Tags: #learning-how-to-work Not too long ago a friend of mine had recently been promoted from an individual contributor role into a position where they now had a direct report. I asked them for any interesting observations they'd gleaned about being a direct report, now that the were operating from the perspective of a manager. The answer? All the times the direct report brings them a problem, expecting them to solve it. When I started my first role in product, I'd face difficult problems that felt insurmountable on the regular (for example, some stakeholder request on a feature that would require changing ***everything*** a week out from release). My gut instinct was always to ask for help. Go to my manager. Ask "what do I do with this problem?" Why? Because I felt uncomfortable. I felt like I didn't know what to do. I was scared I might do the wrong thing. Learn to sit in that discomfort. Pause. Try to come up with a few ideas and solve the problem yourself. Decide on a timebox. If, after that timebox is up, you're still not sure what to do, then gather your ideas, what you've tried, what you've learned, and bring *that* to your manager for a new perspective. This way you're asking for feedback instead of asking for an answer. --- Created: 2024-04-04 Last Modified: 2024-04-04