About a month ago, our CEO Brennan wrote an article on Hacker Noon: 12 Manager ReadMes from Silicon Valley’s Top Tech Companies. And…it kind of went viral.

So, I started digging through the interwebs and found as many of these manager readmes as I could (special thanks to managerreadme.com and Richard McLean). I had to stop myself at 49 (that’s a cool number right?), because the concept is spreading like wildfire, specifically in the tech industry, and more are being shared every day.

For those of you asking yourself, “what the heck are manager readmes?” – here’s a quick download:

Manager readmes are user manuals written by managers on their management style, philosophies, expectations, communication preferences, and more. It’s like a “how to guide” for employees getting to know – and working for – their bosses.

Click the images below to learn more about how leaders at some of the coolest companies in tech are managing their teams:

1. Michael Lopp (aka rands), VP Engineering at Slack

"Humans first. I believe that happy, informed, and productive humans build fantastic product. I optimize for the humans." @rands @slackhq Share on X

2. Ben Morris, Sr. Developer Lead at Shopify

"You’re very good at your job. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. If it feels like I’m questioning you it’s because I’m either: a) Trying to gather context. Or b) Trying to be a sounding board and rubber duck." @bnmrrs @shopify Share on X

3a. Roy Rapoport, Director at Slack (And formerly Netflix)

"If I do something that negatively impacts my ability to retain you, you would be doing me a huge favor if you let me know about it, as soon as possible." @royrapoport @slackhq Share on X

3b. Roy Rapoport, Netflix

"When it comes to adjusting to personalities, I strongly believe that the person in the more senior position is getting paid, partially, to adjust to the personality styles of the people reporting to them." @royrapoport @netflix Share on X

4. Gergely Nemeth, Engineering Manager at GoDaddy

"More than any other factor, candid and compassionate feedback is central to a cohesive high-functioning team." @nthgergo @GoDaddy Share on X

5. Mindaugas Mozūras, Head of Engineering at Vinted

"Don’t wait until our 1:1 with an urgent issue/opportunity. If you need me, I will make myself available." @mmozuras @VintedEng Share on X

6. Luc Levesque, Head of Youth Products at Facebook

"I value speed more than any other item on this list, all other points are valued because they increase our speed." @luclevesque @facebook Share on X

7. Tom Sommer, Director of Engineering at Redbubble

"With great power comes great responsibility. I am dead keen to give you the power of Autonomy. To receive it, you have to take responsibility for yours and the team’s output." @redbubble Share on X

8. Dave Igoe, Head of Software Development at AO

"I expect my teams to continually run experiments, build a hypothesis, predict an expected outcome, run an experiment and then learn by contrasting the actual outcome to the expected outcome." @dave_igoe @ao Share on X

9. Aaron Lerch, Engineering Manager at InVision

"1-1s are very important to me because they are dedicated space for you to talk about anything and everything you want." @aaronlerch @InvisionApp Share on X

10. Richard McLean, Director of Strategy & Performance at Elsevier

"I am here to help you and your teams be excellent, to remove blockers, and to join the dots between what we do and the wider Elsevier strategy and priorities." @mcleanonline @ElsevierConnect Share on X

11. Molly White, Tech Lead at HubSpot

"An important thing to know about me: if I have headphones on, it does not mean I am 'in the zone' or expect not to be interrupted (I'm probably just enjoying some music)." @molly0x57 @HubSpot Share on X

12. Matt Newkirk, Sr. Engineering Manager at Etsy

"I’m dedicated to giving you clear and timely feedback and hope that you’ll give me the same." @mnewkirk @Etsy Share on X

13. Isaac Hepworth, Sr. Product Manager at Google

"I believe in “clean” downtime, as in: time off where you go firmly offline work-wise. Make sure you spend enough of your vacation days this way; it’s valuable, healthy, and important." @isaach @Google Share on X

14. Ben Broeckx, Public Benefits Director at Sodexo

"I do not believe in hierarchy. I will move teams under my responsibility to increased autonomy as soon as possible, with the end objective to make those teams fully autonomous." @benbroeckx @SodexoGroup Share on X

15. Daniel Richnak, Software Dev Manager at Woot

"Your job isn’t just to complete your sprint tasks (please do that too though). It’s also to own and to lead." @riknik @woot Share on X

16. Elliott Carlson, Manager at RentTheRunway

"I urge you to hold me accountable to my promises, and to call out anything that might be missing from this document. Without your guidance, I will not be able to improve as a manager." @elliottcarlson @renttherunway Share on X

17. John Cline, Sr. Engineering Manager at Blue Apron

"My default management mode is to let you handle your work without much guidance or direction from me." @clinejj @blueapron Share on X

18. Derek Lakin, Sr. Engineering Manager at Skyscanner

"We get better by doing and by trying, so figure out the smallest thing you can do, try it quickly and learn from the experience. Rinse and repeat :)" @dereklakin @Skyscanner Share on X

19. Mike Douglas, Engineering Manager at InVision

"I think about process a lot, and sometimes I take it too far. I’m a navel-gazer at heart, and I constantly look at ways to tweak processes to make them better." @miked @invisionapp Share on X

20. Jay Desai, CEO & Founder at PatientPing

"Frameworks and context are critical to sharing your work. I am always interested in the reason why you believe what you believe." @jdesai01 @patientping Share on X

21. Ray Nicholus, Manager of Software Engineering at Cofense

"I love to brainstorm and often ask for feedback on ideas on my “drawing board”. I may forget to explain this, so always assume I’m brainstorming with you." @RayNicholus @Cofense Share on X

22. Mike Hostetler, Director of Engineering at Cars.com

"I love structure, documents and organization, but none of that matters without people, without relationships. My motto is “People First” and I strive to live that out every day." @mikehostetler @carsdotcom Share on X

23. Gordon Diggs, Director of Engineering, at Intersection

"I have seen what small teams can accomplish, and like to find new ways for us to work well together before trying to expand the team." @GordonDiggs @intersection_co Share on X

24. Ramez Hanna, Staff Lead SRE at Criteo

"I will be to the team what Alfred is for batman whether the team needs me to take the lead on a topic, or they want me to just handle comms." @InformatiQ @criteo Share on X

25. Alan Page, QA Director at Unity

"Your relationship with me as a manager is a mutually beneficial deal for both of us. Our goal is to add value to each other, and we will help each other be successful." @alanpage @unity3d Share on X

26. Maggie Gourlay, Engineering Manager at VictorOps

"I love my job because I get to help smart people work together on a pretty cool piece of software for a company who values both the product and the people who make it." @VictorOps Share on X

27. Audree Fletcher, Consultant at Barnardo’s

"I tend to absorb the energy around me so I love working with optimists and growth-oriented people who are passionate about their work." @avfletcher @barnardos Share on X

28. Brian Cheung, Manager of Software Engineering at Cofense

"How do I define success? At a team level, success for me is making progress toward solving the problems we are challenged to solve." @bdcheung @Cofense Share on X

29. Lara Hogan, Engineering Leadership Coach at Wherewithall

"I believe that humans already have the answers inside themselves. My role is to help them find it." @lara_hogan Share on X

30. Emil Sit, Director of Engineering at Toast

"Sometimes I will know (roughly) what needs to be done and I should share that information with you promptly. Other times you will know what needs to be done, and I hope that you will share that with me promptly." @emilsit @toasttab Share on X

31. David Cohen, VP Engineering at Optimove

"Always strive to have better technical capabilities. You can make mistakes. No one expects you to be perfect. I expect you to be better at what you do as time goes by." @davidcohen213 @optimove Share on X

32. Swaroop Chitlur, Engineering Manager at Helpshift

"We tend to think of meetings themselves as the main event, when in reality meetings should be the practice sessions." @swaroopch @helpshift Share on X

33. Oren Raboy, VP Engineering at Totango

"I value people that take ownership on work. Own the problem, the solution, the process and result of what you are working on." @orenraboy @totango Share on X

34. Oren Ellenbogen, VP Engineering at Forter

"I serve you, not the other way around. I’m always available to assist. Ask me. You work for @ForterFraudFree, not for me nor for your direct manager." @orenellenbogen Share on X

35. Adam Ochonicki Director, Platform Engineering at Articulate

"I'm not here to 'manage people'. I'm here to manage for people. I don't manage you, or your work, or your life. You do that." @adamochonicki @Articulate Share on X

36. Zoe Gould, Head of Product at DWP

"I like to think I fight for what is right, helping others and using my networks and skills to solve problems, just like a certain lady detective. But obviously with less murders and less fantastic outfits." @Zoe_On_The_Go @DWPdigital Share on X

37. Liran Tal, Engineering Manager at Neilsen

"I value transparency about what’s happened, what’s happening, and what’s going to happen." @liran_tal @Nielsen Share on X

38. Scott Burns, VP Engineering at Stratasan

"I have opinions. This does not mean they are correct or you should blindly believe them. Please disprove me so that I can learn with you." @scottsburns @stratasan Share on X

39. Mike Kleiman, Manager of Engineering at BiblioCommons

"I never want ideas, questions or solutions to become something anyone is afraid to engage in." @mikekleiman @BiblioCommons Share on X

40. Katie Womersley, Director of Engineering at Buffer

"Please invest in 1:1s – if you’re a manager, please do regular (weekly) 1:1s, and if you’re an engineer, please use the time of the 1:1 as a chance to reflect on your challenges and growth." @katie_womers @buffer Share on X

41. Robert Stuttaford, CTO at Cognician

"If I’m being grumpy, it’s likely because I’m overstimulated and could do with a screen break. Tell me it’s ok for me to take a break or a nap 🙂 I will also happily give any orphan cheesecake a happy home." @RobStuttaford @cognician Share on X

42. Caleb Huitt, Development Lead at Ag Leader Technology

"It's my belief that some of the best outcomes result in people given room to excel at what they're good at. It's my job to help make that happen." @cjhuitt @AgLeaderTech Share on X

43. Karney Li, VP of Engineering at Wealthsimple

"At certain times you will have to work long (long hours) and hard (with lots of intensity), but working smart is the most difficult to achieve." @karneyli @wealthsimple Share on X

44. Adam Fields, Chief Architect at Graphika

"I do what I do because of loyalty and a desire for excellence, not out of obligation. I don’t expect to do work without getting paid, but that is not why I strive to do the best work possible." @fields @Graphika_Inc Share on X

45. Austin Kelmore, Engineering Lead at ustwo Games

"Trust that I will always try to do the best I can for the team, but letting me know when I fall short of that goal so that I can rectify it." @AustinKelmore @ustwo Share on X

46. Jim Grey, Director of Engineering at Emplify

"Trust is everything at work. Just as I extend trust to you, I want you to trust me. Our mutual trust will build over time." @mobilene @emplify Share on X

47. Cassie Robinson, Strategic Design Director at Doteveryone

"I’d rather have difficult conversations than things be unspoken or inauthentic, so just be straight with me." @cassierobinson @doteveryoneuk Share on X

48. Chuck Groom, Director of Engineering at VTS

"Well-being matters. This includes an emotionally safe work environment — no aggressions, humiliations, or manipulations." @chuck_groom @viewthespace Share on X

49. Neil Tamplin, Senior IT Officer at Cadwyn Housing 

"To avoid multitasking, I might not be accessible all the time, particularly during the early part of the day where my focus is 'getting sh*t done." @NeilTamplin @CadwynHA Share on X

---

One final note: this may be a list of mostly tech leaders, but manager ReadMes are a valuable tool for any person managing humans. Why not try writing your own?

What you should do next

Next, here are some things you can do now that you've read this article:

1. If communication is a challenge for your team, you should check out our library of meeting agenda templates.
2. You should try Spinach to see how it can help you run a high performing org.
3. If you found this article helpful, please share it with others on Linkedin or X (Twitter)