User Manual: Working With Juan

When I first received one of these “Working With XYZ” documents, my immediate reaction was negative— perceiving the author’s decision to create it as overly presumptuous. However, over time, I really came to appreciate just how much time and energy was saved for both of us just by my learning these things upfront about the other person. Rather than slowly getting to know each other’s values, expectations, communication styles, etc., we were able to go much further in less time and essentially skip past months (or perhaps even years) of trial and error by using a document just like this one.?

This isn’t a “must” list and I don’t expect anybody reading this to now try to get every nuance right all the time. Not only would that be an unreasonable expectation on my part, but it would also be impractical and unnecessary. Instead of a “must” list, please see this as a cheat sheet to keep my parts of our group projects performing at their best (at your willing discretion). I do realize that this is my responsibility to keep up and not yours; this document is just a reference guide and hopefully a helpful, while admittedly imperfect, tool ??.?

Examples of User Manuals:

• Sid Sijbrandij CEO @ GitLab - CEO Handbook
• Claire Hughes Johnson Advisor @ Stripe - Working with Claire
• Adam Nathan CEO @ Almanac, Blaze - CEO User Guide
• Atlassian - "My User Manual" Team Playbook
• Aidan Cammies Associate Consultant @ Red Hat - Aidan Cammies's User Manual

In the spirit of believing that relationships are a two-way street, I would love to see your own user guide in case you have one! Happy to keep your preferences in mind.?

Hope these kinds of conversations and documents help us do great things as a team.?

Values

I co-authored GrowthMasters’s company values and see them as my own:?

• Do What You Say You’re Going to Do
• Target-Audience Obsessed
• Excellent Communicator
• Formidable Leader
• Simple Solutions
• Good Vibes
• Results

Below you’ll find a few more that are perhaps a bit more unique to me personally rather than the ones above which pertain to the company as a whole.?

Humble Top Performance

I get along best with humble top performers; or, in other words, people who are down to earth (low ego) and highly competent.?

1. Humble: Signs of humility I look for include having great listening skills, not reacting emotionally to others, and having a curious mindset of always learning. My antithesis is “smart jerks”.?
2. Top Performer: Competence can look a lot of different ways for different people. Something that is perhaps non-intuitive about what I value related to competence is an affinity for attention to detail; for example, flawless spelling, capitalization, grammar, math, fonts, colors, spacing, etc. I really do notice people who have clean execution in everything they do and this sticks out to me as something I love seeing in people I work with and the type of professional that I also strive to be. That being said, we all make mistakes— things don’t have to be perfect, but I do value seeing evidence of the relentless pursuit of excellence in the work of the people I surround myself with. I would much rather work with people who strive for excellence in both the big picture AND the details of their work rather than collaborate with people who would claim the latter doesn’t matter and is not even worth pursuing. You have my commitment to also bring a high attention to detail to the work that I do.?

Resourcefulness

This is perhaps the first lesson of entrepreneurship:

I admire people who find smart and creative solutions to overcome difficulties using what they already have— rather than what they would like to have.?

I don’t tend to work very well with people who constantly get stuck and who would rather be idle than make a mistake. This leads me to the next point…

Bias for Action

I’m a big believer that “perfect is the enemy of good”.?

Insisting on perfection can prevent the implementation of lots of good and iterative improvements. I see perfection as static and fixed, but life (and business), as dynamic. People who know how to balance high standards and quality without sacrificing speed and lean solutions are my favorite kinds of professionals to work with. Our company history is full of ambitious, well-intentioned initiatives for robust and scaleable solutions that to this day are just ideas that never got implemented. I’m much prouder of the lean-and-done items shipped as a business than I am about the countless todos that are still getting assessed; those are embarrassing in my mind by comparison.?

High Impact

Please picture an untrained martial arts fighter energetically jumping, punching, and kicking at an enemy only to get worn out and in the end get defeated.

Now, picture a seasoned and wise fighter who studies his opponent carefully and then delivers just one precise blow that is so powerful and so focused that it immediately knocks out the enemy.?

I see these fighters as a visual representation of low-impact vs high-impact professionals.?

I like working with the “seasoned and wise” high-impact professionals who are very selective about what they work on; careful not to react to just any problem but instead only the biggest and most important problems and, even then, they don’t deploy any first-reaction solution but instead the simplest, leanest, most effective solution that would deliver the best results with the least risk and requiring the least upfront and recurring resources possible.?

I absolutely love working with people who can prioritize like this and who take pride in all the things they’re not doing so they can do the things that matter extremely well. Doing “more” for more’s sake isn’t cool; being world-class at picking the right problems and then addressing those things well?: THAT’S cool.?

To frame it in the inverse, I’m skeptical of people who gravitate towards busy work and an endless supply of quantity over quality ideas. If it’s low impact, it’s dangerous to even talk about. It’s either one of our top problems and we have an excellent solution for it, or it’s not a big problem/no excellent solution = “why are we even talking about this?”.

I recently came across an SEO agency’s website that seemed to have this as a value as well.?

Here’s a screenshot for reference:?

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Here’s a slide from Salesforce AI’s CEO and Starbucks Board Member Clara Shih 's presentation at Stanford titled What No One Tells You About Entrepreneurship. She spoke on the importance of this topic at around the 18:40 mark. Sharing for reference:

Weaknesses

Assessing, Scoping, and Managing Projects

I can project manage and get into the details of scoping out initiatives but don’t enjoy doing so. Making sure that projects are always on track (scope, assignees, deadlines) and that things don’t slip through the cracks is not my strong suit and something that I look to others for support with.?

Bottlenecking Actions or Decisions

I’m a resource to be managed and have my flaws and honest human errors just like anybody else. Please don’t hesitate to follow up with me, let me know if/when I’m the bottleneck for something, and loop me in strategically to move your projects forward. I don’t want to make things worse (why would I want that ??) so if I am, please kindly let me know and share a bit about your thought process so we can keep up our momentum.?

I care way more about us growing together than I do about being right or having my way. We’re a team!?

Communication Style

US Business Etiquette Generalities

In my personal relationships, I hold values and behaviors of both the Colombian (where I was born) and the US (where I was raised and have lived for ~25 years) cultures. However, in business and for the majority of our work together, I definitely skew to US business etiquette over any other cultural approach.?

Some American business generalities that resonate with me include the points below. I’ve included what an alternative style would be for clarity:?

1. A high value is placed on punctuality and time management. Alternative Style: The opposite playbook might value, for example, quality time and depth of relationships over punctuality/time management.
2. Strict adherence to agreed terms (viewing deviations as exceptions rather than norms). Alternative Style: An alternative approach would be to consider agreements as sketches that are flexible.
3. Emphasis on merit over “personal relationships”. Alternative Style: The opposite would be to value relationships (e.g. personal friends, business friends, family members) over the merit of the work together. For example, hiring personal friends because they’re friends instead of hiring the best person for the job.

Slack

The best way for us to communicate is Slack; by FAR. Not a quick call, not a Zoom, not email, not Asana, not WhatsApp. Slack— in writing.

1. I want frequent proactive Slack messages and updates. I don’t see them as “spam”; instead the opposite is true where I find myself distrusting people I work with whom I never hear from. Messages about what themes you’re working on, what problems you’re running into, what you plan on doing next, etc are very very appreciated— especially from managers.?
2. When you’re writing a Slack message, please send everything you want me to see all at once and already organized using tools like bullet points, font formatting, hyperlinks, etc. We’re an asynchronous, remote organization and should assume that recipients will get back to us at a later time and will need all the info necessary to respond to the messages all at once. We don’t use Slack like a live support chat. We use it more like email that we have to get back to within 24 hours during the workweek.
3. Pro tip: you’re welcome to mute your Slack notifications so you can batch-check them. This is what I do so I’m not getting notifications throughout the day. Instead, I plan when I check Slack and I try to get to inbox zero at those times. I do this multiple times per day (~5-10 times).

Example of a clean and proactive Slack message by GrowthMasters Head of Content, Angelee Carandang. We talk every single day, multiple times per day, across various topics and channels. She’s an excellent role model for how to communicate well asynchronously.

Management Style

High Involvement

Connected to the value of High Impact, I want to take on a select few high-impact initiatives at any given moment so I have the time and attention necessary to participate in the projects that are within my sphere of influence. You can expect to see me roll up my sleeves and be in the weeds of specific, tactical problems with you. To know about the tools we’re using, to create my own content, to do my own outreach, to constantly learn about our industry. I’m right there with you, shoulder to shoulder.?

I expect my direct reports to do the same with their teams and initiatives.

Accountability

Not only is it ok to decide to not do something but it’s also desirable and necessary as we prioritize and execute.?

However, forgetting to do things or letting things slip through the cracks is not ok. My intention is to have a management style that is friendly, kind, and forgiving while at the same time precise and just when it comes to things we said we would do, deadlines we said we would meet, quality we were aiming for, and experiments that didn’t turn out how we wanted them to.?

We will learn from our mistakes and reflect on them; not because we’re combative but because we’re partnering in learning together and we can only do this if we identify the right problems and bottlenecks while taking responsibility of our contribution to those. Leaders who take no responsibility or who default to blaming their clients, team, tools, etc., are no leaders in my eyes.?

You Lead Conversations

Whenever we meet, I want you to prepare what we are here to talk about and to keep us on track with those topics. For you to take your own notes, set up your own todos, and walk away with your own project management needs met from our meeting.?

I respect direct reports who take the lead; we’re partnering on projects and this is a flat organization— I don’t see our meetings as me “being the boss telling you what to do”; I actually see that as an outdated and dysfunctional style of management. Instead, we are a team and we’re here to talk about what you prepared or need so you can move your projects forward.?

You tell me what you need and why; I’ll do my best to provide those things or share context/direction so we can update your needs accordingly.?

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This document is a work in progress! I’ll keep updating it over time as I learn new things. Thank you again for your time and attention.?

To our growth! ??

Warm regards,

Juan