How often do you all have 1:1’s with manager. I’ve been in industry 15+ years and meet with my manager once or maybe twice a month, which seems reasonable. I’m fairly self sufficient and don’t need a lot assistance. Some of my peers at the same company and are also quite experienced have to meet with their manager weekly for 1:1’s. They remark to me that they don’t get a lot of value out of them being that frequent.
How to get the most out of your 1:1s
81–90 of 212 posts
Re: How to get the most out of your 1:1s
#82You guys get to have 1:1s? This reminds me of a site I've found a few years ago that mapped out all the universities in the area and listed the contact info of the on campus psychologist.
Ours redirected to a big fat 404.
Re: How to get the most out of your 1:1s
#83My situation is as follows. I joined my current company 1 year ago; my team is composed of 5 people (data scientists, engineers, 1 product manager) and it is within an area (there are like 10 areas, and each area has around 2 to 3 teams). Alongside my team, there is another team in my area. There is only one engineer manager for the whole area (so, like 8 engineers to "manage"). I have 1:1s every 2 weeks with my engi…
> 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 their job, taking the temperature of the team, informing people about opportunities, and so on...
Re: How to get the most out of your 1:1s
#84Obligatory Roger Sterling quote [1]: > I don't know if anyone's ever told you that half the time this business comes down to 'I don't like that guy.' What articles like these fail to realize or fail to point to is that a lot of your work outcomes come down to whether your manager likes you, their manager likes you and your coworkers like you. This isn't universal of course. There are some people who are disliked but…
You're assuming this is unrelated to performance. Managers like people who do good work and get shit done without a lot of handholding. It really helps if you're respectful and not irritating. What you describe is totally rational and fair as long as the manager is regularly updating their opinions.
Re: How to get the most out of your 1:1s
#85Earlier 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.
You can talk about life topics which are professional in nature. You keep your personal out of it.
Re: How to get the most out of your 1:1s
#86My situation is as follows. I joined my current company 1 year ago; my team is composed of 5 people (data scientists, engineers, 1 product manager) and it is within an area (there are like 10 areas, and each area has around 2 to 3 teams). Alongside my team, there is another team in my area. There is only one engineer manager for the whole area (so, like 8 engineers to "manage"). I have 1:1s every 2 weeks with my engi…
> 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 (PM + tech lead)
> fostering collaboration with other teams if needed
Again, this happens only if the teams decide to do so. Teams are quite self sub-stained.
> unblocking things
Never happen in our team. If there are any technical blockers, that's usually solved by the tech lead + infra team. If there any business blockers, that's solved by our PM + stakeholders.
> reporting to high management about the team whereabout
Eng. managers have private Slack channels, so can't say anything about this regard.
> making sure every IC has what they need for their job
Care to elaborate? If I need an IDE, I ask in the #it-support channel. If I need to take holiday/sick-leave I ask my team and PM. If I prefer Postgres instead of MySQL, I talk with the infra team; any business-related issue? I talk to my PM... what kind of stuff one asks to their eng. manager?
> taking the temperature of the team, informing people about opportunities, and so on
Lightweight job I would say. But yes, a job nonetheless.
Re: How to get the most out of your 1:1s
#87My situation is as follows. I joined my current company 1 year ago; my team is composed of 5 people (data scientists, engineers, 1 product manager) and it is within an area (there are like 10 areas, and each area has around 2 to 3 teams). Alongside my team, there is another team in my area. There is only one engineer manager for the whole area (so, like 8 engineers to "manage"). I have 1:1s every 2 weeks with my engi…
Sounds like your engineering manager isn’t doing a good job. I’ve actually learned how to be a better manager by learning what not to do from other crummy managers I’ve had or others had. Hope it doesn’t turn you off from management track or look at all managers like they don’t pull their weight
The thing is they are not a "bad manager" in the sense of: they do micromanaging, they never answer our questions, etc. What I think is that an engineer manager is not always needed... the only reason my company has them is to handle salary raises and promotions in a more ordered way (which is a win for the company, but not so much for the employees).
Re: How to get the most out of your 1:1s
#88I try to run these as casually as possible on no specific timeline. I find regular, standardized 1:1s to be a dystopian experience.
The way most of my 1:1 calls initiate usually starts with someone else on the team expressing a bad mood about something and me doing a quick check in on teams.
I find that happy or otherwise productive employees will either reach out actively on their own, or not require this sort of interaction in the first place.
Re: How to get the most out of your 1:1s
#89My situation is as follows. I joined my current company 1 year ago; my team is composed of 5 people (data scientists, engineers, 1 product manager) and it is within an area (there are like 10 areas, and each area has around 2 to 3 teams). Alongside my team, there is another team in my area. There is only one engineer manager for the whole area (so, like 8 engineers to "manage"). I have 1:1s every 2 weeks with my engi…
Sounds like you need to change the intent of your 1:1s. I am senior at a big company (managing teams of teams) and my manager is a senior executive. I meet with him every other week and that is most of the contact I have with him. That works, as he trusts me to execute on his strategic objectives, and I like it like that. Our 1:1s are very purposeful. I inform him on things I think he should know, ask him for support…
Well, my 1:1s go like that actually. My point is: if you suddenly remove your 1:1s, would the business or you get impacted? In my case the answer is: no.
The 1:1s are not terrible nor bad, I just feel that they are just superflous.
Re: How to get the most out of your 1:1s
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The employee / manager relationship should be one in which either party can feel free to just raise any concern the moment that it comes up. This is true in an ideal world, but not everyone is comfortable being direct with superiors. Regular 1-1s establish a baseline and a foundation that can be built on. Plenty of people will delay raising concern until damage has already been done. Regular, private communication…
Here's a better idea: stop fostering cultures where saving face is more important than trying to get things done. These 1:1s supposedly help working to it, but there are limits to what a manager can do, on top of who a manager is themselves. These 1:1s are becoming what every process inevitably becomes. A strict panacea which turns out to not be a panacea at all.
Agreed regarding culture. This should always be the goal. Unfortunately it is rarely the end result as humans aren't perfect, so some pieces still need tending to.
It's not that 1-1s are a panacea. They are more a mitigation strategy to catch human issues early and address them before they surface and roll into a bigger problem.