101–110 of 212 posts
We chew up an amazing amount of time on this kind of theater.
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I have 30 minute 1:1’s every week with my team (8 engineers). I’m in weekly backlog grooming sessions, semi-weekly demos, retros and sprint planning and of course daily standups. I’m in weekly status calls with two separate customers and weekly prioritization calls with product. I’m in constant dozer mode trying to clear a path for my team to eliminate blockers, execute bullshit corp process and help them resolve iss…
Have you tried building trust ? The tone of your comment here makes me think you haven’t. If you build trust with people, they’ll just tell you things. If you just say they can tell you things, no rational employee will believe that. And pushing people to talk about their weekend or other aspects of their personal life is downright toxic IMO. Again, if you build trust and rapport, you won’t have to ask these rote, of…
I’m sure my words could evoke a notion of some bully creeping on employees but I am just trying to break habits. I don’t force anything and as others have mentioned sometimes a status update is exactly what folks want to discuss.
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> Seems to me that the job of the engineer manager is just too lightweight. Maybe you don't see other things they do. Their work isn't only 1:1 with you. For instance, hiring, evaluating employees, redirecting team efforts if new priority arises, fostering collaboration with other teams if needed, unblocking things, reporting to high management about the team whereabout, making sure every IC has what they need for th…
> For instance, hiring Yes, they screen CVs and join tech interviews. I also join tech interviews. > evaluating employees True. They use the 1:1s to keep track of the evaluation afaik. > redirecting team efforts if new priority arises As I said, our eng. manager doesn't usually join our planning nor has ever said anything regarding "X has more prio than Y"... Redirecting the team effort is mostly on the team itself (…
- If you're a direct manager in the 1:1, it is your job to take notes. Period.
- 1:1s are business meetings about results, and sometimes personal matters are discussed.
- If you have role power, you need to be cautious with what you say during a 1:1. People will take things literally.
- Agendas should be simple. 10 minutes you, 10 minutes me, 10 minutes for the future. Most important thing first, always.
- To start a 1:1, make a statement or a question, sometimes the small talk is not wanted or dreaded. "How's it going", "How are you", "How are things" are all valid.
- Don't come with an agenda to a 1:1. People hate not being able to contribute.
- If you setup 1:1s as a tool to get to know the team members you work with regularly, follow a simple 15 minutes you, 15 minutes me type of deal. (Especially if you're a PM, TPM, or EM working with another discipline)
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When I don't have anything work-related to report, there are no concerns on either side, and there are no situational changes, we just chat with my manager for the whole half-hour about various life topics. Sometimes it may bring to memory something related to work, which we can discuss. Sometimes it will be completely unrelated to work for the whole meeting, but I think there is still value in that. It helps us buil…
I hate when this happens. It's been a recent revelation of mine that I'm happiest when my personal business remains personal. I hate having to scrape through my life sanitizing topics into conversational safe spaces just to get paid.
It's strange how so many informal conversations have become formalized. Phone call? Book a calendar invite. Talk to your manager? Schedule a one-on-one. Want to raise a technical comment? Issue a Jira ticket. Not to say that this is all bad, but wondering if it's really helpful.
I used to just ping my direct reports for 1:1s each week when it suited me, and then realised that that's pretty disrespectful of other people's time. I switched to asking people to schedule time with me in my calendar out of respect for their schedule.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I don't have anything work-related to report, there are no concerns on either side, and there are no situational changes, we just chat with my manager for the whole half-hour about various life topics. Sometimes it may bring to memory something related to work, which we can discuss. Sometimes it will be completely unrelated to work for the whole meeting, but I think there is still value in that. It helps us buil…
I hate when this happens. It's been a recent revelation of mine that I'm happiest when my personal business remains personal. I hate having to scrape through my life sanitizing topics into conversational safe spaces just to get paid.
That's just how it goes with most people - you have to adjust yourself, almost the way you do with children.
It's strange how so many informal conversations have become formalized. Phone call? Book a calendar invite. Talk to your manager? Schedule a one-on-one. Want to raise a technical comment? Issue a Jira ticket. Not to say that this is all bad, but wondering if it's really helpful.
If you're scheduling because you've seen over time that predictable schedules is what other co-workers prefer, then you're using the tools to improve everyone's lives.
If you're scheduling because you're supposed to schedule and you never gave it second thought - you're in good company, you're simply among the 99%.