Last updated 28 June 2021
Welcome! If you’ve just started working with me, I’m hoping this document will make it quick and easy to collaborate effectively. If you’ve been working with me for a while, perhaps it will fill in some gaps with things that aren’t so obvious.
If it fails at either of those things, or what I say below doesn’t align with what you see me do, please let me know! I’m always looking to grow and improve.
I started at Everwise as an engineer in early 2017 (we merged with Torch in early 2020). I built a lot of things and got to know the legacy Everwise platform pretty well. In late 2018, I transitioned into a hybrid IC/manager role, still devoting the majority of my time to writing code. In the spring of 2020, I stepped up to lead the team spearheading the initial integration efforts between the legacy Torch and Everwise platforms.
The potential of scaling my efforts from what I can accomplish as an individual up to an entire team and the challenges of growing in leadership have led me towards a management role. That said, I still enjoy writing code. Most weeks I still get to do that, and am generally on the lookout for opportunities to use and develop those skills. That said, I try to keep myself off the critical path as much as possible and spend more time sharing knowledge and empowering others.
In my current role, I focus on:
I want my team to be able to work effectively, with the resources and support they need to continuously learn and grow. I aim to offer new opportunities and share ownership of projects and initiatives throughout the team.
I enjoy thinking about systems and processes, and as a leader, seek to identify and advocate for ways we can work better as a whole organization.
Delivering a high quality product quickly and efficiently is perhaps what motivates me the most. In my journey as an engineer, I’ve realized that if I am leading well, I can ultimately do this more effectively with a team than on my own.
I intend my contributions to the people, processes, and technology of the organization to form a foundation we can build upon for years to come.
I want the things we build to be useful, intuitive, powerful, and maybe even fun. That goes just as much for the actual code, as you (team member) and I users when we maintain and update it.
I want to have a stake in what I work on and a not just be a cog in a machine. I strive to give others the same opportunities.
This can be an excuse for bad behavior if misused, but I’ve found the most effective working environments to be ones where people speak their minds respectfully, are free to disagree, and weigh options to find the best solution.
Both encouraging (“you did x great!”) and constructive (“you could do x better”/“why not try x”) feedback is extremely valuable.
I want to understand where others are coming from and hope they will do the same for me.
As a coworker, I expect you to:
Regardless of personal or professional differences, treat the people around you with respect.
You should provide a similar level of thought and effort as you ask/expect from others.
Don’t assume you know everything about a person or situation; be willing to learn and change your opinion if the facts warrant.
As a member of my team, I expect the following:
Don’t just solve the problem or close the ticket for today; try to anticipate future needs and set us up to tackle them (though we’ll never get this perfect).
If you’re stuck and not sure how to resolve it, let me know. If you’re waiting on someone else that is slow in following up, I’m generally happy to be an additional nudge.
If something seems off, whether with your current work, the team, or otherwise, let me know.
I try to limit it as much as possible, but in a startup, some twists and turns and unplanned work comes up from time to time, and we may need to shift mid-stream. I’ll try to keep priorities and reasons for changes clear, but I’d ask that you roll with them, even if they’re not.
As one of my reports, I want to use 1:1s to understand how you’re doing. That can include current work, things with the team or company in general, or any personal items you want to share. I’d also like to know if there are things I can be doing better to support you or challenges I can help resolve.
I often default to discussing current and upcoming tasks (see Miscellanea) but I’d like to focus on this less; please call me out if that’s happening too often or there is something else you’d like to talk about.
As a geographically distributed company, we have many tools to stay connected. Here are my thoughts on the major ones:
Slack is best for quick, semi-synchronous communication and non-urgent “broadcasts” to a group/channel. I will usually respond quickly during work hours but may be slower if I’m attempting focused work (see Miscellanea).
I generally won’t respond to slack messages outside of working hours, and you should feel free to do the same unless something is specifically called out as urgent.
I favor Jira and Github comments for non-urgent communication about specific tickets, as it helps keep discussions and decisions associated with that ticket.
Email is good for information-dense communications where a quick response is not required. It may be a few days before I respond to an email, depending on my workload. Occasionally I need to use email for external communications with customers or partners and will try to be more responsive to those.
Meetings are valuable but also costly, both in terms of focus (see Miscellanea) and person-hours (esp. for meetings with a lot of people). I try to keep meetings either small (few people) or short. There are exceptions where long, large meeting are important, but they are difficult to do well.
If you need me urgently outside of working hours, you can call or text me.