Team User Manual
A practical way to get to know our colleagues. What are our strengths, challenges, improvement goals, prefered ways to communicate and get feedback…
We will discuss together and update once or twice a year. We store it somewhere everyone can find it, so it is a useful onboarding intro for new team members.
*To use it: make a copy of this file in your own folder and share with your team. Please make sure you don’t change this copy.
�We adopted this practice from Mark Eddleston, read more here: Team User Manual
Manual for: EXAMPLE
Working style: N.E.W.S: East-North
Conditions I like to work in:
- pomodoro style work sprints with breaks (50/10 minute)
- clear time bound expectations
- slow pace, non-frantic (unless really necessary)
Other things to know about me:
- I don’t like the US work ethic, I like breaks, naps, and vacation
- I like to bike
- Talk to me about politics and far out ideas
- I’m an artist
- I do hand poked tattoos
The hours I like to work:
- 9-4 MST
- Morning meetings, afternoon for focused time
Preferred comm style & channel:
- Chat for quick questions and coordination
- Email or task system for to-do items. Getting tasks in ephemeral systems (like chat) is hard to track
The ways I like to get feedback:
- Direct, in the moment
- Send me a private message: ‘can I talk to you about {topic}’ and wait for consent
- attempting to soften criticism or hard feedback doesn’t feel good to me
Things I love:
- programmatic thinking
- visualizing complex topics
- ritual and intuitive “magical” thinking, using tarot or esoteric tools to solve mundane problems
- visual art
- configuring systems, building automation, writing code
- using regex to solve problems
My current improvement goals:
- hold down a rhythm
- embrace leadership, avoid getting stuck in endless consensus seeking
- do more writing and content creation
Things I struggle with:
- caring about artificial deadlines
- setting boundaries, enmeshing with people, co-dependence, people pleasing
- context switching (going from big picture to details)
What supports me:
- project management, task assignment
- confirmation that I’m an authentic “yes” for something
- authentic praise, direct critical feedback
- deadlines
- I take full and new moon days off for personal spiritual nonsense
Manual for:
Working style: ( N.E.W.S )
Conditions I like to work in:
Other things to know about me:
The hours I like to work:
The ways I like to get feedback:
Things I love:
My current improvement goals:
Things I struggle with:
What supports me: