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How to work with me

davidbauer.ch

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Re: How to work with me

#141

Post by escapedmoose »

saiya-jin wrote: post #126
escapedmoose wrote: post #109

Aside from the reflexive “yikes, dude” that this gives me, I wouldn’t trust the content itself. A manual written by someone who’s worked with you for years would be far more valuable. But my first impression of a person who hands me something like this is going to be “what past interpersonal disasters have you wrought that led you to put time into something like this?” …case in point is a current coworker of mine, wh…

Did you give him this kind of feedback after some time passed and thing crystalized? It may be unpleasant to hear since it ruins his self-image, but as person who actually made the effort and tried to put together some, even if flawed, self-manual... he may appreciate the honesty/bravery on your side and content, at least in long run.

I would consider doing so, if not for the power structure at play. His opinion of me has a lot of influence on whether I get a paycheck or not, so unfortunately that’s not a risk I can take.

Re: How to work with me

#142

Post by npsimons »

falcolas wrote: post #72

Counter point: I've written and consumed user manuals both in my private and professional life, and they're really very useful. - It's a great ice breaker into the things they're actually interested in. - Some people have a particular way they want to be addressed. Pamela, never Pam. Put it in one place and you're golden. (Ideally, someone would be able to put it as their Slack or Email handle and also be golden, but…

I mean honestly, there's a whole bunch of shit that is considered "normal" in the work world that just should not be the way it is. The quarantines really opened (some) peoples' eyes to the reality that a lot of workplace "culture" is utter bullshit.

I could see a lot of people who are complaining here about TFA whinging 70 years ago when their secretary might push back on being sexually harassed.

Yeah, the document could have been written a bit better, but having open and honest communication about how to put people at ease and ensure they will be at optimal performance levels just seems like a good idea.

Re: How to work with me

#143

Post by vhiremath4 »

alex504 wrote: post #127
vhiremath4 wrote: post #116

Can anyone here give me an honest review of the doc I send people who reach out to me who I don't know? I definitely want to know if this doc comes off as condescending. https://vinay.notion.site/If-you-want-to-work-with-me-at-Loo...

To be honest (as you asked for), it does come off as egotistical and a bit condescending. I would remove the "Thank you and sorry" and "The bar is high because my word carries weight" sections. The tone of sentences like "I'm insanely lucky to be where I am today", and "My word carries weight" is a bit self-aggrandizing. Without those sections I think the rest is fine. If you want to introduce the whole thing to expl…

Thank you for the feedback! Gonna work on a new revision.

Re: How to work with me

#144

Post by vhiremath4 »

jacquesm wrote: post #119
vhiremath4 wrote: post #116

Can anyone here give me an honest review of the doc I send people who reach out to me who I don't know? I definitely want to know if this doc comes off as condescending. https://vinay.notion.site/If-you-want-to-work-with-me-at-Loo...

Given that this is a completely different context, one where someone is still outside the org and trying to get your attention to become their advocate it is a totally different vibe from TFA. I don't see how 'humble, hungry and smart' will go together in most applicants, you'll be lucky to have one out of three, extremely happy to get two and all three is usually a question of broken self assessment. Adding 'hungry'…

Thanks for the feedback on humble, hungry, and smart. Tbh I do find that most people at Loom exhibit all 3 of these traits, but I could definitely be totally off due to people likely changing their behavior whenever I'm in a room or having a conversation with them (e.g. people on their best behavior).

> As for humility: you will not find it in most sub 40 year olds, they don't know what they don't know yet

This is interesting and very different from my experience. I feel like humility is actually the hardest thing to find in anyone (controlled for age and all). I haven't actually seen a clear trend line between humility and age.

> Adding 'hungry' also seems to select for people in need, giving you an advantage over them in negotiations.

Interesting I never really thought about it like this. Do you associate "hungry" with "desperate"? I've always seen them as completely distinct, but, if enough people see them as closely related, I probably should figure out how to qualify this.

Re: How to work with me

#145

Post by pojzon »

I feel like great devs value the same things.

Ive read what author values and instantly knew we would cooperate well.

I would also add one more thing:

I value the quality of work we do. I try to always deliver the best work I can, but if deadlines are short and we know we are not able deliver quality solution on time -> at least document what can be improved later and why it was not done in the first place.

Re: How to work with me

#146

Post by bsuvc »

microtherion wrote: post #90
bsuvc wrote: post #8

To me, it seems a little condescending to be told how to act toward someone. On some level it is helpful to know your teammates, but on the other hand it can come across as self centered, like you think you're special and require special instructions for interacting with. I'm sure you have good intentions in creating this, but if someone gave this to me I would instantly thing "oh man this person is going to be high…

I did not get that impression from the text at all — I wonder whether it was revised or whether it is because I am Swiss myself so maybe it fits within MY norms. In particular, I did not get the impression that the text makes any demands from co-workers that the author would not mutually grant them himself. Can you point out specific examples of language you found self centered or high maintenance?

https://web.archive.org/web/20220329121626/https://www.david...

Re: How to work with me

#148

Post by [deleted] »

bananamerica wrote: post #59

I was thinking of doing something like that, but not in a professional context. Just a post somewhere, a way to talk about my personal quirks in a comedic self-deprecating manner. To be quite frank, the way you did it, and in the professioal context in which this is framed, no amount of revisions will make you not sound like a jerk. This might function in a non-work environment. I just don't think that's a very good…

[deleted]

Re: How to work with me

#149

Post by [deleted] »

davidbauer wrote: post #67
bananamerica wrote: post #59

I was thinking of doing something like that, but not in a professional context. Just a post somewhere, a way to talk about my personal quirks in a comedic self-deprecating manner. To be quite frank, the way you did it, and in the professioal context in which this is framed, no amount of revisions will make you not sound like a jerk. This might function in a non-work environment. I just don't think that's a very good…

Fair. Interesting that you think something like this could work in a non-work context, but not in a work-context. Curious: Do you have the same reaction to the one by Rands that inspired me to write mine? https://randsinrepose.com/archives/how-to-rands/

[deleted]

Re: How to work with me

#150

Post by circlefavshape »

@davidbauer your motivation for doing this seems honourable, but I think it's unlikely to be useful to either yourself or your co-workers. We're going through a cultural moment where communication-via-words (especially written words) is widely regarded as canonical, but human interaction is much richer than plain text. For someone who wants to get to know you the time spent reading and understanding your article would be better spent just hanging out with you
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