My personal user manual
Why bother to write a personal user manual?
I’ve been working remotely for almost all of my professional career. That is, before it was (un)popularized by the COVID-19 pandemic…
Ever wondered why some folks respond differently to others? I do. Ever wondered what is and what is not acceptable?
Ever felt it’s harder to grasp the working culture?
I figured I’d try to make it easier for everyone and put up a set of tips, directly so that you don’t have to wonder when reaching me using the internet.
Paweł Kapała’s Personal User Manual
Below you can find my Personal User Manual.
What is my work style?
I appreciate my time dedicated to deep work. For deep work to happen, I allocate larger time blocks during which I try to stay focused and minimize interruptions (notifications, meetings, chats). Every so often, I take breaks in which I actively check email and 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 (and more rarely, urgent) matters first. It is critical for me to look at the bigger picture to understand what the most important thing is (usually a single thing) and why. Outside of deep work, I’m an active debater and collaborator who will try to understand the why, what, and how of approaching problems. I will ask a lot of general questions (for myself to answer, too) that help me understand what the problem is and how to solve it, applying tradeoffs and engineering practices: including cost, time, and quality. Those might sometimes be elementary questions, but I try to be the dumbest person in the room. My special power is asking “grenade questions” to double-check and find loopholes in assumptions.
What are my values?
I value direct communication. No bull^%&it! I do my job, and I expect others to do theirs too. With the exception of priorities, I rarely want to be told what I should or should not be doing. Humor is a catalyst when a meeting gets tense. I try to drop in a silly remark, a gif, or at least a Rick and Morty emoji if I sense it’s getting 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, offline is preferred for problems that are ill-defined or require refining). Once there is enough clarity, or a hard problem is broken down into medium-sized problems, a video or voice call is usually enough. Sometimes I use video, sometimes I don’t. During calls, I’m usually on the move, as calls are exhausting. When using text, try to use enumerations (or threads if the communication tool supports it), so it is easier to relate to specific 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 to the table, often enriched with ideas. Albeit I try to phrase those suggestions as solutions to problems, sometimes authors get offended instead. It is never my intention to attack people; I keep the focus on problems and the products of our 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 summarized with a paragraph of text, or when no input is required. Secondly: Bureaucracy. Corporate bureaucracy. Processes for the sake of it. Standardization 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.