For a while I have been thinking about what I expect from myself and the people I work with.
Also, I learned that you should never assume that people get your expectations without clearly communicating them. So this is why I felt compelled to write what I expect. To use it as a reference for myself, and the people I work with.
- Reliability: Being on time for meetings. Doing the things you said you would. Not letting things slip. Following through. Sticking to a deadline. Pushing through if needed.
- Proactivity: Not waiting for someone to ask, but communicating proactively. Fixing a problem when you see it. Not waiting for permission to do something. Thinking 2 steps ahead. Getting started even though you don't have perfect information.
- Optimism: Believing in the vision (while sharing genuine criticism). Asking "what if this works". Focusing on how something can work, not how it will fail.
- Honesty: Sharing what is going on in full honesty. Owning if you did something wrong. Not twisting the reality to look good. Not holding back with the truth you see.
- Intensity: Treating work as binary (either i work with intensity, or i don't). Doing your work with hunger to do your best. Always wanting to increase the ceiling of what you are capable of in a day.
- Good work: Relentless commitment to doing your best work. Obsessing over getting faster and better at your work. Focussing on the end result. Drive to always improve and learn.
- Muscle to finish: Not being okay with work being always 80% done. Finishing something daily. Driving yourself and the people around you to finish. Not let work be work-in-progress for days, but hours.
- Details: Developing an eye for detail. Caring about the details, obsessing even. While keeping the balance to get things done.
- Speed: Moving fast. Dissatisfaction with being slow. This doesn't mean working 80 hours a week. It may mean working 30 but with 3x the intensity and speed. Speed in getting the end result.
Surely there's plenty more. But these are values in the attitude I expect from the people I work with. Which decreases the number of people I enjoy working with in our world significantly. That's okay I guess.
I will come back to this list to extend it. And add expectations I figure out I find important over time.