121–130 of 287 posts
Ask them how they're doing. Ask them if they have any blockers. Ask them if how I can help them with any of their blockers. Ask them what has been done on the blockers since last meeting (if they're holdover).
Seemed to be a reliable pattern for myself at least.
I wish I could offer more on maximizing this time... However, I think I can help in another way. Don't feel bad about 'blowing your trumpet' or complaining; that's exactly the time to do it! My manager and I skip our 1:1s more often than we have them, and when we do, it's usually just a hang-out session. We meet once every two weeks, and most of the time is just talking about random things we found neat. However , th…
I’m quite senior so I do the same. We meet every two weeks but about half the time cancel because there’s really nothing to talk about. I’ve made it clear that I’m happy with my current level and don’t want to “progress” to another level where I’m a professional meeting attender. So there’s not much to talk about- I’m fairly happy and my long term goal is to retire in my 40s and work at a fairly chill place until the…
Do downvotes mean I’m wrong or that I upset someone?
* 10 minutes shooting the shit
* 5 minutes (or less) getting status updates
* 15 minutes (or remaining time) on 'how can I help you' type stuff
I like this agenda because:
* I work remotely and don't get as much time as I'd like relationship building. The purpose of the 1:1 can be, all else removed, a chance to have a friendly conversation where I get to know someone better. It's great for everyone's mental health (my own included), and it can also be great for understanding people's areas of strength, work-related interests, and career goals.
* I try to get as much as I can in terms of status updates from automated means. Project tracking, internal docs, git repo, build tool, etc, are all sources of information for me to know where things are. Occasionally I miss things and ask about them during 1:1, but generally I don't like to treat 1:1's as a chance to get status updates. This is a problem best solved using tools, and our time is precious, so if I'm spending >5m on this during a 1:1 it might be a sign of an issue.
* Understanding where I can help the person is where I like to spend the bulk of my time during a 1:1. This can be unstructured, and help can be in various forms. Unblocking something, helping make a decision, providing information, helping mediate or resolve a dispute, provide feedback on something being considered, etc. Sometimes there's nothing, but in a majority of my 1:1's there's something to talk about here.
I'm happy to end a 1:1 early if we run out of things in the above agenda to talk about. I'd say 50% of the time I end 1:1's around 5 minutes early.
Lastly, I'd say if you're not sure if you're using your 1:1 time productively, it's not a bad use of your 1:1 time to talk about it.
It's also a time when you should be able to express yourself more directly. It is certainly ok to use this time to talk about what you are doing. That's kind of the what the manager is looking for. Ensuring there are no impediments that get glossed over in Slack exchanges or stand-ups.
You also shouldn't feel pressured to fill the entire time. Some weeks are just slow, or things are more mundane and all parties are in sync. Some weeks it feels like I need more time, depending on your manager you could schedule another sync the next day about a specific issue.
If you don't already, it may be a good idea to take daily notes, so you can do a round-up of anything that came up in the week. This will allow you to make the best use of your meeting time without forgetting important details or questions that came up.
Other than that I try to keep my one-on-ones casual and open. It's ok for there to be a little silence.
I keep a running list of things that I need to talk to my manager about. I pull top 2-3 things off this list for each 1-1. And once a month I talk about career progress. Basically closing "gaps" especially if you're in a BigCo there's often a list of expectations that might be surprising (e.g. must do N interviews) and i'd like to see what I can do to close them.
Things on my list might include - Things I did that went well, and didn't go well. - Venting - Ideas I'd like to bounce off him. - Things that frustrated me (but dont block me yet) and seeing if he can help. - Ideas for new things me or my team could do. - Questions on who I should talk to for X thing.
My golden rule is never, ever use a 1-1 for project status updates. I'll provide one if asked but otherwise this is time for me.
1. What worries you? Not some blatant project stuff but bigger deal issues. "How do I learn enough here to make a lot more money in a few years" or "I don't understand how our product is going to make money in this environment". Stuff like that is probably on your mind in some way (unless you are an unthinking dolt, but you wouldn't be asking this if you were) - get it out there and gain perspective.
2. Blind spots. You know how everyone in your life has some stupid thing that holds them back that they are oblivious to but is obvious to everyone else? You have it too. Find a way to convince your manager that you can tolerate real feedback and ask them about this. It will make your life better way beyond work.
3. Find out what worries them. Maybe in some way you can help them deal with stuff "beyond your pay grade" - your pay grade will eventually have to catch up :)
4. This should have been number one - get to know them as a person and help them get to know you.
Good luck. Doing any of these will put you on an exponential growth pattern compared to others.
These have always been an enormous waste of time from my perspective. They only serve to make a manager feel like they know what everyone is doing, all the time. Anything process-wise should be handled through scrum. Anything personal can be handled with ad-hoc 1-on-1 meetings as needed, but should be pretty rare. 1-on-1s for process really do harm to transparency and accountability. If I had a nickel for every time…
I'm a manager running two teams right now. The way I run my 1:1s I try and keep status updates out of them as much as possible. Like you said, "here's what I'm working on" type updates should be handled by Scrum. I still run 1:1s every two weeks with each one of my direct reports for a few reasons: - There are some people who just won't speak up or request an ad-hoc 1-on-1 if something is wrong. It's just a personali…
What kind of things do you ask them. wondering if you have some examples. Trying to get some ideas.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We don't have morning standups. Why is a 1:1 a waste of time, but a morning standup isn't?
Yeah morning standups are not great either TBH but more efficient than a manager trying to gatekeep and broker information via 1:1s with each developer.
OK, we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.