Regular 1:1 meetings with your manager are one of the most important meetings you can have. A well-run 1:1 allows you to achieve a lot of things, including:
- Having an opportunity for quick pieces of feedback both from—and to—your manager
- Staying informed of big-picture stuff that might impact you and your team
- Building a trusting relationship with your manager
- Getting feedback on that 10% formed idea you have, that you're just not ready to share widely yet
- Making sure you have a focused place to address those important topics that are hard to carve out time for (e.g. career development)
From the point of view of the employee, 1:1s are a great opportunity to be proactive about your career advancement and become a better engineer. From the point of view of the manager, 1:1s are an ideal opportunity to learn quickly about any frustrations and annoyances before they become larger issues.
1:1s are a key part of growing personally and professionally in your role. The key to a good 1:1 meeting is the understanding that it is the employee's meeting rather than the manager's meeting, and that, you should take ownership of proactively setting the agenda for your 1:1s
At Packback, everybody should expect to have 1:1 meetings with their managers weekly, and additionally have skip-level 1:1s (that is: 1:1s with their manager's manager) on a regular cadence.
You are responsible for coming up with discussion topics for your 1:1 with your manager. This is your opportunity to discuss issues that are on your mind, such as:
- Questions about the business
- Problems that are on your mind
- Blockers to current work
- Career goals and aspirations
- Questions about our product or architecture
While discussion should primarily be driven by you, your manager may also come to a 1:1 with things that they need to discuss, such as:
- Upcoming changes to the team, our process, or the business that might affect you
- Feedback on your performance
These topics should be addressed in every 1:1.
- Is there anything on your mind? Are there any specific issues you want to discuss? - You should spend the majority of the time in your 1:1 here. This is your chance to talk about areas where you want to grow. This may be in the form of questions about the business, product, or technical architecture; asking for feedback on an area where you are having trouble; or talking about what you want for the future of your career and what needs to happen to get you there. If you have feedback or suggestions of how to improve our process, let them know.
- How is your relationship with your manager? (Skip-level only) - During skip-level 1:1s (with your manager's manager), share feedback on how your manager is doing. Do you feel supported by them and satisfied with the coaching you are receiving? What can they do to improve?
These topics don't need to be covered every week, but you should discuss them frequently (as needed).
- How are you doing on your OKRs? - Discuss any changes to your progress towards OKRs, especially changes to the status of your OKRs (completed, on-track, behind, at-risk). This is a great opportunity to discuss risks to hitting OKRs and come up with strategies to get as much value as possible from OKRs if they fall behind.
- How are you feeling about your work at Packback? - Share with your manager how you're feeling. We value developer joy, and want to create a work environment that fosters happiness and satisfaction. For example if there is something you've enjoyed working on and want to do more of in the future, let your manager know. On the flip side, if you're feeling burnt out, frustrated, or bad about something related to your job, talk to your manager about it.
- Do any items from last week need follow-up conversation? - Discuss any unresolved items from your last 1:1 that still require additional conversation.
- How is your relationship with your manager? (Skip-level only) - During skip-level 1:1s (with your manager's manager), share feedback on how your manager is doing. Do you feel supported by them and satisfied with the coaching you are receiving? What can they do to improve?
Maybe you have nothing to discuss because everything is going swimmingly. In this case, it is OK—so long as your manager agrees—for you to occasionally cancel a 1:1. Your manager should never cancel a 1:1 with you, since this is your time (although please note your manager may need to occasionally reschedule a 1:1 if something comes up).
If you're short on ideas, you can use the questions like the ones below to prompt conversation. This source has a lot more great examples.
- Do you have any feedback for me? (This can be asked by either person. Feedback should flow both ways!)
- How can we make our 1:1s more helpful?
- What do you want to be doing in [6 mo, 1 yr, 2 yrs] that you're not doing now?
- What elements of our process have room for improvement?
- Is there a specific area of our tech stack that you'd like to know more about?