In an all-remote organization, we want each team member to be a manager of one. Being a manager of one is an attribute associated with our Autonomy value. To be successful at MUI, team members need to develop their daily priorities to achieve goals. Managers of one set the tone for their work, assign items and determine what needs to get done. No matter what role you serve, self-leadership is an essential skill needed to be successful as a manager of one.

  1. At MUI, leadership is requested from everyone, whether an individual contributor or a member of the leadership team.
  2. As a leader, MUI team members will follow your behavior, so always do the right thing. Lead by example with effort.
  3. Everyone who joins MUI should consider themselves ambassadors of our Values & behaviors and protectors of our Company culture.
  4. Behavior should be consistent inside and outside the company. We do the right thing outside the company, too.
  5. MUI respects your judgment of what is best for you since you know yourself best. If you have a better opportunity somewhere else don't stay at MUI out of a sense of loyalty to the company.
  6. We work Working async. Make sure people understand that things need to be written down in issues as they happen: ‣. Hold your team accountable with documentation.
  7. Communicate clearly with your team and people leader on the status of your goals. Act quickly to address areas that pose a challenge or to reassess goals that cannot be reached in an allotted timeframe.
  8. Act as a CEO of yourself and your role by taking responsibility to set goals and appropriate timelines. Prioritize your contributions and know it's impossible to know everything.

Examples of actions from managers of one

  1. A team member in a new role finds an inefficiency in a process they are learning. Without being asked or supervised, they open a pull request proposing a change and assign it for review.
  2. A team member blocks out dedicated time for learning and development to implement a regular practice of self-serving and self-learning.
  3. A manager of one prioritizes well-being by blocking their calendars for fitness, meals, paid time off, and personal appointments.
  4. A team member surfaces blockers as opposed to assuming their manager or team is already aware and simultaneously works to unblock others by working in public.
  5. (Living MUI’s value) See the examples in Values & behaviors.
  6. (Living MUI’s culture)
    1. When asked to attend a synchronous brainstorming call, a team member instead opens a new shaping page, GitHub issue, and requests their team's ideas asynchronously.
    2. When a scheduled meeting agenda is completed 10 minutes before the call is set to end, an attendee ends the call early.

Why

  1. Free time for the managers to focus more on being a servant of their reports.
  2. A remote-first company makes it hard to implement a manager-heavy culture, as it requires a lot of sync time.
  3. It scales better. See the Netflix culture https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664 from slides 41 to 59 that elegantly articulate why.