Working with people is hard. A colleague.readme document is a way to help others on the team get to know you. It's an extension of manager.readme which helps leaders clarify expectations and build stronger relationships with their team.
Colleague.readme is a document which is shared with the team and preferably made public. It contains some mandatory and some optional sections. Feel free to remix the order or titles.
| Section | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic bio | Mandatory | Who are you? Create some context for your colleagues. What hobbies do you have? Family? Pets? What topics should people ask you questions about? | I'm an American that lives in Croatia with my wife, Maggie. I've had a huge variety of jobs and lived in a ton of places. I like the Seattle Sounders, dogs (currently owning a Golden named Dina), playing and designing board games, and reading sci-fi. Ask me about US politics :D |
| Role | Mandatory | What is your role at the company? This is not just your title. | I'm a Technical Product Manager. My role is to make sure developers know what to focus on and to help answer technical questions about the product's roadmap. |
| Personal path | Optional | How did you reach this place? What jobs have you had before and where will you go next? | I'm a reformed developer and I want to develop skills to move towards a COO position. I've also worked in telecom, call centers, and a bodega. |
| Behaviors | Optional | Have you taken mbti, four tendencies, or disc profiles? Other pseudo-science tests? Feel free to share the results. | I'm an extrovert and a high D (disc). |
| Values | Optional | What are some values that you hold dear to your heart? | - Speak the truth even if it's painful. - Pay debts owed, technical and social. - Maintain balance: life and work; wants and needs. - Consider your impact, since everything is connected. - Relax and breathe. |
| My approach | Mandatory | What's your theory on business, development, or other? What values do you hold? | I like double-diamond design. I prefer removable code over expandable code. |
| Successes | Mandatory | Where do you excel? Note that this is not a skill map, but a couple items. | - Improving processes - I hate bureaucracy and will do my best to eliminate pointless tasks. - Asking questions - I try to ask questions that make you think. Sometimes I ask questions so that I can learn. It's okay to take time to answer. |
| Quirks | Mandatory | We all have opportunities to improve. What are some areas that you are focusing on? | - Abandoning "the plan" - I like to have a plan. I like the plan. Sometimes it's hard for me to abandon the plan for a new plan. - Lack of recognition - When someone isn't getting the recognition they deserve, I get upset. I can and should handle this in a less emotional way. - Talking too much - I'm very passionate about some topics and have a tendency to dominate conversation on certain topics. |
| Receiving communication | Optional | A communicator should adjust their message based on the recipient. Sometimes the speaker will have to overstate or understate things depending on if the audience will filter or be sensitive to the message. This is the legend for the speaker. | - Positive - About right - Negative - I'm sensitive here so please consider understating negative fee |
| Favorite pastry | Mandatory | Why this? Who doesn't love a treat now and then... | Snickerdoodles! |
The document you create should be formatted into paragraphs. You can find my formatted version here:
https://github.com/FutureBranch/colleague.readme/tree/master/stevetauber