Hi, I'm Suki (she/her)!

The purpose of this document is to introduce myself a bit, both personally and professionally. I hope it gives you some context for working with me, and I look forward to us getting to know each other further as we work together.

My Expectations

• I expect that you are not working evenings and weekends. If you are, I highly recommend not making it a habit. Work will always be here and I will always encourage you to prioritise yourself and your family. 

• Sometimes, I am online after work hours. I try not to send Slacks during that time so that I don't make anybody feel like I expect them to respond after hours. Unless a message is called out as urgent, I do not expect you to reply until you are back at work. Even if it is urgent, I do not expect you to check Slack after hours, so no apology is necessary if you do not reply because you don't see it right away. 

• If you have a problem you are bringing to my attention, I expect you have at least thought about possible solutions. If you can't come up with any, that's fine! Don't let that stop you from telling me about the issue. However, I'm always interested in what solutions people impacted by the issue have in mind.  

• I prefer transparency in all matters, and I may sometimes tell you things before they’re committed to get your thoughts on it. Similarly for personal things, I will often share with the team when I’m feeling unproductive/tired/stressed. If any of this adds extra stress to your mental workload I want you to tell me so that I can pull back. 

• Similarly, I’d appreciate a level of transparency from you. Let me know if you’re struggling, and let me know if you’re thinking of ideas before they’re fully baked. In that, you have my word that I won’t share anything outside our chats without your permission and/or knowledge.

1:1s

• Prior to our very first 1:1, I'll give you this list of questions to ponder. I do not require you to prep answers to everything, or anything - but want to give you a chance to think about some topics if you want. The kinds of questions you choose to focus on is also a great indicator for me for things to pay special attention to.

• I will come to 1:1s with any feedback or company news I need to relay to you, but this time is primarily to talk about anything important to you. Examples include but are not limited to career goals, what's going well or not so well with your team, how you're doing as a human, or ways I can better support you.

• I generally meet with direct reports every week for 30 minutes. If you would like to adjust the cadence or duration, I am open to that.

• I will put 1:1s on the calendar for a time that looks free on both of our schedules. Please let me know if a time in the week would work better for you. I understand that flow state is important to engineers, that strange gaps between meetings are not ideal, and that some people do their best focus work at certain times of the day. If moving our 1:1 to a different time can help with any of that, I am happy to do that. Do not be shy about suggesting a better time. You will also have calendar permissions to move the events yourself.

Want to talk between 1:1s?

Simply put, let's talk!  

I keep my work calendar up to date with all professional and personal obligations. If you see a time available on my schedule during business hours, feel free to schedule something. There is no need to check with me before claiming some time. If you don't see any time available and need to talk, please let me know, and I will find the time.

I'm also available on Slack and do my best to reply promptly. If you haven't gotten a response from me after a couple of hours, feel free to send me a follow-up.

Quirks / About Me At Work

If there is a challenge or problem to be solved, I generally do best when I get time to think it through independently and wrap my head around the topic before discussing it. I may ask if we can follow up after I've had some time to think about it and organise my thoughts. If you want to dig into something at a specific meeting, giving me a heads-up on the topic ahead of time will help me show up prepared.

I tend to struggle with flow time for myself, and I work best when I have multiple interleaved things to work on. A quote that has resonated with me to describe this: “ for some people context switching is a cost but for me it's a benefit”

Personal Tidbits

• I was born in India, grew up in New Zealand, lived in NYC, and now Calgary - which means I’m very used to feeling like an outsider and working hard to build relationships and networks. 

• I am not a natural extrovert - in that being around people drains me and I need frequent periods of alone time to recharge. At work, I tend to present as outspoken.

• Early in my career, every performance review I got would state that I needed to be more confident and speak out more. I may have overcompensated over the years :P 

• Similar to my note about flow above, I also tend to collect hobbies that I frequently rotate through. Some of these include reading, crochet, knitting, sewing, cooking/baking, digital art, badminton…

• I don’t have many things I refuse to talk about, but one of those is that I don’t celebrate or share my birthday. Please respect this boundary.

High Level Career Goals (Oct 2024)

• Technical Mastery

  • High level architectural design

  • Awareness of new technologies, concepts, and practices

  • Tech debt balance and risk management

• Enhance Team Cohesion and Efficiency

  • Clearly defined SLOs, goals, and metrics

  • Communication and transparency

  • Clear strategic steps towards long term goals

• Be the Right Manager for the Team

  • People over process

  • Listening over speaking

  • Action over analysis

A Final Note

I hope you always feel supported and safe coming to me with your concerns and that I handle those concerns appropriately. However, if that is ever not the case and you need management help that I cannot or will not provide, please go to another member of engineering management. My failure should not be your dead end. If it's direct feedback about me I’d prefer to hear it from you directly, but for everything else I won’t ever stop you from talking to others without my involvement.