Tag: Earn Trust

Have It Your Way

Have It Your Way

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My first real job was at Burger King, which I got at my dad’s behest the summer of 1994. I was only 15 years old, and what I could do was pretty limited (no food prep, nothing to do with the deep fryer, couldn’t even do dishes because of knives). But what I could do was operate the register and take orders. On balance it was a positive experience, not least because it taught me how to talk to strangers.

I’ll never forget one particular aspect of my training. There was a question we were expressly forbidden to ask when interacting with customers, and if we ever did, even accidentally, our manager would yell at us from across the kitchen. The question?

Is that it?

Why was it verboten? Because it shuts down conversation. In social situations humans are wired to want to answer questions in the affirmative, and a “yes” response to that question means no more items to add to the order, and my corporate overlords definitely didn’t want us to encourage customers to stop adding fries, drinks, desserts, and more. What question were we instead instructed to ask?

Is there anything else?

The difference is significant, as an affirmative answer here encourages the customer to go ahead and keep ordering, subtly suggesting that perhaps there’s more they would enjoy. I realize now, though, that there’s an even better way to nudge a person to continue speaking what’s on their mind.

What else?

I first picked up this simple but effective question from one of my managers at AWS, as he would use it throughout our 1-on-1 meetings to get me to be honest about what I was thinking and feeling about my job. This question works because unlike the prior one, it assumes that a person already has more to say, nudging them to say it. I know it worked on me (I had no shortage of opinions to share, no doubt).

It reminds me of another short but powerful prompt that can take a conversation to the next level:

Tell me more.

When trying to listen actively, it can be a challenge to think of relevant follow-up questions in real-time, especially with a person who’s taciturn, or if you don’t have a prepared agenda. “What else” and “tell me more” are great because they can be used at any lull in the conversation; keep them at the ready, and they won’t let you down.

“For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn’t have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.”

Stephen Hawking
Home Cooking

Home Cooking

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Decent lighting is essential when wanting to exude professionalism in a video call. But sometimes you either don’t have equipment at hand or don’t want to mess with it. As a stopgap, I’ve discovered that if I open up a few browser windows with light backgrounds they can help illuminate my face, but the results are a bit bluer than I’d otherwise prefer.

It got me thinking if I could build a simple website that would be nothing but an adjustable color background. Behold, the webcam light tool. Not only is the color adjustable via HSL (hue, saturation, lightness) sliders, there’s also a slider in Kelvin if you want to pick a color temperature instead. Color values are saved to browser local storage and remembered on subsequent visits, and automatically synchronize in real-time if you open multiple windows.

With a pair of tall and narrow windows, one on either edge of my ultrawide monitor, the results are pretty good. Chalk one up for creative solutions!

Left Hand, Meet Right Hand

Left Hand, Meet Right Hand

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Earlier this week I got an email from a recruiter. In itself, that’s not a remarkable occurrence, I’ve gotten 263 such emails since I started tracking them back in 2015. What made this one funny is that it was from my current employer.

I’m regularly asked about the corporate culture at AWS, and a common way I’ve described it is being like a large collection of small startups. This decentralization has a number of benefits, not least of which it only rarely feels like I’m working for a curmudgeonly big business (especially when compared to my last large company gig). But every once in a while the disadvantages show.

Be Kind, Not Right

Be Kind, Not Right

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Several months back I read The Phoenix Project, a tale about how one company changed its IT culture to great success. I found the advice mostly good, and the idea of dishing it out in narrative form kept things interesting, though I’d hardly call it a page-turner.

However, one aspect really bugged me about it: the “guru” character Erik is a real piece of work. Talking down to his colleagues. Deliberately getting names wrong. Assuming his own body odor smells of perfume, as the Amazon leadership principle warns against. In the actual world, without kindness, it doesn’t matter if you’re right all the time, no one will listen to you. This is just as true in the realm of technology work: ever been told to RTFM and felt like an idiot? You’re not alone. I have to fight being that kind of jerk, but it’s a fight worth having.

And of course it really shouldn’t be that hard of a fight. Just do the little things: be on time, be responsive, be quick to listen and slow to criticize. Be patient. Treat others as they wish to be treated.

Oh, and learn your colleagues names, both spelling and pronunciation. It’s a basic gesture of respect that goes a long way.

Ketchup

Ketchup

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I’ve written a couple of posts in the past that provide an outline of my career progression. Today’s update is in that vein, as I’ve taken on a new role as a technical manager, getting back into people management after a few years off from it.

I was chatting yesterday with one of my new team members, and he asked me a pointed question. Paraphrased, “Given your technical background, why would you choose to be a manager?”

On my résumé, I describe myself as having

a keen interest in architecting systems that are secure, scaleable, and cost-effective, and then building the organizations best suited to implement them

And therein I think lies the reason. I’m a builder at heart, to which this blog’s domain name testifies. And building great solutions requires building great organizations, and it’s that latter team construction which is a manager’s primary responsibility. So I think it makes sense that the builder mentality can carry over to people, even if the technologies involved differ.

Here’s a great upcoming year!

Slacker Part Deux

Slacker Part Deux

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The advice in Five Nonobvious Remote Work Techniques is broader than just Slack, but given my prior post on best practices, I thought I’d mention it for further reading.

Technique number three from that article made me think of an additional helpful hint for Slack conversation. If you initiate a conversation via at-mention, you should be prepared to dialogue in real-time. There’s a cost to causing an interruption to another person, and one should try to minimize the duration of said interruption by treating the interaction as if it was an in-person conversation.

Also, No Hello. Get to the point.

Be A Slacker

Be A Slacker

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No online collaborative tool is perfect, but when used well, Slack is pretty close. Having participated in multiple Slack workspaces across several organizations over the past few years, I’ve become somewhat opinionated (and hopefully qualified) on what constitutes “used well”. Here’s my take on some best practices:

Yes, I own Slack socks
  • Set up your profile with your real name, and add a high-quality photo. This helps interactions feel more personal, and when communication is done primarily over the Internet, every little bit helps.
  • Set up notification rules and a do not disturb window in preferences.
  • Strongly consider disabling audio notifications, as they can be a distraction to those around you.
  • Conversation in public channels is always the preferred approach.
  • Single-user DMs are acceptable for private conversation, but consider if your discussion might be valuable for others to see and contribute to. When in doubt, go public.
  • Group DMs should almost never be used unless the topic is sensitive and needs immediate response. Otherwise consider using a public channel with @mentions.
  • Temporary channels are an acceptable alternative to group DMs. Prefix them with temp-, and /archive them when conversation is complete. Typically these should not need to exist more than a day or two.
  • Discussion in a public channel where response from a specific small group or individual is needed can be easily accomplished through use of @mentions. Brief side discussions can be done with threads vs. splitting off into a new channel or private DM.
  • @channel notifies all members of a channel, even if they are outside of working hours, and should be reserved for emergencies. @here is almost always more appropriate, as it only notifies members within working hours. Even better is a small list of specific @mentions.
  • Use /mute when you want to stay in a channel but not get notifications from it. @mentions will override mute, so you’re still reachable.
  • Use /dnd when you need to ignore all notifications for a period of time (e.g. to go heads-down on a task, you’re giving a presentation).
  • Consider turning off message preview in notifications, unless you want to run the risk of a sensitive (or embarrassing) message being viewable by others.

Happy Slacking friends!

On The Shoulders Of Giants

On The Shoulders Of Giants

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I took an entire class in compiler theory in college, and really enjoyed it. Can still picture the classroom in my head, in fact (3rd floor of the ENS, all the way in the back past the nursing lab). So how is it that I never learned of Frances Allen, who died last week at 88?

History is a thing that few understand in its entirety. It’s usually treated like a separate subject, but at minimum each of us should endeavor to understand the history of our own fields of study.

Descend Into The Particulars

Descend Into The Particulars

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When I’m asked about interview advice, one suggestion stands far above the rest: be specific.

I want to hear real stories about events that actually happened, not hypothetical situations you might come across in the future. Having a real story to tell that only partly addresses the question is better than a direct answer with no experience to back it up.

Tell me the actions you individually took in the situation, not what the team generally did. A job interview is not the time for false modesty. Be humble and honest about it, of course, but you’re the subject of the interview, not your colleagues.

Explain not just what you did, but how the situation turned out. What were the actual results? If you have metrics or other data you used to measure the outcome, even better, and if you can quote actual numbers, that’s the holy grail.

Finally, what did you learn from the experience, and how would you apply that to future situations? A discussion on learnings is never out of place, no matter the interview question.

Bonus tip: don’t be afraid of negative examples. No one is perfect, and most future successes are predicated on prior failures. As long as you can articulate how the situation changed you for the better, it’s a plus in your column.