User Manual

I love to work alongside other people. I am not cut out for a remote-only world. I get psychic nourishment from turning my chair and having a chat about something higher level than the task at hand, or just taking an impromptu walk break to a nearby coffee shop with a colleague.

When working with a remote team, I will frequent the nearby WeWork in Ballard, Seattle, and walk there and back to get my steps in. I prioritize attending team onsites and social events, shifting my schedule to make sure I'm there. I am down for agenda-less team huddles, especially to help new folks ramp up more easily by giving them a low friction way to ask questions as they come to them, trusting each attendee to stay aware of their own productivity and focus, and own their style of working.

I'm a 40-hours-per-week person and don't work evenings or weekends unless it's performance review season. Because I have recurring personal appointments during the day, I'm not a 9-5 person. You can find my current work schedule in Google Calendar since I've set my work hours there. I suggest considering leveraging the gCal work hours setting as well, if you haven't already, so that I may know when your off hours are so I can avoid them.

I'm a fan of the SBI format, e.g. in this Situation, you exhibited this Behavior, which had this Impact on me. I'm a fan of "I" statements, and how you felt as a result of something I did. I appreciate feedback that separates what I did from who I am, and how I failed from how I'm a failure—which is a distinction that does not come naturally to me, though I'm working on it.

I prefer precise, skills-based feedback, even if the feedback is positive. E.g. "thanks for leading the meeting" or "that was a great document" are not useful to me, while "I appreciate that you drove the discussion to an actionable conclusion which I think will improve the culture on the team" or "I appreciated the structure and headings in your document, which created a narrative flow I could consume quickly and easily, allowing me to contribute to the conversation and feel included" are the ultimate. I acknowledge that crafting the words for skills-based feedback and impact statements takes time, but I think it's a worthwhile practice to help all of us feel more connected as a team in this remote-first world.

If you have growth feedback, I'd appreciate it in a forum where I can ask follow-up questions, i.e. Slack or 1:1 audio or video call, so that I may fully understand, internalize and take it into serious consideration. I promise I will acknowledge your perspective and hold back any of my natural defenses as long as you tee the conversation up as a feedback conversation.

• Ownership and autonomy: I naturally tend toward taking psychological responsibility for team results and culture, and this leads to my being overwhelmed as well as a bottleneck for team productivity. I should be able to take an extended vacation without team productivity or culture degrading. This means each team member is responsible for each initiative from start to completion, well beyond just code complete, and actually in the hands of customers with impact measured and assessed.
• Honesty and transparency: I expect we're honest with each other and with ourselves about how long something is going to take. "I don't know" is better than a bad guess, and "I don't know—it could take anywhere from 1 hour to 2 weeks" is even better. Putting our all cards on the table can be an effective start to building team consensus on the state of the world.
• Communication and visibility: I detest needing to ping and disrupt others if it could have been avoided with a centralized place where stakeholders like myself can "pull" the latest state of decision making, planning, work, analysis, or deployment. Project/status channels and up-to-date ticketing/documentation is an easy way to avoid having me interrupt your flow at an inopportune moment. Separately, emoji reactions to messages help me understand that you've seen a message directed at you.

• Human connection and fun: My psychological battery gets recharged when I genuinely connect with others on a deeper level than the task at hand or the KPI we're challenged to meet. I yearn to know what's going on deep inside you, what you feel strongly about, and what brings you joy or heartache.
• A safe environment to be my authentic self: I am psychologically drained if I feel I cannot live my values or feel like it's impossible to do anything right. I am highly sensitive to microaggressions and missed opportunities to build trust amongst the team.
• Frequent reinforcing feedback: I need frequent reinforcing feedback on things that I'm doing that work for you or are helpful. "Keep it up" feedback from any direction is meaningful to me as it improves my perceived security in attachment to my work environment, allowing me to navigate team dynamics with more ease.
• Breaks: My brain is fried if I don't take breaks from the screen every hour. My body deteriorates if I don't move around every 20-30 minutes. This is why I prefer gCal speedy meetings, so that I (and we all) can take those much needed break. Check out this Microsoft study on your brain on back-to-back meetings.

• Prompt response to questions: I prefer to optimize for folks' "flow" and trust folks to ignore my messages until the next convenient time to pause from focus work, even if that's the next business day.
• Project status in 1:1s: I prefer to leverage 1:1s for deeper discussions and not spend it on work status. I should be able to understand project status from alternative channels. Favorite topics in 1:1s: what brings you joy or pride, what brings you heartache, what motivates or inspires you, and ways I can help you.
• Perpetrating useless meetings: If you think you're at a useless meeting or feel the need to multitask, we probably need to change something up or find a way to make our time together more meaningful. Let's chat about it in earnest, probably with the meeting owner/facilitator which is sometimes me.

• Indecision and decision fatigue: I can spend an inordinate amount of energy on finding a win-win-win solution that optimizes for results, morale, and approval, even if there may not be one. I have yet to learn that I can't always get what I want, and tend to take it as a personal failure for not being creative or innovative enough to find the perfect solution. I welcome reminders that there might not be a perfect solution, and we can be intentional on what we optimize for.
• Catastrophization and anxiety: I envision the worst case scenario to uncover potential risks and sometimes fear/uncertainty/doubt leak into my decision making process, which I know is a leadership faux pas. I welcome being called out at the emotional level, e.g. "what are you afraid of Brian?"
• Working remotely: I'm still looking for a good balance between socialization and distraction, where I lean toward the former, fearing the expense of the latter. I would appreciate help in finding ways to connect with you on a human level without disrupting workflows.
• Taking too much on: I tend to overwhelm myself trying to be helpful to the team and at the same time robbing potential opportunities for growth, leadership, and ownership from those who may want or need it. I'm still finding a balance between delegating too much vs not delegating enough. I would appreciate constant feedback to strike the right balance for you.

1. Face-to-face: I crave in-person interaction. I can sense and partake in a conversation more naturally in person.
2. Slack: I have a love/hate relationship with Slack, but it's the primary means to getting my attention. Feel free to DM me, but I'd rather be @ mentioned in the most relevant channel if the topic isn't sensitive. I prefer public channels where others can engage or chime in, or I can pull in the right person. If it's not urgent, I'd appreciate if your message is prefixed with "[not urgent]" and I'll try to do the same. I mute channels aggressively so please @ mention me if you require my attention.
3. Video calls: Google Meet or Slack huddles. It's not as good as in-person for me, but it's close enough.
4. Video/Slack clips: It's like voicemail, but with your face and voice. It's really nice to receive these as a pleasant surprise.
5. Audio calls: We can do quick syncs or walking 1:1s over voice. It's good to get up and move around—we can get our steps in together.
6. Email: I think email is too formal and easy to mess up threads. I don't prefer email. Nevertheless, I strive for inbox-zero so if you email it I will likely see it.
7. Phone: My phone is available for urgent issues. I have DND enabled during night hours, so you will have to call twice to get through.

• Story-driven single-player video games
• Long walks around Ballard
• Escape rooms
• Trying out new food options
• Chilling with friends at a pub or microbrew
• Karaoke (yes, that's what I'm doing in my profile photo)

• Married, met online, have one child who was born during the pandemic
• Born Canadian and became a dual citizen with the U.S. during the pandemic
• Parents immigrated from Laos and are Vietnamese in ethnicity
• I have a younger sister, just two years younger
• Most of my dependents are named after anime characters
• I'm an ambivert: I crave socialization but get drained quickly
• Causes I care about: environment, social justice, human rights, and education

• Philosophy, existentialism
• Non-violent communication, precise language
• Social justice issues, societal impact
• Personal meaning and life
• Mental health and my personal journey
• Your hopes and dreams for the future