Clear Expectations Higher Fun
Hey!
Welcome back to another week of musings.
This past weekend, I ran the Bay to Breakers. It was my first race in a long time and my first since living in the city. The first hill was brutal, but overall, a fun experience. I will do it again!
I hope you spent your weekend recovering or simply enjoying a peaceful moment!
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Things I discovered in the past week
- If you have time, review the 2024 DORA report, which discusses the "vacuum effect". The "Vacuum" Effect: Instead of using the time saved by AI for more strategic or high-value work, developers may find that this time gets filled by other, less desirable tasks, such as managing technical debt or dealing with repetitive chores.
- I liked this blog post in the context of AI-generated content: Thoughts on thinking. All of my original thoughts feel like early drafts of better, more complete thoughts that simply haven’t yet formed inside an LLM.
Lately, I've been thinking about expectations, as sometimes new leadership or management comes in, or you're the new manager incoming for a team that has worked together for a long time.
We all have implicit expectations about how work is expected to be done, updates are expected to be reported, etc. These expectations can create rough patches with your direct reports or peers, as there will be an adjusting period when expectations are not met from both sides.
It's about trust
Expectations, making them clear, managing in multiple directions (up, down, etc.), and assuming everyone has good intentions are about building trust with one another.
The clearer we set expectations, the more aligned we'll be, working towards a common goal, knowing what everyone wants and needs. The other benefit of clear expectations is more autonomy! If we keep everyone involved, informed, and their expected outcomes considered, we can do more work on our terms.
SMART Expectations
As with every training program you've ever been part of, or will be part of as long as you work a corporate job. Expectations are better if they're SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound).
I don't fully embrace SMART as a framework, but it provides a good starting point for anyone new to defining goals with stakeholders. Everyone understands the idea and how to define one. I suggest starting there, but if your manager or peer works differently, take a more bespoke route.
Another option I've heard about (but haven't used) is PACT (purposeful, actionable, continuous, and trackable). As with every framework, pick and choose what works for your situation.
Helps with micromanagement
It helps with micromanagement, as you can define expectations with your manager. Or if you want to take more responsibility at work, it's good to start from your manager's expected outcome and work backwards, taking steps to take, and how to communicate progress.
When a new manager comes in, they might try to "take control" of the team by understanding all tasks, but you might feel it as being micromanaged. In those cases, starting from expected outcomes might be a good conversation to have with them.
Helps with team interactions
As a staff engineer, I work with multiple teams in several organizational functions, such as dev, ops, infosec, regulatory, and legal teams.
I tend to clarify the expectations with these teams because I've had occasions when work is implicitly thrown in my lap. Everyone assumes I'll take a task or project when the ownership should be elsewhere in practice. It has worked to set up documents with the roles, and have periodic conversations around them.
Your turn!
Have you been micromanaged? Or have you had rough patches with peers or managers? Let me know your thoughts on handling expectations by replying to this email.
Happy coding!
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