
1-on-1 meeting questions - yankit
https://github.com/VGraupera/1on1-questions
======
RotaryTelephone
My 1on1's at a 100k+ international corporation always went like this: Manager:
so how's it going? Me: great Manager: any issues? anything you want to
discuss? Me: everything is fantastic! I'm very happy with my job :D Manager:
cool cool... well let's do this again next month. Me: yay!

I don't want someone in a similar situation like I was to get inspired by
lists like these and go into their next 1on1 wrecking havoc with the status
quo. When you, your manager, his manager and the next guy up are just cogs in
a machine churning for years through the same kinds of faceless conglomerates
- you either shut up and put up or end up on someone's Excel spreadsheet
highlighted in yellow. Then during the next round of layoffs (you know they're
coming) the yellow cogs will be replaced with fresh green ones and you'll be
out on the street cramming algorithm questions all over again and interviewing
with A.I. HR filters for the next 6months. Understand where you work before
opening your mouth, people ;)

~~~
koonsolo
What a strange, helpless way to look at the world.

Employment is not a boss->servant relationship, it's a relationship where both
parties gain something. You offer a service, and they pay for that. End of
story. They act out? Then you find someone else who needs your services.

As a programmer myself, I'm in this great position where there is a shortage
of good developers, and plenty of companies searching for good developers.

When I go to my manager, I'm not going in there with "please don't fire me
sir, please.", I'm going in there with "Hey, fix your shit or I'll have a new
job next week that pays more from day 1, and you will search the next 6 months
for my replacement and train that person another 6 months before (s)he's
somewhat productive."

~~~
hw
First of all, if your manager is any good, (s)he will already have
replacements in the pipeline, given the musical chairs nature of the industry.

Second, why aren't you already at a different job that pays you more instead
of hanging that over your manager's head?

Third, don't underestimate how many other good developers that are out there,
looking for the next job. It might not require 6 months of training for the
next person, who could be as competent, or even more than the person that's
being replaced.

I'm not sure what kind of company you work for, but 6 months of training is
ridiculously long, unless there is a lot of institutional knowledge that's
siloed amongst a small subset of employees - which should never happen in the
first place, if your manager was any good.

~~~
koonsolo
> replacements in the pipeline

Depends on the company. Some still want to grow at a faster pace than they can
hire.

> instead of hanging that over your manager's head

You are correct that this in not actually something you say to your manager.
This is the thought that should be in your head. The real conversation needs
to be constructive.

> 6 months of training is ridiculously long

I didn't mean training, I meant "to become as productive as you". My point is
that the employee has the advantage on new hires: you instantly get full pay,
but still need to ramp up your productivity.

~~~
hw
> This is the thought that should be in your head. The real conversation needs
> to be constructive.

Agreed on that. If your manager isn't doing his/her job, or just wants quick
outs of 1:1s, that conversation needs to be had instead of the status quo

On training, I have seen companies where it just takes a few months for a new
hire to get anything done. Silo-ed institutional knowledge, spaghetti
codebases, too much emphasis on processes and meetings, no proper new-hire
onboarding, etc. Those are usually red flags. But yes, I wouldn't expect a new
hire to be completely as productive as a seasoned employee even after a few
months, but should be enough to get going.

------
anonred
Questions aside, I honestly thought the steps to submit a new question was
satire...

    
    
      Contributing
      1. Fork it
      2. Run npm install
      3. Add your resource to questions.json
      4. Run node index to update README.md with your changes
      5. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
      6. Commit your changes (git commit -am "Add some feature")
      7. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
      8. Create new Pull Request
    

[https://github.com/VGraupera/1on1-questions#contributing](https://github.com/VGraupera/1on1-questions#contributing)

~~~
JMTQp8lwXL
If they ever make a website for the collected data, consuming JSON is less
brittle than parsing a README file.

~~~
daeken
It's Markdown, not just "a README file". It's designed to be easy to edit by
hand _and_ easy to parse; there's literally nothing at all gained by using the
JSON file that they have. At all.

~~~
JMTQp8lwXL
You'd be more likely to have a bug parsing the markdown file than the
structured JSON. There aren't many tools out there for converting markdown
files into JSON and piecing what you want out of it.

------
skizm
As a grunt IC 1 on 1s are a nightmare for me. I never know what to talk about.
All current project stuff is hashed out in or after scrum. Career development
is more of a once per year thing (at least not weekly). If I had a problem
with any of my team members I would have brought it up by now (assuming I
thought others felt that way, I don't want to be the only one to bring it up
or I'll be seen as the problem). For your feedback, I'm just going to tell you
whatever I think you want to hear. Am I happy? Not really, but more because
I'm stuck with a 9-5 for the next decade and obviously I'd never tell a
manager that... what's left? Personal life nonsense? I'm your co-worker, not
your friend. The less I know about other people's personal lives the better.

> I’m trying to make my 1-on-1s better and would appreciate your honest
> feedback on this one — what did you like about it, and what could be
> improved?

Make them optional or email me your canned questions so I don't have to squirm
trying to think of an answer on the spot that will keep the status quo and get
me out of the meeting without any "action items" for the next one.

~~~
empath75
> Personal life nonsense? I'm your co-worker, not your friend.

Changing this attitude contributed as much to my doubling and then almost
tripling my salary over the course of a few years as much as anything
technical did.

Your managers and coworkers are human beings and engaging with them like human
beings will open doors for you.

I pretty much only talk about personal stuff in one on ones, and will use
maybe one out of five as a venting session or to talk about ideas I have.

You want to be someone that people, particularly managers enjoy seeing come in
to work every day, and that’s not always or even mostly about being
productive. Sometimes they just want someone they can talk about sports or
video games with, or someone they can talk about their home life with over
drinks — and sometimes I do, too. Spending 40 hours a week with people you
don’t like is lonely.

It’s not just about kissing ass— I’ve started more than one project because of
conversations I had over drinks where people were just venting about their
jobs and I realized I could do something to make their jobs easier.

~~~
skizm
Oh yea, I'm well aware, and I play the game as best I can. I go to the
occasional happy hour, I shoot the shit with my managers and co-workers, I
talk about their kids or hobbies or whatever they want to talk about. I just
don't want to do any of these things. It's draining to pretend you care all
the time. But if I don't it affects raises / bonuses (only job related things
I care about) and also project placement (which indirectly affect my raises /
bonuses).

I also realize my lack of genuine interest probably bleeds into my work
personality, but there's not much I can do about that. It's not like something
is going to magically make me actually care about work, so faking it is the
best option I have.

~~~
Gene_Parmesan
Yes, faking it is not the ideal, because as you said, it's very draining. The
idea is that you aren't faking it, you're genuinely finding something
fulfilling about work, or at least the people there.

To be honest it sounds like you're experiencing a poor culture fit. I felt
similarly to you until I went to a smaller team for the first time in my
career. My team-to-be was in one of the interview phases with me, so we could
all gauge fit ahead of time. It's been an entirely different feel, and I'm now
genuinely enjoying work -- not because of what I'm working on, but because
it's a good team to be a part of.

No, I'm not hanging out with my coworkers after work -- everyone has long
commutes so we all scatter at 5 -- but I genuinely enjoy working with them. It
doesn't feel like a game anymore, like I'm purposefully playing politics.
Whether it's good for my career or not, I really don't care -- what I care
about is the fact it's done wonders for my general quality of life.

Not everyone can find a place with a perfect fit, but you sound kind of
miserable to be honest, and I just have a guess that you'd maybe have better
happiness elsewhere. You say that raises/bonuses are the only job-related
things you care about -- my hunch is this might change for you if you found a
place where you genuinely liked the people.

------
awakeasleep
Many of these will come off as frustrating and manipulative.

When I, a manager, ask “what is the biggest obstacle facing you and how can i
remove it,” I’m offloading the manager-level work of identifying blockers for
my team on the individual.

And hey, that might work, your teammate might have an insight you’re missing.
But then, if they do have that insight, you’ve volunteered to do a shitload of
work for your team.

Thats is, in theory, good- but ive never had a manager that was willing to
actually do the work when they asked the questions on this list. They'd squirm
out of their offer, and try to rephrase it as something i could do. Leaves a
bad taste in your mouth.

~~~
NikolaNovak
>>When I, a manager, ask “what is the biggest obstacle facing you and how can
i remove it,” I’m offloading the manager-level work of identifying blockers
for my team on the individual.

That gets a bit circular. In my mind, "asking my team members" is THE number
one method of "identifying blockers for my team". Think about it - if a
manager _didn 't_ ask for input from their team members, and instead assumed
they can identify blockers, on their own and in vacuum, how would we portray
such a manager? :-)

>> ive never had a manager that was willing to actually do the work when they
asked the questions on this list

That is indeed the crucial second part; works for anything though - whether
it's "lessons learned" at the end of the project, or "requirements gathering"
from the client/user-base, or "soliciting feedback" from team members -
obtaining information is critical #1 step; only useful if you then action it.

Just because both effective and ineffective, willing and unwilling managers
ask questions, doesn't make _questions_ themselves bad. It does depend on the
actual manager and the relationship they have with a team member.

So I'd say such questions are "necessary but not sufficient" criteria for
managerial success, and having a list is similarly "useful but not sufficient"
:)

~~~
TeMPOraL
> _Think about it - if a manager didn 't ask for input from their team
> members, and instead assumed they can identify blockers, on their own and in
> vacuum, how would we portray such a manager?_

A smart manager can also observe things, but on top of that, in a healthy
atmosphere some employees will provide that feedback on their own. If
subordinates trust that voicing their concerns will have positive, or at the
very least non-negative impact on how they're seen, they'll tell you all about
the blockers and the uncertainties.

~~~
NikolaNovak
>>in a healthy atmosphere some employees will provide that feedback on their
own.

Absolutely; but again, such atmosphere does not come out of nowhere. It may
get boot-strapped by the initial cycle of:

1\. One-on-one meetings where team members are encouraged to bring up
thoughts, concerns, ideas, etc.

2\. Manager who reacts positively to such feedback; actions it (within the
constraints of organization & reality); and communicates outcomes honestly

3\. Faith & mutual trust are established and team members feel more
comfortable bringing up feedback on their own.

At least in my experience, not everybody is willing to provide feedback of
their own initiative to a new manager. You have to earn it...

------
A_No_Name_Mouse
Am I the only one who scrolled down the whole list looking for the questions
and issues you can bring up as a coworker? On the 1-on-1's I have with my
manager I determine most of the agenda because I know where the gears need
lubrication. How would she know if I don't tell her?

I'm a professional and I don't need a boss who tells me what to do or how to
do it: that part I'll find out by myself. But my manager needs to know what
I'm doing and what issues I could use help with (like problems that need
attention of upper management) and occasionally I'll ask for backing for a
decision that might have consequences for our or other teams.

So this feels like a useful but very lopsided list.

~~~
yankit
How do you make sure you do your best work without proper feedback?

~~~
A_No_Name_Mouse
Not sure I understand your question. I will tell my manager what I'm doing. If
she likes me to do different things (or the same things differently) the
1-on-1's are the best moment to talk about that. That's how I get feedback.

------
PragmaticPulp
The best 1-on-1 meetings feel like a natural conversation between two
professional adults. This list of questions can provide some ideas for
starting points if you pick and choose carefully, but not all of the questions
are a good idea.

Specifically: While it's important to listen to your employee's complaints
about the company, it's equally important to avoid giving them the wrong
impression that you're going to fix everything for them. Questions like "If
you were CEO, what's the first thing you would change?" or "Are there any
aspects of our culture you wish you could change?" or "What’s the No. 1
problem with our organization, and what do you think's causing it?" can make
employees resentful of the company when the manager can't actually make
changes.

Many of these questions can also create a false expectation that it's the
manager's job to solve all of the employees' problems for them. It's important
to listen to your team and work to improve their situations, but it's equally
important that you work on empowering them to solve their own problems where
possible. A common mistake for first time managers is to try to absorb every
small issue their team encounters, which creates an unsustainable atmosphere
of dependency on the manager.

Another common mistake of first-time managers is forgetting that managers must
also represent the company to the employee. As a first time manager, it's
tempting to think you're going to be the super manager you never had, using
your powers to fight back against the company and make everything right for
your employees. In reality, you need to balance the employee's wishes against
the company's direction. You can't force the tail to wag the dog. Make sure
you communicate what is and isn't within your power to change. Avoid
commiserating with employees with employees about minutia, and instead set a
tone of professionalism and reasonable boundary-setting.

Most importantly: Don't forget to reiterate the organization's goals, project
updates, and other company information to employees. It's easy for managers to
forget that their employees might not see or hear important developments
unless their manager communicates it down the chain. As a manager, it's your
job to keep your employees informed and up to date. Simple updates in the form
of "Your work on X project is very important for the delivery of Y product,
which the CEO identified as our top priority for retaining customers" are much
more effective than "When do you think X project will be finished? We really
need it." Context and relevance are critical for helping your team make the
right decisions.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Agreed, with perhaps a small wish of my own:

> _Simple updates in the form of "Your work on X project is very important for
> the delivery of Y product, which the CEO identified as our top priority for
> retaining customers"_

If, as a manager, you don't want me, your employee, to just smile politely and
roll my eyes, make sure I can trust that when you say "top priority", then
it's _actually_ a top priority. Personally, I work better when I can identify
and align myself with the goals of the organization (I'm a sucker for the
"something greater"). But I hate the bullshit. "Your work on X is critical" is
demotivating if I can tell that all work is described as "critical", and every
project in the company is "top priority".

------
kreetx
I don't understand the negative attitudes here. Yes, a 1-on-1 should be a
normal conversation, but this is a great starting point to those who don't
have the experience yet!

~~~
yankit
What kind of questions and data do you prepare for your 1-on-1s?

~~~
rwilson4
My 1:1s have the following format:

\- Current tasks

\- Career development/Goals (we have 6 week and yearly goals that the
employees select for themselves with a little guidance from me)

\- Special topic, different each time and very much aligned with the posted
list. My question for next time is about values.

\- Feedback, both delivering and soliciting (this has proven to be the hardest
for me, as it takes time to think about and articulate feedback well)

I do the 1:1 at a nearby coffee shop since I think people feel more open
outside the office.

~~~
dehrmann
It's also important to talk about relationships with others on the team and
other teams.

~~~
rwilson4
I like that! I’ll think about how I could incorporate it. Thanks!

------
ratherbefuddled
Contrived wooden questions like these would be a solid reason to not work for
a manager.

If someone isn't able to empathise with other humans well enough to discover
how they're doing without trying to artificially manipulate a conversation
with a checklist, they certainly shouldn't be managing anybody.

Just talk. Do it often and do it honestly. That's all.

~~~
BurningFrog
> _Just talk. Do it often and do it honestly. That 's all._

One good thing to always keep in mind:

What comes easy and effortlessly to you can be a real struggle for others.

Some people need help with things that you find utterly trivial, just like you
probably struggle with things others excel effortlessly at.

~~~
sweeneyrod
People have different strengths and weaknesses, and should try to find jobs
that fit theirs. It seems doubtful that someone for whom the conversation
starter suggestion "How’s it going?" is useful has the strengths needed to
make management a good choice.

------
KingOfCoders
I think 1on1s are the managers Swiss army knife and the best way to support
employees in their development.

If possible I do them as walk'n'talks, people are more open and ideas often
flow better when walking outside the office.

~~~
mattrp
Walks n talks are great but they aren’t 1:1’s in the way the author is
envisioning them. The difference is a walk n talk is something you do when you
have unscheduled free time and want to sidestep email for a direct
conversation. A 1:1 is More like a weekly postmortem.. you celebrate wins, you
figure out how to not repeat mistakes. But from a manager’s perspective, a 1:1
is all about ego management. For example, if I am a ceo, there’s some things I
can do in a staff call to resolve conflict and bottlenecks but not much -
otherwise I squander the energy of the staff meeting. Instead, I can have
1:1’s starting first with revenue... what are the roadblocks. Outside a 1:1
setting I can’t get the sales manager to get honest with me and own up
roadblocks that his/her own doing vs the ones from other departments. From
there it’s a cascade of meeting with successive department leads until I’m
down to the one guy who owns fixing them all - product. If you’re the manager
of a team further down in the org, you don’t have this end to end ownership
for the entire business but the theories are the same... organize your week so
you’re building a pipeline of issues and then meet with the people most able
to resolve them. Doing it in a regular 1:1 session helps isolate egos and
creates consistency.. if you’re trying to solve roadblocks that appear/resolve
inside that weekly cadence, you’re doing too much of your own employees work
for them. Ideally you’re focused on the next major milestone and the one after
that.

~~~
lonelappde
Gp's "walk and talk" just mea s having a meeting while walking outsit instead
of sitting down. it's good for casualness and rapport but terrible for
organizing thoughts and remembering what to follow-up on.

~~~
KingOfCoders
Yes. I'd often have at least once per month the weekly 1on1 in the office.
Also depends on people, some are ok with broad development, some feel better
with action items and todos to follow up on.

------
epicgiga
My 1:1s with last boss I had went like: "how are things..." "good" "1:1
complete".

And that was on Slack.

The guy just hated them, so that was my idea and made him happy.

And I don't disagree with that. Sticking rigidly to one true cadence of one
true meeting is a religious ritual we can do without.

If a 1:1 adds anything to your team, it indicates defects. Everyone should be
raising issues as they come up and have a close enough working relationship
with their boss that a cyclical meeting adds nothing.

And most of those questions are weak: bosses annoy and lose respect of their
subordinates when they go all "facilitator" and "servant leader". A leader
guides, they don't ask subordinates to tell them how to do their jobs. There
are plenty of traditional ways to glean improvement information than appearing
weak by asking "how can I be a better boss".

------
m0zg
Not once in my 25 year career did I work with a manager who gave 1/100th as
much shit as this list would require. They may exist, but I've never seen one.
I strongly suspect that the author of the list hasn't either, and this is a
highly idealized, "spherical cow in a vacuum" type list.

------
seattle_spring
It's disappointing that 100% of the questions are from the perspective of the
manager.

~~~
abbadadda
Agreed! Was looking forward to some questions from the employee perspective. I
find constructive criticism and feedback to be very helpful in staying on
track.

------
yitchelle
A great one-on-one begins with good questions. This post gives some great
hints.

[https://marcgg.com/blog/2019/11/30/one-on-one-
openers/](https://marcgg.com/blog/2019/11/30/one-on-one-openers/)

------
m_b
Can someone point to me the goal of using NodeJs to produce a list like this?
Why not just modifying the .md file directly?

~~~
febeling
Looks like the questions are actually collected in machine readable form in a
JSON file, and only rendered to Markdown

~~~
johannes1234321
Now if there were just a markup language for adding smeantic meaning to
hypertext ...

------
muratk
Looking at the responses here … it's not about

“1:1s are basics, if you don't do them you are a failed manager.”

Nor do I believe the truth is best described as:

“a 1:1 is a creepy corporate checkbox to be checked and best avoided”.

Isn't the answer always …

it depends?

On the person, on the company and team? On you, as a manager?

I have had colleagues who probably would have sent me a resignation letter
within days after doing a 1:1 with canned questions like that.

I've also had colleagues who thought that a regular 1:1, going through the
motions, was a sign that I cared and did something formal for them. (Despite
normal chats and checkins.)

Even if you have a 1:1, it doesn't mean that you need to go through an ever
same set of stale questions. But structure can help you both to make sure the
basics of the work relationship are covered.

With that in mind, I see sets of questions such as this as a toolbox.
Sometimes it's a good thing you can just look at the toolbox, try a few tools
out, see how they fit and choose the right one for the job at hand (situation,
person). I think it's great those exist.

If you're doing a 1:1 to check a box, then it doesn't matter. If you care and
want to use a 1:1 as a tool, then it doesn't hurt to try out different
approaches.

------
huhtenberg
> _How are your parents /grandparents?_

"Grandparents are dead. Parents are divorced. Father is a roaring alcoholic,
mother is on a death bed with cancer. Also they are both A-grade assholes that
made my childhood miserable."

Really sets the mood for the rest of the interview, doesn't it? In other
words, stay the hell away from any personal questions.

~~~
Forge36
Thank you for your honesty. It sounds like you aren't close with them. There
is nothing wrong with that.

Do you have anyone you are close with to talk about things? Is there anything
going on in your personal life you need to deal with which may be impacting
your work?

IE: I care about more than just the work you do, I care about you. I'd like
you to be happy and know more about your life to ensure when you turn into an
ass I can justify the behavior and dismiss it. "His dad died recently. His dog
died this week. People have been taking at him due to projects being behind
and he was on vacation the week all hell broke lose retiring his involvement"
Shit happens, if you're looking for happy things from your employees don't ask
them these questions.

If your quote is truly what's happening in your life, I'm sorry. That sounds
miserable, in posting here: I can't tell why you shared that. If I was your
manager, is this a recent development and you need time to process? If not
what prompted you to be so honest with me? Is there anything else you'd like
to share?

~~~
lightbendover
Not the OP, but his or her situation is very similar to my own. There's a
really good chance I would give my director a snarky "full truth" answer about
my disaster as a family if asked. If she then took the opportunity to pry
further, I would be greatly annoyed to say the least. I'm an adult and can
compartmentalize an atypical family, thanks. It's not miserable, it's just
nothing.

~~~
Forge36
Thank you. I agree: prying further would be very rude. Knowing that detail can
help determine the implication/feelings on other responses, such as if you
later shared "my parents stopped by last night". I can avoid asking "did you
have fun?" and instead ask "how did it go?" Or "anything you need today?". The
answer may be "no", however you may add something (ie: I just need a breather)
which helps let me know to avoid placing additional burdens on you today if
they are not urgent.

------
kureikain
Have people really save the thing like "I stuck because of this of that..."
for 1-1 questions. Arn't you suppose to raise awareness among your team before
that point, ask for help from co-worker etc...

I just cannot understand how a technical block is saved for 1-1 meeting.

I would love 1-1 meeting is more about:

\- personal life: where thing that block you are person/family duty and
manager can help with your schedule such as flexibility of wfh.

\- vision/long term goal: some wish list you want to implement or improvement.
But even so, I already created google doc for these and 1-1 are just to
discuss more about them.

So when 1-1 happen too frequently, I'm out of question and feel stress and
don't know what to ask/talk. Any advice for people like me?

Some of question on this list is just bad because they cannot be asked more
than one. Example: "How do you prefer to receive feedback?"

------
KKKKkkkk1
I would say that a manager who brings up personal questions in 1:1s is
leveraging their power to cross boundaries. In my mind it's akin to
harassment.

~~~
throwaway0217
So much this. I don't have kids. We are struggling with fertility issues. In
my 1:1 my ex-manager would bring up that topic EVERY SINGLE WEEK. He also
tried to develop a family relationship, where his wife would 'advise' my wife
about what type of treatment we should seek. At one baby shower for a common
friend, his wife asked me if we are sad seeing other people having babies.
Being on H1 visa, I could only push back so much. From his perspective, he was
providing 'emotional support'.

I sucked up. And quit the job when the right opportunity came.

Since then, I made sure to not bring any personal stuff in conversation with
any colleague, including my manager for whatever reason.

------
yankit
Can someone recommend tools, hacks or techniques they use to run a perfect
one-on-one meeting (tools like [https://PullPanda.com](https://PullPanda.com),
[https://Gitalytics.com](https://Gitalytics.com) or
[https://valycs.com](https://valycs.com))?

~~~
abhi426
You can try peoplebox([https://www.peoplebox.ai/](https://www.peoplebox.ai/))
to run meaningful 1-on-1s. It integrates with your calendars so before every
1-on-1, it sends some pre one-on-one questions to your reports and suggestive
talking points. You can collaborate on agendas, action items and track them
all in one place.

------
magicroot75
I'd much rather see a list of things to bring up as the subordinate that will
actually effectively improve one's lot.

------
betaby
We have mandatory 1:1 and yes, questions are similar. I found them useless and
not productive at all. Most hypocritical ones are about carrier development.
Let's say 1:10 ration of the managers and deportees, not matter how you
'develop' there is simply no place for promotion. Technical track is rather
rare outside of FAANG.

------
syspec
My favorite conversation starter for work related or at social events is:

”So, what’s keeping you busy these day’s?”

People always have things keeping them busy, work project, home project,
personal project.

This question is much more inviting to conversation than “how is it going” or
“what’s new”

I have never asked this question and received “nothing” in response

------
zisermann
Managers and team leads in my company have to make 1-on-1 meeting with their
team mates every month on an published calendar schedule. We have made
everything possible to help them: learning materials, master-classes, QA
sessions, etc. At the beginning, they were anxious that these meetings look
like getting into one’s personal zone and they didn’t known what to talk about
and how to get rid of embarrassment.

Now they say that they are amazed how much information people are willing to
share to find support and solve common problems in work, which managers have
no ideas about. I’m one of those who thinks that 1-on-1 meeting is a great
tool to make workplace better. Surely, everyone has to understand its goal.

------
devmunchies
Speaking of career progression and management... has anyone here been able to
transition from an IC to management/leadership at a remote company?

Remote work feels like the ideal job when your happy with your position long-
term. I don’t know how to do it working remote.

------
ClearAndPresent
Do you feel you’re getting enough feedback? Why/why not? Feedback.

Do you have any feedback for me? Feedback.

Do you think that you receive enough feedback? Feeback.

Is feedback helpful for your personal development? Feedback.

What can I do to help you get the feedback you want? Feedback.

All replicants will be detected.

------
chadlavi
Title's a bit unclear, these are _manager_ questions for 1-on-1 meetings.
Would be interesting to see a similar list for questions you should keep in
mind as the direct report in a 1-on-1.

~~~
fixie
Looks like there are career development questions in the section below the
manager questions. [https://github.com/VGraupera/1on1-questions#career-
developme...](https://github.com/VGraupera/1on1-questions#career-development)

------
yankit
I've just made this - [https://1on1hacker.com/](https://1on1hacker.com/). It
shows questions from the list in random order.

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wiz21c
>> Are you on track to meet the deadline?

So wrong if not put the right way... I'd prefer : I see you're struggling,
maybe we could make your life easier by removing some work, accepting the
quality to be a little less good, maybe we could just accept that some things
will be late...

I usually get :you're late, tell me why. Then I explain. Then my manger says :
"I don't understand"... Then I fail to explain the obvious : I'm f __*in
overloaded.

------
throwawaygo
When did 1:1's become manager interrogation sessions? What happened to just
connecting and providing space to talk about whatever is on the emp's mind?

~~~
jevanish
A lot of employees either A) don't know what to talk about or B) aren't sure
what their current manager considers safe topics.

Questions like the above (though not all of them) can help spark discussion
and get them to open up. I've personally seen a number of times where team
members have a lot to say about something and didn't realize I wanted to hear
their ideas on that topic.

Obviously, delivery matters, and choosing a good question is important. If you
have a foundation of trust already built (see Psychological Safety research)
then a lot of those questions can help.

------
different_sort
Thank you for sharing this.

I'm a strong technologist who has inherited people management responsibilities
for some junior technologists and I definitely consider people management to
be the thing that I suck the most at in worklife.

~~~
yankit
I think this is what happens to a big portion of devs after promotion to
management. Do you have any advices for people in your situation?

------
kovacs_x
imo 'development discussions' is wrong as it creates apparent power hierarchy
in the company and very often does more harm then good.

having a mentor and doing regular self reflection is the way to go.

------
vermooten
"Are you on track to meet the deadline?" is the worst 121 opener, I can't
think why it's on the list. Unless you're an old-skool command-and-control
type of course.

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rcarmo
I looked at these and had immediate flashbacks of Eliza. Given the recent
(hopefully by now tempered) enthusiasm for chatbots, this might be a great
starting point for one...

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stared
For my taste, "Are you on track to meet the deadline?" is an intense
discussion starter, as strong as a punch.

~~~
lexicality
I think that depends entirely on _when_ the question is asked. If you get
asked "Are you on track to meet the deadline" 50% of the way through the
scheduled time then it should be a) An opportunity to reflect on your progress
b) A chance to ask for help if needed

Of course, if a shitty manager asks you that 3 hours before the deadline then
ha ha ha good luck

~~~
stared
Well, it is an important question, when talking with a manager.

But I find it to be of a totally different caliber than "Hey, what’s going
on?" or "How are you? How is life outside of work?".

Vide asking "How was your last medical checkup?" in a personal conversation.
Well, if it is good or OK-ish, it may be fine. In all other cases, it may turn
a conversation into much more emotionally instense and sterssfull.

~~~
lexicality
I honestly think that is a reflection of the kind of management your company
promotes.

In previous places I've worked, "are you on schedule?" would be an implicit
attack - but in my current workplace checking in on people and making sure
they're not silently struggling is a regular and casual thing.

------
learnstats2
"Are there any obstacles I can remove for you?" is a poor first question.

If you (as a manager) haven't spent time figuring that out before the meeting,
then you haven't done your share of the work. You'll be wasting your staff's
time and energy in awkward 1-1 meetings.

"How is it going with [obstacle that has already been identified]?" is what I
would expect a vaguely competent manager to say in place of this.

------
jshowa3
This would be one long, wasteful meeting if I asked all these questions.

------
blahfuk
The meeting so useful, you have to crowdsource the agenda!

------
stephc_int13
Wow, this is amazing. I can't help but think of all the sarcastic answers I
would give the so-called manager with a slight grin on my face.

Seriously, I think this list is a potent illustration of modern management
bullcrap.

Come on guys, don't do this to your team, they are not children...

~~~
DyslexicAtheist
it's like talking to a superior who poses as a psychologist without any
training in it. lots of power to the manager and an invitation for abuse.
pretty much the reason why I'd never slave as an employee. sorry you're being
downvoted. it seems there are many here who have underlings and therefore
benefit from such a farce.

~~~
scarface74
You’re always answerable to someone - clients, investors, the board.

But even barring that, “just don’t work for anyone else” is not actionable.

