Joyful Greetings for the day from Berlin and Herzlich Willkommen(Welcome)! :) My name is Mohnish & thank you for taking your valuable time to drop by! :) It's nice to have you here! :)
What is this document?
A personal user manual is a short living document outlining how you like to work, collaborate, communicate and receive feedback. There are elements of this doc, that one can also personalise to include things they value š
Why did I want to make this document for myself?
An all hands meeting at an old organisation I used to work for laid emphasis on the importance of getting continuous feedback and I believe that regular feedback from my colleagues(outside of an official performance/feedback review cycle at a company) will empower me to improve much faster and thereby do more fulfilling work in an individual and team context. This document is also like a sneak peek into me as a fellow human and touches upon some things I value š
About Mohnish:
In 140 characters the following characteristics describe me best - Human being driven by values | Programmer | Cares about people & his work | Coach | Mentor | Open source contributor | People Person
My Objective:
To be of service & example as a human-centered software engineer/leader in oneās thoughts, attitude, words & actions.
My Leadership Philosophy:
People & relationships come before anything else & building bridges of understanding(using a combination of human & engineering values as one of the ways to drive behavior) & trust help foster a regular feedback culture which in turn builds better autonomous & high performing teams as looking out for each other becomes second nature in normal & in testing times.
Discuss communication challenges openly, use personal strengths, share knowledge, encourage people to fail forward, build informal relationships, ask for feedback, be a learner, a multiplier, a mentor & coach, be an active listener, ask the right questions, celebrate small wins, challenge people, have cheerful conversations, be self, relationally & culturally aware, care about peopleās well being, be humble, reflective, vulnerable, accountable, equitable, adaptable, inclusive, have a higher purpose & cultivate joy, have a feedback culture & a positive attitude to live by each day that naturally inspires people to be a better version of themselves & also pay it forward.
How would I like to receive feedback?
"Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't" - Bill Nye. I value receiving feedback in general from anyone(including upward feedback) and I'll be grateful to receive feedback from anyone as there are things that I may not be able to see what somebody else may see and I deeply value that perspective. I personally relate with the quote: āPraise in public and criticise in privateā(except for the ācriticiseā part, as I personally prefer to use āgive constructive actionable feedbackā instead), this is my default rule of thumb almost always when communicating feedback.
A number of my experiences thus far in the professional world have taught me that texting can many times be a brilliant way to miscommunicate how one feels and misinterpret what one means. With that in mind, if there are areas where I could potentially do better, Iād highly encourage you to send me a DM(through a communication tool like slack) to share a brief agenda on what the feedback is about and I'd be more than happy to set up a meeting to discuss the feedback. I'm also open for in-person 1 to 1 feedback when feasible.
When it comes to feedback, Iām a big believer in "ask, don't tell". IMHO it's important to separate the act from the person. Values like āassume best intentionsā & talking in terms of how one feels help with having intention revealing & more open-ended conversations to understand better where each of us is originally coming from and helps one learn more about the circumstances that could have influenced our behavior. All this eventually leads to better working relationshipsš
My work quirks
I do my best work when I..