Code Reviews

I generally respond to code reviews within 24 hours. I start reviewing if and only if there are no errors from commit queue bots. You can ping me as soon as you send a code review, you don’t have to wait for 24 hours to do that.

Directness

Please be as direct as possible with me. Although I enjoy hearing diplomatic hoops people jump through to insinuate a point, I believe it leaves room for misinterpretation. I didn’t grow up in the U.S., if you feel I am being too direct, don’t take it personally. I was probably trying to avoid misinterpretation.

Communication

I love face-to-face communication. However, it is not the best form of communication when it comes to complex projects. I prefer email to leave a paper trail and search back to conversations we had. If you want me to read the email, make sure you add me to the ‘to’ or ‘cc’ fields in the email. For anything urgent, IM me or call me on my cell phone. I also tend to turn on history for conversations over IM. If you don't want history to be turned on, turn it off.

Feedback

User feedback is essential for successful engineering products. Without it, we cannot gauge success or improve. I work the same way. I welcome all sorts of feedback and won’t hesitate to give honest feedback when needed. Please refer to the Directness section for pointers on how to give/receive feedback with me. I thrive on negative feedback. It gives me a chance to improve as opposed to positive feedback which makes me complacent. If you have positive feedback for me, please refrain from giving it unless you have to. Direct feedback is always appreciated. Be blunt and don’t be diplomatic. I don’t get hints.

Open office space etiquette

Open office space can be very distracting to me. When I want to get in the zone, I put on my headphones. Please do not interrupt me physically when I put on my headphones. If you see me putting headphones on and need to talk to me, IM me first. If I am not putting my headphones on, you can interrupt me.

Working from Home

When I am working from home, I try to keep my status updated on IM. So you can know where or what I am doing. I also block calendar chunks for focus/life. Please don’t schedule conflicting meetings unless you check with me first.

Boundaries

I have a terrible sense of boundaries. I joke a lot. Sometimes my jokes test the borderlines of HR. Do not give me excuses. Please keep me in check if I say something offensive.