Working with Priya: my ‘User Manual’
I recently attended Agile in the City Bristol, where I was introduced to this new technique of people drafting their own ‘user manual’ — a guide to help other people work effectively with them.
But I’m not a gadget; why do I need user manual for myself?
Yes, it’s true you’re not a gadget. But we do work in teams, and in order to work effectively, we need to:
- Understand each other better
- Rapidly disclose our preferences
- Help form the working practices for the team
- Make it easy for other people to understand why you react, work and do as you do (instead of simply ‘how’ people experience working with you)
When is the right time to do this with my team?
Any time is a good time. You can do this when a new team starts or with your existing team.If you’re joining or forming a new team, it’s a good exercise to do as part of your project kick-off.
Or maybe you’ve been working with your team for couple of years, but you still don’t understand why some of them hate meetings in afternoon! It’s a useful tool for understanding these differences too.
Do I have to share it with the whole world?
You write your own user manual. It should only contain things which you are okay to share with others. If you’re still concerned, start by sharing it just with one person who you’re comfortable with.
If you are happy with it, then consider sharing it with rest of your team or the people who work closely with you.
If your team is really bold, consider storing your user manuals in your team area. This may help new people or people outside your team to get to know you all better!
But what do I write in my user manual?
These are some of the things you can cover. But you can modify these depending on what you or your team thinks may help or hinder.
- Conditions I like to work in
- The times/hours I like to work
- The best ways to communicate with me
- Things I struggle with
- Things I love
- The ways I like to receive feedback
- What drives me nuts
- Other things to know about me
- Things that people might misunderstand about you that you should clarify
But where is your ‘user manual’?
Here you go. Come and talk to me if you ever had a moment with me when you thought ‘she has gone bonkers’…maybe I can explain that in my user manual :-).
Thanks to Dan B and Scott Drayton for introducing me to this new technique.
