WEBVTT - Write your own operating manual

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to write your own operating manual. Letting

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<v Speaker 1>people know about how you work can make you more

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<v Speaker 1>productive and hopefully limit the chances for misunderstandings. Today's tip,

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<v Speaker 1>like some others this week, comes from Amantha Ember's new

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<v Speaker 1>book time Wise. In this book, Amantha shares tips from

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<v Speaker 1>lots of successful people on how they work and make

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<v Speaker 1>time feel more fun. One of the tips is called

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<v Speaker 1>why you need a one page operating manual. Amantha interviewed

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<v Speaker 1>Darren Murph of git Lab. Murf noted that he had

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<v Speaker 1>created his own one page document, which is, as MRF

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<v Speaker 1>puts it, an operating manual of how you can quickly

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<v Speaker 1>get up to speed about working with me. It explains

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<v Speaker 1>how I like to be communicated with, what I hope

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<v Speaker 1>to learn and working with you, and what you need

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<v Speaker 1>to know about me, things like personality type, my working style,

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<v Speaker 1>and when I generally prefer to work. Amantha notes that

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<v Speaker 1>reading this manual only takes a couple of minutes, but

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<v Speaker 1>you'll learn more in those few minutes then it would

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<v Speaker 1>normally take in the two weeks or longer that it

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<v Speaker 1>takes to understand a coworker that you are meeting for

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<v Speaker 1>the first time. I think this is a wise idea.

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<v Speaker 1>It's just efficient. Now. I know that it might seem

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<v Speaker 1>a little presumptuous to create such a manual. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps the idea comes across like those artist contracts where

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<v Speaker 1>they specify the kinds of candy in the green room.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, really, I know I am a generally agreeable person,

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<v Speaker 1>and I am happy to work with agreeable people, and

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<v Speaker 1>I hope that as fellow human beings, we can figure

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<v Speaker 1>each other out. However, if you start to think this through,

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<v Speaker 1>you can realize that there is a ton of knowledge

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<v Speaker 1>that you learn in time, but that it would be

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<v Speaker 1>better to know at the beginning. For instance, maybe you

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<v Speaker 1>like to work at ten pm. You certainly don't expect

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<v Speaker 1>anyone else to work at ten pm, so people shouldn't

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<v Speaker 1>think anything about your late hours, or they shouldn't wait

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<v Speaker 1>up for your emails. That's good to know. Or maybe

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<v Speaker 1>you don't eat meat. Most agreeable coworkers would like to

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<v Speaker 1>know that before they propose a team kick off dinner

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<v Speaker 1>at a steak restaurant. Since I work for myself, I

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<v Speaker 1>have all sorts of other quirks that I am sure

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<v Speaker 1>drive people crazy for the first week or two until

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<v Speaker 1>they figure him out. For instance, I don't use an

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<v Speaker 1>electronic calendar. I love my paper calendar, and I'm probably

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<v Speaker 1>not changing now. You can send me an electronic calendar

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<v Speaker 1>in right, but if you are waiting for an acceptance

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<v Speaker 1>to actually put it on your calendar, you might need

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<v Speaker 1>to wait for a while, since it's not a standard

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<v Speaker 1>part of my workflow. In any case, you might think

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<v Speaker 1>this through and write something down. If you are the

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<v Speaker 1>sort of person that lots of people seek out to

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<v Speaker 1>work with, it might be helpful to post this somewhere publicly,

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<v Speaker 1>like your website or your linked In profile. If you

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<v Speaker 1>have a more standard job where you just work with

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<v Speaker 1>new coworkers from time to time, propose that everyone creates

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<v Speaker 1>such a document before your first team meeting so you

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<v Speaker 1>can all read up on each other. Who knows, you

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<v Speaker 1>might find out that you and one of your colleagues

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<v Speaker 1>are equally in love with the Oxford Comma. Now you

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<v Speaker 1>can bond over that, and if nothing else, creating this

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<v Speaker 1>document will boost your own self knowledge. Sometimes we just

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<v Speaker 1>work in certain ways because we always have. We don't

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<v Speaker 1>think about it committing these approaches to paper. Lets us

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<v Speaker 1>think about them and think about why we do them.

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<v Speaker 1>Knowing yourself, it's just always a good thing. In the meantime,

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<v Speaker 1>this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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<v Speaker 1>hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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<v Speaker 1>or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four,

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<v Speaker 1>then breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

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<v Speaker 1>an email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot

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<v Speaker 1>com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For

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<v Speaker 1>more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart

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<v Speaker 1>favorite shows. Yeah yeah,