Hello all! It takes time to understand new people. I’m no different. This guide is to help you know who I am and how I operate. It is and always will be a work in progress. You should assume what is written here is mostly correct. Feel free to test me on things and call me out when I diverge.

What I Value

Storytelling is everying. This is woven into everything we create. Understand what you are communicating otherwise the story falls flat.

Focus is prioritization. Being intentful with your time is critical to problem-solving. Get in the zone as much as possible. Eliminate distractions. Ruthlessly prioritize.

Safety third. Risk is required for progress. You are stronger when you plan for handling failures then assuming you can safely avoid them. You get to pick the top two priorities.

How I work

I think in systems. This means I see problems as a flow over multiple parts. Sometimes the flow is wrong and sometimes the parts are wrong.

What we do is a combination of I, We, and It. How we are feeling, the relationships of those involved, and the work itself all interact day to day. In meetings, I may explicitly ask to check in on these.

Community and belonging have been a focus of mine throughout my career. People work best when they know those around them support them. Making space to experiment and leave room for everyone to feel safe contributing is critical to our success.

Feedback is always encouraged. I welcome it. Please speak up about anything you feel the desire to. If you don't feel comfortable speaking up about something, please give feedback on that discomfort.

I am intentful with my time. When time is set aside to focus or work, I mute all notifications to maintain that focus. This means I may not be immediately available or respond during and after work hours.

Problems are more important than solutions. Expect me to drill into the problem you are solving and why it is a priority before implementation details. It's far more important to solve the right problem with an acceptable solution than the wrong one well.

I teach by asking leading questions. Leaders are made by mentoring them to find their own way. This requires you to travel the journey to a solution, which may be different than my answer otherwise would have been!

My brainstorming is done in the open. I may ask off-the-wall questions or present ideas that are half-baked (if that). This is exploratory and I likely want your expertise of input to guide my thought process.

Everything is an experiment. So treat them as such. Projects, features, ideas, anything we do starts with a hypothesis that may be wrong. I will advocate for canceling things that aren’t working, regardless of time spent on them. Sunk Costs are just lessons learned in how not to do something.

Continued learned is necessary for growth. This includes things that may not seem directly related to my work activities. You can only discover new solutions when you broaden your understanding of the world.

Humans are the most expersive thing to change. Any migration, workflow change, or modification has to take the human impact into account.

You can book any availablity on my calendar. My focus time is blocked off. Open slot are that way so you can take advantage of them if you want to do a face to face.

Meetings have a five minutes pre-break. When I own a meeting a starts at xx:05 or xx:35. I know your previous meeting didn't actually end fives minutes early like it was scheduled to. When you are in an office I know your last meeting room isn't the same as ours. A five minutes break is always built in so you can come relaxed and refreshed so we can make the most of the synchronous time we have.

Known Failures

I can prematurely place too much trust in other’s abilities. This manifests itself in not providing enough proactive support and potentially putting people in situations where they need to stretch themselves more than expected.

My written communication is terse. To some, this can be abrasive when that is not intended. When I'm slower to respond I may be actively countering it.

I have a poor memory for people's names. If I forget your name, I am sorry. It's likely I can recite many other facts about you that still aren't useful in getting your attention or explaining to others who you are.