README.jeffrey

The purpose of this deck is to help people get to know me a little bit.

This is primarily meant to be digested by people with whom I work closely, especially by people who report to me (either directly or indirectly).

Read this document to

  • (re-)familiarize yourself with me as a human being.
  • understand what you should (and shouldn't) expect from me.
  • get a sense of my values, particularly in a work context.

About Me

  • I live in Berkeley, CA
    • with my wife (Senay), daughter (Naya), and son (Koa).
  • I've lived in the Bay Area for more than 20 years.
  • I prefer being outside to inside, almost always.
  • I've been involved in the creation of software for more than 40 years (yes, really).

Why Stellic?

I joined Stellic because:

  1. The Team (you all) are really impressive, yet humble.
  2. I believe my skills and experience are a great match for what Stellic needs at this stage.
  3. The Mission we've set out to achieve has created an incredible business opportunity in front of us.

My job is to

  1. Attract, hire, and retain world-class talent.
  2. Create the context for people to do the best work of their lives by ensuring:
  1. Enable amazing products to be delivered at high velocity, by:
  • relaying and / or setting context.
  • removing as many obstacles as I can.

PLEASE let me know if this doesn't line-up with your day-to-day experience of working with me.

My Working Assumptions

  • You are better at your job than I am.
    • But, I might challenge and probe your work, anyway. This is one of the ways I "gather context" (see previous slide).
  • You feel safe disagreeing with and challenging me.
    • The sooner we learn how to efficiently disagree with each other, the sooner we’ll trust and respect each other.
  • You mean well.
    • Stressful times yield stressful conversations. I'll do my best to not take things personally.

All feedback is a gift

  • The three requirements for free-flowing feedback are:
    • Safety: there should be no retaliation or punishment for giving feedback.
    • Low Effort: it should be easy to deliver, with no rebuttals.
    • Positive Effect: it should materially impact behavior (i.e., be worth the effort).

PLEASE let me know how well I'm delivering on these 3 dimensions.

About 1:1s

If we work closely together, we'll have a regularly-occuring 1:1.

If I am your manager, the 1:1 is your time:

  • Don't use the time for status updates (unless you really want / need to).
  • I will assume that anything we discuss is confidential, unless otherwise disclosed.

Need my time?

  • Find me on Slack and ask for a quick chat; maybe we can do it right now. If not, let's schedule something.
  • Put something on my calendar at a time we're both free. You don't need my permission. Please grant me "Modify Event" permissions so I can move the meeting as needed.
  • Don't wait for a 1:1, particularly if it's something tactical or urgent.

Transparency

  • I am biased toward openness and transparency.
  • There may be times when I am not at liberty to be open / transparent; sorry about that.
  • Even when I am constrained from full transparency, I am committed to not lying to you.

Gotchas

  • My belief system is strongly biased toward evidence. Therefore:
    • I am occasionally overly-dismissive when evidence is inconclusive.
    • This also leads toward a bias toward action and away from debate, e.g., "Let's just try X and see what happens."
      • (Some people find this downright maddening.)
  • Sometimes I try to deliver a "dry" joke, and it's missed.
    • If I say something upsetting, please let me know and I'll do my best to clean it up.
  • Sometimes my mouth moves faster than my brain. As such:
    • Please assume the best of me, but ...
    • Don't let me off the hook for irresponsible (or worse) communication.