I’m Andrew or more commonly know as Andy (except when a boss is called Andy, then I’m Andrew). I’m an early adopter of products & services, I tend to have a lot of ideas, not all good, but I like to throw them out and see what sticks.
I like to work by myself a lot of the time, with a bias towards action. That said I enjoy talking strategy and process and will take the hit for a team so they can get the work done
I like to work remotely and I like to start early 8am if I can (school drop off is 8:30am) until about 5pm at the latest. I make it a habit to take a break over lunch, either with a call with friends or going for a run or a climbing session. I do go and work in a cafe about once a week to see other people.
My working patterns is largely driven by family and the calendar (if it’s not in the calendar then it’s not happening)
Typically I am available from 8am-4pm (school pick up!) for synchronous communication. Then I am unavailable over dinner until 8pm, then I am available if required. I don’t like to work on weekends as family does generally take priority. That said I view work and life as an integrated thing as opposed to a separation. This means I might be available on platforms, but I won’t always respond straight away.
As a result of the above I either get through a few small tasks before diving into some deep work later in the day or I dive deep in the morning which can get me through the whole day or I take it easier in the afternoon.
I like to plan ahead, this meaning knowing what’s coming up and having a clear list of things that need to get done each day and each week.
For me to do truly great work, I need understand and behind the why of the work. I need to have passion for it and I shouldn’t purely motivated by the paycheck. Each major job I have taken in my career has had this component to it. I have believed in the mission & vision of the organisation.
Practically this means being able to solve complex problems that are achievable with a reasonable deadline or goal, or solving problems for others to allow them to do their best work. I like to be part of shaping the solution to a problem as I often bring new ideas to a situation, this means some collaboration in person or on a call then splitting the work to deliver it in an iterative, phased fashion.
The mantra of “going slow to go fast” fits me the best. Or a better phrasing of this is “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast”. This means I want to do things right first time if possible. There is a delicate balance between considering the future and not over-engineering right now.
I like communication to be thoughtful, purposeful and meaningful. I find it hard to make ‘small talk’ with people I don’t know and generally stay quiet when I don’t have anything meaningful to contribute to the conversation. I am a slow collaborator, by this I need time to process new information. This means I like meetings to have an agenda, shared in advance and would like any material shared in advance, this has the benefit of possibly resolving the issue without a meeting, so protecting my maker time.
That said I do like to socialise and meet with people in casual settings and there doesn’t need to be the pretence to have a work conversation when in fact a social conversation is perfectly valid in order to build team morale and relationships.
Where possible I prefer async communication over sync communication. That said the communication medium needs to match the conversation being had. This is nicely illustrated in this article of 2D vs 3D communication (point 2 under Compulsiveness)
I like it when communications channels serve a clear purpose. Typically this can be split into 5 broad types (external, internal, social/casual, getting things done, procedural). I generally prefer to have use a tool which is more complex but inclusive, than a simpler tool which fails to properly organise information, ie I prefer something like Slack over WhatsApp.
I am methodical, detail and task orientated. I tend to remain focused on the task at hand while noting learnings and related tasks to come back to at a later date.