Hi, I’m Cooper!

If you’re reading this, you’re probably working with me or wondering what it would be like to work with me! The purpose of this doc is to give you some context on what I’m like as a coworker and as a person.

This was inspired by the trend of manager READMEs that was floating around hacker news a while back. I’m writing this in the hopes that the trend takes off more broadly – I’d love to have a little guide to the working styles of everyone you work closely with!

Note that this doc is W.I.P. (and so am I)! It’s a list of preferences weakly held. Don’t worry if our preferred working styles don’t mesh at face value - knowing that will only help us figure out how best to work together. Nothing in here is etched in stone. 🙂

Professional Interests

  • I'm able to quickly get into a system or practice and figure it out and implement it without much involvement or guidance from others.
  • I'm more of a generalist than a specialist. I am familiar with a wide variety of marketing and technical things but not sure I'm super deeply versed in any single thing.
  • I love figuring out how to solve logistical problems. I think marketing operations is an interesting area of marketing that has fun challenges and exciting opportunities for helping marketers do even better.

Communication Style

  • Love conversations for things but I value written communication for business for a few reasons. It allows ideas to be thought out, succinct, presented in full without interruption, and allows for easier tracking[1]. Not all business is conducted in written form, and in cases where something was discussed, I find it valuable to summarize and share it to have a record and ensure it's accurately captured.
  • Meeting averse but if we have them, I love action oriented meetings. Really appreciate agendas as well as a defined expected outcome for meetings. At the end of the meeting there should be defined next-steps, who's doing what, and by when.
  • An important exception to being meeting averse is 1:1s - periodic opportunities for one-on-one chats. I find 1:1s to be the best opportunities for getting to know each other, for giving and getting feedback, and for taking stock of how we’re feeling about the work we’re doing. If we work closely together and don’t have a regular 1:1 cadence, that’s a problem. Let’s fix it!
  • NoHello fan[2]

Working Culture

  • I'm goofy and like to have fun at work and in life but also work hard and am results focused.
  • I value empathy. I don’t want to work in a hostile workplace where anyone feels uncomfortable or unsupported. If I see you doing something that makes me or one of our coworkers uncomfortable, I’m likely to bring it up with you in a 1:1. If I do something that makes you uncomfortable, I hope you feel ok letting me know directly, but if not, please do tell someone who can let me know.
  • I value feedback. Feedback is a gift, and I would encourage you to let me know as soon as you have feedback for me (negative or positive). Early, direct, and consistent feedback makes great work possible! And let’s be real; everyone thrives on a little bit of validation.
  • I value work-life balance. I think your well-being as a person should always come first. And even from a business perspective, happy and well-balanced people do the best work
  • I'm quite positive and aim to always see the positive in any situation. I'm not one to dwell on a not-so-positive outcome or situation but instead get to work trying to figure out how we can improve it. If we cannot, then I don't dwell on it and focus on what I can control.

Personal Interests

  • Family – Family is important to me and I always make time with family.
  • Exploration and adventure – I love hiking trips. I've hiked a lot in the Boundary Waters. Snowbank Lake, the Border Route Trail, parts of the Superior Hiking Trail, to name a few.
  • Reading and writing – I use writing to learn[3][4]. Long time non-fiction reader and believer that is where the best lessons can be learned but recently read something that changed my opinion on this[5]. So, I've started mixing in fiction works as well.
  • Collector of hobbies – I like learning and I'm constantly finding myself getting into something new, which makes me a bit of a generalist.
  • Pretty big follower of Tim Ferriss.

Miscellaneous Quirks

  • If I'm actively working, I prefer to be approached via non-interrupting methods like email or chat messages. I review these when I get time to do so and am at a good stopping point for my current work. Interruptions from productive work can take me quite a while to get back into the mindset I was in prior to the interruption.
  • I tend to work from 7:00am to 3:00 or 4:00pm.

Let's do awesome work together!

Inspired By

Footnotes

[1]: I like how Basecamp explains the value of pitching an idea here.
[2]: Check out https://www.nohello.com/
[3]: Gregory Gundersen does a fantastic job explaining how writing helps.
[4]: See Dick Guindon's quote
[5]: I don't currently recall what it was that I read but I just found this post by Hannah Frankman that does a good job explaining it.

Last updated: January 14, 2020, 7:49am (CST)