Welcome to February’s double feature issue!

First, let’s return to the Robot team, who were asked to share their work at the steering committee meeting (aka SteerCo), led by Dogboss. Over the past few installments, this team has gone from the company’s most fire project to making an actual smoke detector.

And now, a relevant question for Zen Paycheck:

Dear Zen Paycheck,

URGENT! I just got invited to a short-notice 1:1 with my boss. I have a feeling this could be bad. I just hit the one-year mark and I like this job a lot. What do I do?

Thanks,
Prematurely Packing

Dear Prematurely Packing,

Don’t go all hair trigger on this one. If you haven’t gotten any negative feedback from your boss or co-workers, this may just be your not-so-organized boss finally getting around to checking in with you.

Go into that meeting prepared with a couple of your successes packaged up as a story in a way that shows off your skills, good decision-making and dedication to the company and/or your co-workers. This is a chance for you to toot your own horn, so give ‘em a big blast. Your manager wants to know you are happy with your position and you want them to know what a great contribution you’ve made.

One caution, if you’ve been working remotely and the 1:1 will be in person, be aware that actual “tooting” during that meeting isn’t recommended.

— Zen Paycheck

P.S. Need a life hack because all you have are life acks? Submit an anonymous question for Zen Paycheck.

Lowered Techspectations is a newsletter arriving once per sprint (every two weeks) made up of comics by Theora Kvitka and an advice column by her friend Zen Paycheck. Thanks for joining us.