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title: 'README.md: User Manual for working with Manil on BayJS'

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# README.md: User Manual for working with Manil on BayJS

Hello there! I’m Manil, and I couldn't be more excited to be working with you on BayJS ✨💯✨

I channel most of my efforts towards contributing as a Developer Advocate at InVision. I also spend some cycles on [Node.js](https://github.com/nodejs/), groceries, the [OpenJS Foundation](https://openjsf.org/), lattes at the library, the [Cambie Collective](https://cambiecollective.github.io/), and RPGs like [Traveller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller_%28role-playing_game%29).

As a Dev Advocate, I’m a practitioner of Developer Relations. By its nature, Advocates wear many hats and often collaborate with folks within and between organizations. I've learned that it's helpful, to me and the folks with whom I collaborate, for my working habits to be explicit! 

**This is a cheatsheet to working with Manil and is brief by design.**

That being said, the intended audience for this is you. If you’re not finding some detail you’re looking for, chances are that other people look for it too; let me know.

This a document about humans and how we can interact; we (and consequently, it) are subject to change.

![](https://i.imgur.com/YSjOH7v.gif)


## Table of contents
This document is short, but visibility can be helpful.

* 💯 [Quick Start/How to Use](#Quick-Start/How-to-Use)
* ❓ [FAQ (tl:dr, tldr)](#FAQ-(tl:dr,-tldr))
* 🗺 [My logistics](#My-logistics)
* 🤙🏽 [My communication](#My-communication)
* ☕️ [What motivates me](#What-motivates-me)
* 😬 [What makes me sad](#What-makes-me-sad)
* [References](#References)

## Quick Start/How to Use
* I have separated content into sections: for example, most items related to communication will fall under “Communication”.

* cmd-F (or your OS's Find function) is your friend: use it to find keywords in the text. Try: “calendar”.


## FAQ (tl:dr, tldr)
* I will be available for sync chat between ~11:00-1400 Pacific Time on Tuesday and Thursday. I aim to reply to backlogged async chat during that time as well. If you work at InVision, you have faster/more realtime ways of communicating with me. 

* Google Calendar needs a default option for this: I make all meetings I’ve scheduled editable by attendees - feel free to move them.

* I default to time in 24-hour clock. You don’t have to. 😉

* My first name is pronounced “muh-nil”, with the brief emphasis on the 2nd syllable. Don’t worry if it’s not spot on. I’m ok with variations. This is for the folks who ask.

* Pronouns: he/they. For the folks who ask.

* Webcams: In calls, I don’t expect you to have your webcam on. Having it on/off is completely your choice. I switch mine on when I can (and it’s switched on more often than not) but that is definitely not intended to imply I expect you to have yours on too.

* If you receive an email or Mattermost message from me at odd hours, please read it as “Manil is doing work on his schedule” not “Manil needs an answer right now”. Inspiration strikes at odd moments.

* I’m at my most effective when following the [GTD](https://hamberg.no/gtd/) method: When I take on a task, I aim to see it through. So if I bring up an item that seems less than current, it’s because it didn’t fit the criteria for resolution yet.

* When you’re in Vancouver BC, let’s do a face-to-face!

* My Keybase profile (https://keybase.io/manil) is a landing page for my public identity. Twitter, Mastodon, Github, my PGP key, etc. is on there.

* Live in the command line? `npx keywordnew`

## My logistics
* Geography: I’m typically located in Vancouver BC (on [Open Street Maps](https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/1852574)) and in UTC-8 (use this [time zone converter](https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?pl=1&lid=6173331,5,2643743,2147714&h=6173331) to see what the time is for you). I haven’t embraced the nomadic possibilities of distributed work beyond not having to fix my hair before leaving home.

* Time: I generally work synchronously ~17:30-1930 Pacific Time on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

  * We are distributed, yay! If you receive a communication (email or Mattermost message) from me at odd hours, please read that as “Manil is doing work on his schedule” not “Manil needs an answer right now”.

  * The remaining time I aim to reserve for my family. My partner sometimes works UTC+2, and my cycle gets adjusted.

* Holidays/breaks/extended OOO: Offline time is important so when I go on vacation I don’t login to any services. I agree with other assessments of this; it’s healthy to switch off a few times a year.

![](https://i.imgur.com/XIWLoqg.gif)


## My communication
* Communication channels determine responsivity:

  * Email: I aim to respond in 48 hours during weekdays. I'm at manil@bayjsconf.com

  * Mattermost: When online, I aim to respond immediately up to 1 hour. I think of Mattermost as the digital equivalent of seeking out a colleague, tapping them on the shoulder, and having a chat.

* I often use emojis to compensate for missing tone/body language in distributed work: When I know you better, I can make more assumptions about how we react to messages. Until then, I’m verbose and use more emojis.

* I like using 24-hour clock. You don’t have to 😉. Certain regions default to 24-hour clock and I personally find it more straightforward.

* Often leisure boosts creativity: An alternative explanation for receiving an email or Mattermost message from me at odd hours. 

* (Google) Calendar habits:

  * To avoid the scheduling table tennis, I manually make all my meetings editable - feel free to move them, my calendar is always updated. My top requested features from Google Calendar is a default for the “modify event” permission. If they are not editable, let me know.

  * If you can see my calendar and it shows me as open, I’m all for spontaneous Zooms.

  * Another way to schedule a Zoom faster is with https://calendly.com/manil-invision/25m.


## What motivates me
* I like to be passionate about where I expend my time: empowering the creative creates human value in an automated world, which is partly why I invest time at InVision :-)

* Collaborating with truly empathetic, visionary people who inspire me to be my best self while shipping rad products.

* The moments where I can pause the sensory overload to focus on one thing by myself.

* Solving problems that have long-term impact.

* Setting people up to do their best work (and solve problems that have long-term impact).

* Brevity.

* I believe organization empowers flexibility: I use GTD or Getting Things Done. It’s a conceptual framework rather than a tool. Although, to implement it I use Trello (https://trello.com/) and automate with Butlerbot (http://butlerfortrello.com/). Let’s geek out over process.  

![](https://i.imgur.com/EHe8EkZ.gif)


## What makes me sad
* Decision fatigue: By the end of a day, all the choices I make will have taken a toll. My favourite menus have 3 items or less. I’ve adjusted my lifestyle to minimize unnecessary decisions and save them for the important stuff.  Out of the home, I only wear white tops, black jeans, and brown boots.
* Multi-tasking: I now avoid activities like responding in Slack while in a meeting. My real-world performance is negatively affected by [“continuous partial attention”](http://mitp.nautil.us/feature/151/the-distracted-mind) and not multitasking is low-hanging fruit in self-improvement. Exceptions are if I'm sending you material related to the meeting; dropping it in Zoom chat risks it evaporating when the meeting ends ;-)

## References
v1 was forked from Andrew Holt’s excellent User Guide.