One-On-Ones are the best tool in the Software Manager’s toolbelt for working with your team. It’s the one place where you can work individually with a team member to hear from them on how it’s going, where they are struggling, where they want or need to be challenged, and of course where you can help.
It should always be about them and never you. It’s that one meeting, whether it happens weekly, bi-weekly or monthly that must always happen where you must come ready to go for them.
Years ago, I was a part of a growing team that was scaling from 5 developers to 40 over the course of a year. It wasn’t an easy growth curve as it felt like we were constantly onboarding people, teams were created, teams grew and were recreated.
At one point it was suggested that we stop doing One-On-Ones because they were taking a lot of time from the individuals that had to do them. Some of them had ten plus One-On-Ones happening with their team.
Breaking it down mathematically it looks a little like this…
10 People on Your Team
30–45 minutes per session
15–30 minutes outside of each session
Add it all up and that’s 1–2 days focused solely on the members of your team.
If you are doing weekly One-On-Ones that’s significant, bi-weekly that’s manageable.
Whether it’s a small team, what you do within them should always stay the same (and that’s not easy as you grow). But there are a few things you can do to ensure you are doing the right thing within them.
Keep the Questions Simple
How are you doing?
Are we challenging you?
Any roadblocks?
Where are you looking to grow?
How can I help?
Very simple, largely open-ended questions that will generate conversation. Come up with your own or use the above, but the message is the same, keep them simple, generate conversation and let them answer, don’t interject with answers when they are thinking, let them think and speak first.
