I originally wrote this doc to share with people who joined my team at Dropbox, but in the interest of maximum transparency for applicants, this now lives on the public internet so that anyone who’s considering joining our amazing team can understand more about what it would be like to work here and with me. Everything that follows is written primarily with my internal team members in mind.
This doc is not a mandate - it represents my default approach, and where I can better serve you, I’ll try to flex out of it. This doc has been evolving throughout my working career as I gain experience and feedback. If you have your own doc, please feel free to send it my way, so I can better adapt to what will make you happy and successful. If you have comments or feedback on this doc, please let me know!
I make decisions in writing - I strongly recommend Paul Graham’s beautiful piece on Writing vs Speaking. Given writing’s value, we’ll tend to make most decisions via writing instead of talking. I’ll take the extra time to give you clear, reasoned thinking and I’ll work with you to develop this skill if you need help with it.
I write for clarity - My written communication style is optimized for speed and clarity. Sometimes when people first meet me, they think I don’t like them because of this, but it’s not true! On the other side of the keyboard is somebody who cares about you, and just wants to get you quick, clear answers :)
I say what I think - Generally, I state what I think and why in a pretty straightforward manner. People who are on my team for a while appreciate the clear visibility into my thinking process and not needing to worry about me hiding things. This is the best way to communicate with me too.
I debate if I disagree, and sometimes even when I don’t - If you disagree with anything that I’m doing or saying, I strongly prefer that you say something. I was raised by scientists, so I cherish alternative views and tend to view good faith disagreement as healthy collaboration. I think healthy organizations are ones where views and counterpoints are shared openly. When I push back on things, if I’m wrong, I’d rather hear why - don’t concede if you have conviction.
I “solve” things - If you come to me with a problem, I’m probably going to try to “solve” it. I’m trying to flex into 2 different approaches. First, asking the right questions to help trigger your thinking to solve the issue yourself. Second, when warranted, is leading with empathizing over solving. I’m pretty good at these things when prompted, so if I’m taking the wrong approach, please help by reminding me.
I like slack emojis, there’s a guide to what they mean at harmonic here.
When I call you - I may sometimes call you out of the blue, or set up quick meetings without context. It’ll frequently be to debrief calls and next steps, but outside of that context, I’ll never surprise somebody with bad news or constructive feedback via a meeting with no context or a call out of the blue. So if I’m calling you with no context, it’s not a high stakes interaction.
I’m pretty “always on”, though everyone sleeps, and I do that from roughly 12:30am to 8:30am EST.
Phone - For anything urgent, call me. If I’m in DND use your judgment and call me twice. If we’re going back and forth on Slack, I may sometimes just huddle you if we’re free to continue that conversation live.
Email/Slack - Because we don’t use email internally, I kinda treat this as the same queue and will use both as a todo list. It’s important to me to make time to focus intently on one thing at a time whether meetings or something I’m working on. But probably on average every 60 minutes or so, I’ll clear my email and slack to 0 and I certainly never end the day without clearing these to 0.
Texting - Text me your full name to and I’ll add you to my contacts. This will make it so I don’t automatically decline your calls if you ever want to call me. I will answer your text messages, even if I’m live in an internal meeting, so it’s a good way to grab me if you need something more urgently.
Scheduling meetings - My calendar is always up to date, inclusive of all work and personal commitments. I’d ask that you do the same during business hours, so people know how to best schedule with you. If you want time with me, please book any available time slot without asking, I trust your judgment. As long as it’s not too hard to find time, I prefer meetings between 9:30am and 6:30pm Eastern.
With my reports, I like to have the below recurring meetings. Please set them up.