Deep Dive: 1:1s

Introduction

One-on-one meetings (1:1s) are crucial tools in the modern tech workplace. They serve as the primary connection point between managers and their direct reports. When executed effectively, these meetings can dramatically improve team performance, boost employee engagement, and accelerate professional development.

However, as with any practice in software engineering management ( and in the world of humans in general ), people have different opinions on 1:1s:

1. For example, my favourite podcast about Management, Manager Tools, considers 1:1s a core element of the management trinity.
2. Andy Groove ( ex-CEO Intel, and “father of OKR” approach ) considered regular 1:1s as a high-value investment.
3. Aditya Agarwal ( ex-CTO Dropbox, #5 Engineer at Facebook ) advocates for eliminating weekly 1:1s and proposing managers focus on quarterly feedback.
4. Brian Chesky ( CEO Airbnb ) prefers to avoid regular 1:1s, saying that it turns managers into therapists.

Whether you like it or not, 1:1s are still considered a core part of a manager’s job and can vary greatly depending on your organization’s culture or your personal management style.

In this post, we’ll dive deep into the culture of 1:1s at different technology companies, highlighting what’s considered good practice, what’s best avoided, and which tools can help you the most.

Companies to review

During this research, we will speak about the following companies:

1. GitLab – mainly because they’ve openly shared their handbook online. Personally, I find their documentation describing engineering processes to be among the best available
2. Google – to include representation from MANGA (formerly FAANG, though now nobody knows what acronym to use with all these AI companies)
3. Atlassian – since they create widely-used tools specifically designed for managing software projects, and probably should know something
4. Sourcegraph – because they’re also very transparent about their SDLC processes and more.
5. Sourcery AI – to provide a comparison between large companies and startups