- Driven by a broad goal around helping people (devs/customers/etc)
- Tell me about the problem and let me come up with solutions (lots of thinking/writing in a journal)
- It’s really helpful for me to bounce ideas off of others (ideally white-boarding an idea together)
- My “initial design” is almost always a CR rather than a document
- Usually I’m a mess for like 2 weeks thinking about a problem and then go into hyperfocus mode and quickly work on a complete solution OR go into bug-fix mode and try to accomplish as many small tasks as possible.
- Sprints don’t really work for me
- 10-4
- I WFH and have kids and often have to leave my desk abruptly
- Mornings and afternoons I’m usually distracted heavily by kids
- Almost never respond to after hours things
- Hate early morning meetings
- Slack over email, but don’t treat it like IM (i.e. no “hi”)
- I mostly ignore email (seriously)
- Strongly prefer video+audio to audio only. I need to see you to process non-verbal cues.
- Love giving/planning power points. It really helps me clarify my thoughts.
- I use a fair bit of hyperbole when telling my stories, watch out for that!
- Not making a decision (or not moving forward)
- Pointless meetings
- Fighting over who is in charge
- Politics or trying to “impress” people
- Nitpicking at Big Ideas
- I love when people find bugs in my code and push me to test things harder
- I hate when people are nit-picky with my code though
- Love to receive your feedback, but help me understand why this is important
- I really love the book Non-Violent Communication and the approach they use to giving non-judgmental feedback. Don’t assume I understand “why” try to focus on the “what” and be clear with how it’s affecting me and what my needs are (I know it’s a whole thing!)
- I have 0 problems telling you/or your boss exactly how I feel, but I also try to be kind (don’t always get the balance right)
- Not being political or manipulative. No BS.
- Owning your mistakes
- Giving me honest feedback about my code or design (help me be better!)
- Showing that you have a strong vision or a goal (help me believe in you!)
- Seeing that you will listen to other people’s ideas
- Learn from past experience
- Prove that you know your technical stuff
- Listening to music (also collect vinyl)
- Going to concerts
- Dates with my wife (movies or food)
- Jiu Jitsu
- Bike rides
- Dog Walks