‘Manual of Me’ is a way of sharing our individual preferences at work so we can better understand ourselves and others. I’ve used this tool before, but realised after participating in this exercise at a recent team away day that I’ve learned more about myself in recent months and therefore it was worth an update.
Thanks to Cassie Robinson for the template: https://cassierobinson.medium.com/a-user-manual-for-me-d3a851fbc694
Conditions I like to work in
- I like working at home as I can control the temperature and light levels in a way I simply can’t in the office. Lighting in particular is important for me, as I occasionally get light-sensitive migraines.
- I generally like a noisy environment, either office chatter or music.
- There will always be a bottle/cup of water on my desk.
The times/hours I like to work
- If I had complete control over my diary I’d work 11am-7pm, but I’ve yet to find an organisation that fully embraces asynchronous working and my role involves a fair amount of talking to other people, so I work roughly 9am-5.30pm to align with the majority of schedules.
- I’m not a morning person so prefer to work solo for the first hour of the day; don’t expect coherent sentences if you call me before 9.30.
- I try not to work over lunchtimes or at the weekends, else I burn out quickly.
The best ways to communicate with me
- I prefer the informality and brevity of messaging apps, usually Slack or Teams. Because text lacks some of the nuance of speech I use emoji liberally, and appreciate when someone sends me a well-chosen GIF.
- Please give me some context in your message before asking me to engage. Just ‘hello’ is unnerving (especially if you’re more senior). https://nohello.net/en
- If something can’t be resolved over message then let’s have a call. I prefer video over phone if possible as it allows me to read non-verbal cues, and I don’t feel so pressured to fill the silences.
The ways I like to receive feedback
- Little and often. If I’m not doing something right I want to know about it as soon as possible so I can course-correct.
- I prefer written feedback over verbal. I’ve been burned in the past by unexpected and unsolicited feedback in meetings. Written feedback allows me to process the words properly, rather than replaying in my head and misinterpreting, and it also allows me to process my emotional reaction before responding.
Things I need
- Time with users / stakeholders to explore their needs and challenges.
- A general sense of what else is going on in the wider team/digital function, as I work best when I can spot patterns and connections and recommend where we could collaborate. I can find a lot of this myself through Show and Tells / blog posts / virtual coffees if I’m given some freedom over my diary.
- A brief purpose statement / agenda in meeting invites. It really doesn’t need to be extensive — one sentence will often suffice — but it helps me shift gears between conversations about varied topics when I know what’s coming up.
- People around me who think differently and have different specialisms. I thrive when able to learn from their expertise and engage in constructive debate.
Things I struggle with
- If I don’t get a break at lunchtime I’ll power through the afternoon just fine, but my energy levels will dip significantly in the evening and the following day. Even just 20 minutes away from the screen allows me to work at a more sustainable pace.
- Completely unstructured days. It’s unusual that I have a meeting-free day, and when I do it’s quite disorientating. I focus better when I have a few milestones to break up the day (e.g. stand up, lunch break, other meetings).
- When I send work out for feedback and it disappears into the ether. This can feel isolating and can stall my progress.
Things I love
- Sugary snacks
- Social slack channels — #bakeoff and #playlist are particular favourites
- Reading blog posts from other teams about what they do, and (more importantly) how they went about it
- Meetings that finish early
- Mentoring junior folks, and talking to people wanting to move into digital careers about what we do
Other things to know about me
- I’m motivated by the ‘why’ of the work — who will benefit from what we do? How does our work make a world a better place? I’m likely to ask a lot of questions in this space, not because I’m trying to pick holes in the work but because I’m trying to understand it better and see how best to play my part.
- I’m a fairly prolific social media user. It isn’t just a ‘fun’ thing for me, it’s where I make connections and find out about interesting projects and methods, and I regularly bring those findings back to my team.
