I used to be a big fan of "Manager READMEs". The concept seemed great: create a document to help others understand and work with you in your preferred manner. However, I no longer find them as useful for two reasons:
- As I've grown as a person, I've learned that figuring out how to work together needs to happen within the context of each relationship. It's important that we adapt to each other's individual needs.
- The way we describe ourselves is often biased and idealized.
I've rewritten this README as a list of "random things about me" to serve as a conversation starter with my new team.
- I was born on Christmas Day.
- I have three children and am married to a lovely woman named Ashley.
- Before COVID-19, I regularly hosted House Concerts for the neighborhood (video).
- I've been PC gaming for 34 years, since I was 7.
- I developed moderate anxiety in 2016, which is mostly triggered when I feel a loss of control.
- In September 2021, I discovered I have ADHD, which was the root cause of my anxiety. My medication has been life-changing.
- Urban biking is one of my favorite pastimes.
- I've been consulting since 2010, with some experience in early startups (as an employee or co-founder).
- I'm allergic to most animals and outdoor allergens.
- I'm a licensed amateur radio operator and can communicate worldwide using Morse code at 10 words per minute. I made a video of my first contact, which has around 6,000 views.
- I'm a huge Linux desktop enthusiast and have been using it as my daily driver since 1998. My Linux journey: Redhat 5.2 (1998) -> Slackware -> Gentoo -> Ubuntu -> Manjaro -> NixOS.
- I have a Kubernetes Homelab with seven Raspberry Pis and one PC.
- I'm quite informal yet professional. I can be overly silly/quirky and am working on toning that down.
- I'm a huge music buff and always have something playing. My favorite genres are Melodic Trance, Progressive House, and Cocktail/Lounge Jazz. I began exploring music production in early 2024.
For more quirky random facts, check out my previous roundups on my blog.
- I appreciate both positive and negative feedback. As a data-oriented person, it's one of the best ways to gauge my performance as a manager and employee. Please provide as much feedback as possible.
- Getting everyone on the same page.
- Having a plan to overcome obstacles.
- Establishing clear expectations between myself and both my direct reports and supervisor.
- Using metrics to drive improvement.
- Developing creative solutions to problems.
- Transforming manual and laborious tasks into efficient systems and processes.
- I began conducting 1:1s in 2016 and discovered their incredible power in accelerating rapport and trust in professional relationships.
- If you're skeptical about 1:1s, I follow a process backed by research showing their significant ROI.
If you're a manager or employee I'll be overseeing, please read this article, even if you've conducted 1:1s before. Key points:
- 1:1s are for your growth and for us to learn how to work together more effectively.
- 1:1s are not primarily for status updates or organizing work unless you want to discuss those topics.