will search the next 6 months for my replacement and train that person another 6 months before (s)he's somewhat productive." Yes, and with that attitude you are absolutely welcome to. Difficulty of replacing developers depends very much on where you are (I suspect, and amongst a welter of other factors), and where I live it does…

I think the post above yours was an exaggeration for the purpose of illustrating a point.

Re: 1-on-1 meeting questions

#246

Post by bosie »

gambiting wrote: post #244
krzyk wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, and what should I tell? I want to code and I want money, more money the better. Oh, and I don't want bulshit meetings (1on1s included). That's basically it for my career, I don't want to be a manager, I don't want to be a tech lead (been there, hated every 3 years of it). What is there more to talk about? My manager thinks that to be a better individual contributor (go up a ladder) I should do something outside m…

At our company, your performance is evaluated in 5 metrics, with a grade for each. Those grades affect your salary during review. So even if all you care about is just doing your work and being paid well for it, then it would make sense to ask your manager "hey, what do you want me to do to achieve max score in all 5 categories". Then you do the things they tell you to do - it's no different than any other work task…

Mind sharing those 5 metrics?

Re: 1-on-1 meeting questions

#248

Post by abhi426 »

yankit wrote: post #97

Can someone recommend tools, hacks or techniques they use to run a perfect one-on-one meeting (tools like https://PullPanda.com , https://Gitalytics.com or https://valycs.com )?

You can try peoplebox(https://www.peoplebox.ai/) to run meaningful 1-on-1s. It integrates with your calendars so before every 1-on-1, it sends some pre one-on-one questions to your reports and suggestive talking points. You can collaborate on agendas, action items and track them all in one place.

Re: 1-on-1 meeting questions

#249

Post by abvr »

djsumdog wrote: post #116
koonsolo wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a strange, helpless way to look at the world. Employment is not a boss->servant relationship, it's a relationship where both parties gain something. You offer a service, and they pay for that. End of story. They act out? Then you find someone else who needs your services. As a programmer myself, I'm in this great position where there is a shortage of good developers, and plenty of companies searching for good de…

Only in high end fields: tech, finance, engineering. Even then, it really just depends. I've worked at a lot of companies (I have terrible job loyalty) and I see what's good and healthy and what's not. I've only lost two jobs and both of them were places where people were expected to work 70+ hours a week. I could get let go and be fine, because I'm an in-demand engineer with lots of experience. But I'm in a very uni…

Whoa at the work hours, if you don't mind me asking, just curious to know what kind of work entails such long hours? Also I'm assuming it paid equally well for the time devoted to it, frankly the hours itself is a big turn off regardless of the quality of work.

Re: 1-on-1 meeting questions

#250

Post by NikolaNovak »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #90
NikolaNovak wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>When I, a manager, ask “what is the biggest obstacle facing you and how can i remove it,” I’m offloading the manager-level work of identifying blockers for my team on the individual. That gets a bit circular. In my mind, "asking my team members" is THE number one method of "identifying blockers for my team". Think about it - if a manager didn't ask for input from their team members, and instead assumed they can ide…

> Think about it - if a manager didn't ask for input from their team members, and instead assumed they can identify blockers, on their own and in vacuum, how would we portray such a manager? A smart manager can also observe things, but on top of that, in a healthy atmosphere some employees will provide that feedback on their own. If subordinates trust that voicing their concerns will have positive, or at the very lea…

>>in a healthy atmosphere some employees will provide that feedback on their own.

Absolutely; but again, such atmosphere does not come out of nowhere. It may get boot-strapped by the initial cycle of:

1. One-on-one meetings where team members are encouraged to bring up thoughts, concerns, ideas, etc.

2. Manager who reacts positively to such feedback; actions it (within the constraints of organization & reality); and communicates outcomes honestly

3. Faith & mutual trust are established and team members feel more comfortable bringing up feedback on their own.

At least in my experience, not everybody is willing to provide feedback of their own initiative to a new manager. You have to earn it...

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