This is how I work

Like many people, I have my own working patterns and behaviours. I don’t expect others to operate in the same way.

Some of these behaviours are due to my family responsibilities, some are just my personal idiosyncrasy. I share them here in case it’s helpful for you to understand how I work.

• I usually work 2 days a week in the office and 3 days from home.
• The days I work in the office and the exact hours hours I keep vary from week to week due to child care commitments.
• When working from home, I usually start at 0800 and finish at 1630. When working from the office, I usually arrive at 0900 and leave by 1630.
• Evening time is family time: picking my daughters up from school, getting them ready for bed, dinner with my wife.
• I often do little bits of work early morning and in the evening. I do not expect others to respond to messages sent outside normal ‘office hours’.
• If I need a quick response to something, I’ll say so.
• I like a full hour for lunch if I can get it.
• If I want to focus on something I switch off Outlook and Slack and any other messaging tools.
• I tend to schedule meetings lasting 25 minutes instead of 30 minutes, and starting at 5 minutes past the hour to give me and other attendees a short break between meetings.
• I try to be punctual for meetings and to finish them by the time I said they’d finish.
• I value openness and clarity. I will question others’ views and I like my own views to be questioned.
• I share early drafts of things and I often think aloud.
• I will never preface an email subject line with “URGENT! IMMEDIATE RESPONSE REQUIRED!!!”
• Friday is POETS Day.

Photo by Andraz Lazic on Unsplash