Crafting the Perfect Manager 1-on-1 Meeting Template

Once a week, every other week, or once per month meetings with your manager in a "1-on-1" discussion is an inevitable component of a software engineer's calendar. Depending on your manager this meeting could be casual or a source of recurring dread. My hope with this blog is to share my template for a manager 1-on-1 meeting to help you maximize its value.

Why is this important?

We all like to believe in the myth of meritocracy; that our hard work will be self-evident and result in promotions and commensurate pay bumps. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. It is better to learn this sooner than to see yourself fall behind colleagues you know are doing less effective work.

Why does this happen? Management is not omnipotent. During an annual review period managers must remember everything, all their direct reports accomplished this year. The employee who has done a better job conveying this information is more likely to receive the rewards. If you completed several major projects that your manager does not know about in detail, they will have a harder time fighting on your behalf. With a strong outline for the meeting, you will be able to convey this information effectively and provide an artifact that can be revisited during review time.

The Template

When you create a document for your 1-on-1 meetings you will want to tailor it to what works best for you and your manager. I have worked with seven different managers during my software engineering career so far. The template I share with you today is one I have crafted as a hybrid of all their feedback over the years.

For me, a perfect template includes the following sections:

1. What you did recently
2. Blockers
3. Open questions
4. Updates on action items
5. New action items from this meeting

We will go into each section in more depth now.

What you did recently

Most likely the biggest part of the meeting will be spent talking about how your projects have been going recently. What is going well? What is more difficult than expected? It is ok to highlight everything here, even if it's only a bullet point without much discussion. If you do not document or tell someone what you've done, they may not know you've done it. Your manager may know you completed a new page on the company website. But did they know that project required collecting information from key stakeholders, attending design reviews with UX, working with Database operations to set up a new MariaDB instance, or upgrading vulnerable Java dependencies? The deliverable is much more impressive now. Your manager also now has material to show how valuable, productive, and deserving you are of a promotion.

Blockers

While every software engineer dreams that development goes smoothly and without bugs, that is not always in our control. It is important to share the bad as well as the good. The blockers section should include anything to increase the time of a project. There are two key benefits to communicating this information during your face-time with management.

1. No surprises. Clear communication about potential delays early on will allow time to plan, adapt, and communicate updates along the management chain reducing stress later.
2. Your manager may be able to do something about it. If your blocker is related to another engineer or team, your manager may have connections or leverage they can use to get you unblocked faster.

Open Questions

Anything from questions about deliverable timelines to advice for dealing with stress can be asked here. This time is often a good opportunity to learn more about work going on at the company that is less visible to you.

One caveat to this section, if you have urgent questions do not wait until a 1-on-1 meeting to ask them. Send an email. If you meet weekly, this can be a good time to ask questions. But if your manager only meets with you every month, definitely ask your questions earlier.

Action Items

The last two sections are about action items that come out of these meetings. During your discussions things may come up that need to be followed up later. For example, your manager may ask you to reach out to a senior engineer for to gain more context on a system. Alternatively, your manager may not know the answer to one of your questions, and they need to find out an get back to you. The new action items section should be actively written in during the meeting. If anything comes up capture it here as a reminder for your or your manager. If it is a larger action item, creating a story in your project management board, like Jira, may be better.

Updates on Action Items should be captured here too. Once an item is resolved, it is good to provide an update in the next meeting to show follow-through and close the loop on the item.

Example Template

None of this stuff is particularly complicated. It may even seem simple or self-evident, but it is important! You are your own best advocate and organizing your content for a meeting with management is an effective tool to show you are organized and represent your work in the best light.

You can find an example markdown document here.

And a blank markdown template here.

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