My personal user manual
Why bother to write a personal user manual?
I’ve been working remotely almost all my proffessional career. That is, before it was (un)popularized by the COVID-19 pandemic…
Ever wondered why some folks respond differently to the other? I do. Ever wondered what is and what is not acceptable?
Ever felt it’s harder to grasp the working culture?
I figured I’ll try to make it easier for every one, and put up a set of tips, directly so that you don’t have to wonder when reaching me using internet medium.
Paweł Kapała’s Personal User Manual
Below you can find my Personal User Manual
What is my work style?
I apprecieate my time dedicated to deep work. For deep work to happen I allocate larger time blocks, during which I try to stay focused and try to minimise interruptions (notificatins, meetings, chats). Once so often I take breaks in which I actively check email, IMs and then I respond. This essentially means I will not answer your call/im/email immediately while in deep work. I try to focus on the most important (more rarely urgent) matters first. It is critical for me to understand looking at a bigger picture what is the most important thing (usually single thing) and why. Outside of deep work, I’m an active debater and collaborator who will try to understand why, what and how to approach problems. I will ask a lot of general questions (for myself to answer too), that would help understand what is the problem and how to solve it, applying tradeoffs and engineering practices: including cost, time and quality. Those might be sometimes elementary questions, but I try to be the dumbest person in the room. My special power are “granade questions” double checking and trying to find loopholes in assumptions.
What are my values?
I value direct communication. No bul^%&it! I do my job, I expect others to do it too. With the exception of priorites, I rarely want to be told what I should or should not be doing. Humor is a catalyst when a meeting get’s tense. I try to drop in a silly remark or a gif or at least a Rick and Morty emoji if I sense it gets too hot. There are no crazy ideas. I don’t think outside the box. The box usually does not exist for me.
How to communicate with me
It depends on the problem. Complex problems usually require more direct communication (so in-person, off line is prefered for problems that are ill-defined or require refining). Once there is enough clarity or hard problem is broken down into medium sized problems, usually video or voice call is enough. Sometimes I use video sometimes I don’t. During calls, I’m usually on the move, as calls are exhausgting. When using text, try to use enumerations (or threads if the communication tool supports it), so it is easier to relate to parts of the message.
What people misunderstand about me
I’m a curious person, so I will ask why questions or bring why-not suggestions directly, often enriched with suggestions. Albeit I try to phrase those suggestions as solutions to problems sometimes authors get offended instead. Never, my intention is to address people, keeping focus on problems and products of work. The latter I can discuss and help improve.
What I don’t have patience for
For starters: meetings. Especially meetings with a lot of people, with no agenda or goal. Meetings that can be summarised with a paragraph of text, when no input is required. Secondly: Burecracy. Corporate burecracy. Processees for the sake of it. Standarisation should in theory help ship products faster, not impede regular work.
How to help me
Be direct. Focus on the problem. One thing at a time. Baby steps.