Adam Palmblad

My Role

I'm here to help you get things done. I can track things down, remove blockers, answer questions, and do my best to explain the bigger picture as I see it. I want to see you succeed, in your current role, now, and wherever your career takes you.

As a team, I want to work with people I enjoy spending time with. I want to keep us vaguely pointed in the same direction, working together and helping each other move forward. I try to be a bit of process minimalist; if you need more structure or direction, let's chat.

I'm most engaged at work with a hard problem. Point me at a problem and let me go. Sometimes that can be a firedrill or sometimes a longer problem. I'm working to find a better relationship with deadlines; but often end up tackling things close to the deadline.

Communication

Urgency Priority:

in-person
phone
text
IM
email

I like brevity. Longer discussions or things that are intended for a wider audience or a longer life should be put in email (or a document) instead of IM. Keep things clear, direct, and transparent.

If I'm wearing headphones, please use IM first unless it's urgent. If you need to chat, that's great. I've gotten pretty good at zoning into what I'm working on, so don't worry if I seem surprised when you interupt me.

I'm an introvert, and in meetings am often not the first to jump up and say something, generally preferring some reflection. I shoot for quality over quantity.

Feedback

I like feedback and love some from my team. I'll take negative feedback and my team should give it without fear of reprecussions.

Except for quick hits, I tend to prefer receiving it in regular private periods, such as 1:1's.

If you'd like more, please ask.

Generally, I strive to praise in public, and criticize in private. I'll do my best to be clear. When in doubt, especially wiht negative feedback, start with a thank-you, and give it more thought. Feedback can lead to a discussion, but I'm happy to revisit it later if you'd like time to think for a discussion.

I've been told I have a tendency to stay away from superlatives, you may find you need to scale up my phrasing; my "pretty good" might be someone else's great.

From peers, any feedback on how to succeed is appreciated. Catch my eye or pull me aside, and I'd love to grab a coffee.

1:1s

With respect to my team and reports, I like 1:1s on a weekly cadence. Changing that is possible after some time.

I like the walking 1:1, so if you can help me figure out quiet routes outside, great.

For people that report to me, here's the standing agenda I like:

Whatever you want to talk about; the biggest issues taking up space in your head right now
Questions and requests for help from you, feedback for me
Follow ups from past 1:1s, and any relevant other projects
Any feedback I have for you
Issues I've got for you, be that requests for updates, knowledge transfer, or whatever discussions I want to lead

Feedback and career discussions will happen from time to time.

If specific prep is needed from you, I'll let you know. I'll note action items for me, and expect you to do the same for you. Followup on action items is expected.

I'm using 1:1's to build a relationship; as regular, scheduled, contact time where you can feel free to monopolize the agenda; and to ensure that we are taking the time to speak directly on a regular basis.

For me, from a 1:1 with my manager, I like to get an higher level view of what's happening on the team and the organization. Happy to also work together through a tougher problem.

Hours

I like M-F, 8:30 - 17:00. I may be around on email or slack outside that time. Unless previously discussed, or if there's an emergency, I don't expect you to respond to emails outside your regular hours. I've got a toddler and like to be home in time to at least eat, and sometimes prepare, dinner for 6.

For reports, I'm fine with flexible hours, but like consistency and significant overlap amongst me and team members you work closely with.

On Grumpiness and Stress

Grumpiness has lots of causes, generally stress or sleep related. Generally, leaving the stresses of a small business with tight finances has done wonders for my grumpiness - it's hard to find something worse than payroll-making fears.

I'll do my best to hide it, but I might be shorter or quieter.

If I seem stressed, encouragement and minor check-ins can be great, but a deeper dive on the current problem in the middle of it might be frustrating unless I'm stuck; the problem is already likely eating up a ton of my mind.

To deal with it, fresh air, a change of scenery, coffee or other BEvERages generally can help. I've been told by coworkers they can tell when it's been awhile since I've been out in the mountains, so that's definitely another outlet. Regular biking also helps.

About Me

I've cofounded a startup, and worked through its acquisition and the acquisition of its acquirer. I miss that firehose sometimes. In early 2018, my first child was born. My daughter (and family) are taking more time, and I'm trying to lead a regular schedule to help spend time with her when she's awake.

Baked Goods

Homemade is best, but something delicious from an independent baker is great too. As for what, let's go with brownies.

Where's this from?

I came across the idea for a readme strangely enough from some spam from techvibes (They used to share an office with us). Seemed like a reasonable thing, so I took a first stab in 2018. Updated in 2019-09 for a Clio training program.

https://techvibes.com/2018/06/27/eight-things-we-learned-from-reading-49-manager-readmes https://larahogan.me/blog/first-one-on-one-questions/