What I believe
I manage for trust and psychological safety.
- I want a team where people trust each other, and where help shows up when you need it without you having to ask. That belief drives most of what I do.
- Trust and transparency run both ways. I give them to you freely, and I expect them back.
- I set a clear high-level direction, then step back. I trust you to own the details. I am here to grow your judgment, not replace it.
- Decisions are collaborative by default. On the big calls I build consensus first, because a decision the team believes in beats one I impose. When a call has to be made fast, I will ask for disagree and commit. Consensus is the goal, not a veto.
- I protect a blameless culture, hard. The moment fault enters the room, learning leaves it.
- I motivate by raising the bar through the work itself, not by announcing it.
Working with me
Async by default, talk when it matters.
- Async first. For anything self-contained, write it down and we sort it out in the thread. It respects everyone's focus and leaves a trail.
- Video call for everything else: nuance, back and forth, or big decisions. If a thread is going in circles, that is the signal to hop on a call.
- I am flexible on meeting hours. Just ask and we will find a slot. I would rather adjust my calendar than have you wait.
- I am based in Italy, so factor that into timezones, but do not let it block you.
- Give me context when you ask. A question with the background, what you have already tried, and what you actually need gets a far better answer than a cold "thoughts?"
- I'm very curious, I like learning new things, expect me asking lots of questions.
1:1s and meetings
No agenda, no meeting.
- If we are meeting, there is something to talk about. No agenda means no meeting.
- Bring me your challenges and your lessons learned. That is the heart of our 1:1, not a status report.
- If you need help, ask. Help will show up. I cannot read minds, so silence reads as "all good."
- I do not like surprises. If something is slipping, blocked, or about to go sideways, tell me early. Bad news does not improve with age, and I would much rather hear it now than find out later.
Feedback
Write it first, then we talk.
- I give feedback in writing first, so you can digest it on your own time. Then we talk it through on a call.
- I like it in the same way. Write it down, send it over, and we discuss.
How I show up technically
My job is to enable, not to block.
- I enjoy a good technical discussion, but I should never be in your critical path. If I am, push me out of it.
- I am a great rubber duck. Bring me the messy, half-formed version. Thinking out loud with someone is half the work.
- I think best out loud, with someone. I do my best work bouncing ideas around and exploring a problem together. Visualizing problems is even better, my go-to tool is Excalidraw.
How I think about engineering
The principles I bring to technical calls.
- Security > Durability > Availability > Performance > Features. That is the order I use to break ties when priorities collide. When in doubt, protect the data first.
- Long-term thinking and consistency win. Tactical solutions are sometimes necessary, but they ship with a defined shelf life and clear expectations. I will push short-term work to align with the longer-term technical vision. If a hack does not have an expiry date, it becomes architecture.
- Clear scope, clear owners, real follow-through. I would rather have a small, sharp scope with named owners than a sprawling plan with ambiguous responsibility.
- Ancient Romans used to say "Spoken words fly away, written ones remain", decisions must be documented in writing, always.
A bit of me
Off the clock.
- Based in northern Italy, and happiest with a trail and some elevation in front of me.
- I hike to think. Some of my best decisions were made halfway up a mountain.
- Permanent learning mode, mostly by building things and occasionally breaking them.
- I sometimes overthink. If you catch me spiraling on something simple, say so. I mean it, that one really helps.
- I am open and trusting by default. Depending on your wiring, that can read as too good to be true at first. Give it time and you will see I stand by my word and my principles.
- The last time I eat a pasta was probably a few hours ago.
That is the short version. The rest we figure out together.
When something here stops being true, tell me and I will update it. — Tomas