top | item 30848772

(no title)

vericiab | 3 years ago

To me, a lot of this reads more like some sort of "Team/Company Values and Culture" document than the user manual of a single individual.

Things like "Default to action" are pretty dependent on team/company culture and what you're working on. Your coworkers won't start defaulting to action just because you prefer it if their boss, their boss' boss, etc prefer cautious consideration. There's nothing wrong with preferring to work somewhere with a "default to action" culture, but presumably by the time someone is reading this you've already made the decision that the culture is a good fit for you. (Ditto for "There’s life beyond work". If that isn't the existing culture, then as a reader all it tells me is that you choose to work somewhere that doesn't share your values and we may be in for a bumpy ride.)

Similarly, the way it's written now "Mind the channel" reads like a mandate about team/company norms and culture. Despite being under the heading of "How to efficiently work and communicate with me", rather than explaining which channels of communication you prefer in which contexts, it makes a broad statement about what the reader should consider when communicating with anyone. IMO guidance on how to communicate with others in general, rather than you specifically, belongs in a team handbook and not your personal user manual.

"Don’t give clues" on the other hand is a good example of something that does seem to belong in a user manual. It explains something about you and tells the reader how to more effectively communicate with you. It doesn't make broad generalizations about how they should communicate with others in general.

In the end, I wonder whether this should be split into multiple documents - maybe a user manual (for people working with you) and a separate list of what's important to you in a working environment and company culture (for yourself when job hunting)?

In any case, for the user manual I think it would help to replace broad platitudes and decrees with statements focused on you. If a statement would make sense in a team handbook or similar, I think that's a sign that it may come across as inappropriate/presumptuous in your personal user manual.

discuss

order

No comments yet.