François's README
Hi
This page is intended to help others understand what it might be like to work with me, especially people who haven’t worked with me before.
It’s also a well-intentioned effort at building some trust by being intentionally vulnerable, and to share my ideas of a good working relationship to reduce the anxiety of people who might be on my team.
Please feel free to invite me to a coffee chat! You can also contribute to this page by opening a merge request.
About me
- I live in Berlin, Germany with my wife and son.
- My family is originally from the Bretagne region of France. I've lived in the Netherlands (born and raised there), France, Denmark, Ireland, and Germany.
- I enjoy playing volleyball, video games, watching series/movies, and traveling.
- At GitLab, I'm an Engineering Manager in the Create:Code Review group. Before that, I worked on Editor Extensions, Service Desk and Observability.
- I've worked as a software engineer since 2011, in various fields: computer vision, food science, cryptanalysis, digital music software deployment, audio streaming.
- I became a manager in 2019 as a way to work with people directly, while keeping a foot in the tech world.
- I'm curious about the Engineer/Manager pendulum, and would rather leave the door back to the IC path open for now.
GitLab values and operating principles
The GitLab values are a big reason I work here. The ones that resonate most with me are Transparency, Collaboration, and Efficiency.
The operating principles that stand out to me the most, in no particular order:
- Public by default and Findability - an effective default to work remotely and establish trust
- Family and friends first, work second - work-life balance is very important to me
- Write things down and Bias towards asynchronous communication - this is not only more inclusive, but makes efficiency compound over time
- It's impossible to know everything - that's why we work in teams and Don't let each other fail
- Measure results not hours
- Kindness and Say thanks
- and many more
Communicating and working with me
How to reach me
- To get my attention on a GitLab issue/MR/etc, please mention me with @francoisrose. I may miss your message otherwise, even if I'm subscribed to the issue.
- If you're blocked by me or I'm too slow to respond, don't hesistate to ping me on Slack. I will be thankful for it!
My working style
- I appreciate both written and verbal communication. Talking helps me connect, writing serves to remember.
- I enjoy understanding the bigger picture and how everything fits together (or doesn’t). I prefer to go broad rather than too deep.
- I am very diplomatic by nature. This has benefits and drawbacks. I can serve as a good third party to a discussion, but can sometimes fail to challenge directly.
- I like structure. If something feels sub-optimal or just broken, I will naturally try to fix it.
- I approach my role as a highly mutable one. Think of a puzzle piece that takes whatever shape is needed to complete the picture and support the team.
How to help me
- I work best when I have an understanding of the context, even at a high-level. I ask questions when things are unclear. Help me understand, and my value will increase.
- The more direct you are with me, the easier it'll be for me.
Favorite things to work on
- Anything related to data or number crunching, and visualization of those.
- Talking to people, hearing them out, and seeing their progress over time.
- Optimizing processes and automating things.
Least favorite things to work on
- Tasks whose purpose I don't understand, or disagree with.
- Building long-term visions, mostly because I'm not great at it. I'm more comfortable identifying current constraints and planning short/mid term.
Personal projects
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Pronouns: He/him