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 Expel?

I joined Expel because:

  1. The Team (you all) are really impressive, yet humble.
  2. I am excited by the challenges that exist at Expel right now, and am eager to tackle them.
  3. I believe that Expel can become a generational brand in Cybersecurity, and that we can all share in a great financial outcome because of it.

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.