Running Your First 1:1 as a Staff Engineer
Most engineers have extensive experience being on the receiving end of 1:1s. As a junior or mid-level engineer, you have them with your manager. They set the agenda. You update on your work, raise blockers, ask questions. At the staff level, a significant number of your 1:1s are ones you initiate — with peers you need to work with, with stakeholders whose teams are upstream or downstream of yours, with leadership whose support you need for technical direction you’re trying to establish. These are different from the 1:1s you were trained on. The dynamics are different, the stakes are different, and the mistakes are different. ...