⚔️ Way of Working principles
- Encourage open debate and transparency
- Make commitment and move together to achieve them
- Know our end-user and what they are trying to achieve
- Know the vision of the platform/product/company
- Deliver together as a whole
- Have strong opinions that are weakly held
- We say "No", while knowing and explaining why
- We say "Yes", while knowing and explaining why
- Continuously improve our process - together
👔 Management Principles
- Lead by example
- Put on your own safety mask first. Others are relying on you to give them direction and will soak up your mood. Do what is necessary to be stable, fresh and supportive to your team. If you need to take time off or sleep more, do it.
- Make sure everyone else's workstream is running smoothly before working on your own. Your managerial leverage lies in having multiple people work effectively not you doing a bit more work. Always make sure everyone on your team are working productively. Then focus on your work.
- Delegate goals, not tasks. Spend a lot of time talking about what needs to be achieved and what the end state is (definition of done). Answer all questions, ask multiple times if all is clear. Then let your team figure out the tasks.
- Think about task-relevant maturity. Giving people freedom and autonomy only works when people have the necessary skills and feel safe doing a task on their own. Do not let people swim without making sure they don't go under. That's not "hands-off leadership", it's not leadership at all - either the team-member or the user will pay the price. Guide and coach people to help them take on bigger and bigger challenges.
- Be present and available. Never appear rushed. Most people will refrain from asking for help when they should, so if you give them the impression that you are unavailable or in a hurry, they will get stuck, do the wrong thing and be unmotivated. Proactively take time with people, ask if they need help, double-check that they know what to do.
- Give praise and appreciate. It's the best motivational force.
- We get our hands dirty. Managers should clean up their table, sit down and do work themselves, etc. Managers lead because it is more effective and if it is more effective to do work themselves, they do it.
- Have 100% clear reporting lines. Everyone needs to have a clear org-chart in their head with solid lines and dotted lines. This should be discussed with new joiners. Do not cross those lines without checking with the other team first. It creates confusion for everyone. (Note: this dictates how people work together in the company. Teams can have different internal working modes, e.g. scrum).