Noah Manger
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Welcome to Zapier! I’m excited you’re here. This document is my manager README. It contains information about me, how I work, and how I think about management at Zapier. Like me, it’s a work in progress.
Be customer-obsessed. Building products customers love requires spending time with them. Your source of influence and effectiveness as a PM begins with how well you know our customers, and there’s no other way to get this than by regularly talking to them.
The details matter. I believe that managers need to be in the details in order to be good managers. When I probe on details, trust that it’s coming from a place of upleveling my own knowledge so that I can better support you by bringing my own expertise to bear.
Magic happens at the intersection of technology and design. We do our best work when product, design and engineering collaborate deeply to find creative solutions to customer problems. When we do this right, we ship higher quality work, ship faster, and ultimately serve our customers better.
Metrics are meant to serve us, not the other way around. If something would improve a metric but be worse for customers, we shouldn’t do it—we should change the metric. And if there’s something we should do that would benefit customers, we shouldn’t let the lack of an existing metric get in our way—instead, let’s do it and then figure out how to measure it.
Aces in their places. I believe in the strengths-based approach to personal growth. Everyone wins when individuals are in a position to leverage their unique strengths and personal motivators. As a manager, I’m always on the lookout for ways for my direct reports to take advantage of their super powers, whether that’s leading on a new opportunity or supporting someone else in one of their growth areas.
We’re all on the same team. Whether we’re talking about other product squads, our cross-functional partners, or up and down the leadership chain, we’re all in this together. For my reports, I look to you to have expertise in your domains and tell me what you need; and in turn, trust that if I push back, it’s because I’m trying to help the whole team succeed.
I have deep customer and product knowledge. I’ve been at Zapier since 2017, and over that time, I’ve accumulated a lot of knowledge about our product, the organization, and our customers. That helps me connect the dots across our strategy and initiatives. I can get into the details or zoom out pretty quickly.
I’m comfortable with ambiguity, but strive for clarity. There’s a time for messiness and a time to get crisp. I can thrive in ambiguity and messiness and have a high threshold with change. But when ambiguity is getting in our way, I will push hard for clarity and alignment.
I’m a generalist at heart. I know a little about a lot of things, and this helps me to dig in and synthesize details from various domains and to facilitate collaboration between functions.
I help my reports get stronger. As a manager, I do everything I can to help my reports succeed in their roles, for the good of the business and their careers. I do this by helping them recognize and leverage their strengths, identifying new growth opportunities, and providing performance feedback.
Embracing healthy conflict. I recognize that my bias is to prioritize harmony over conflict, so I’ve been working on dealing with conflict head on (and have been told I’ve gotten a lot better at this!). While I have a lot of loose opinions, I also have a lot of strong ones, and I’ve been told I need to be better at pushing for those.
Faster decision making. Because I value collaboration and the expertise of others, I can sometimes let decision making processes drag out longer than they should. I’m working on getting to resolution faster, including by just making a decision myself when appropriate.
Taking bigger swings. I have an ambitious vision for the future of the Workflow product, but I also know that we can’t get there overnight. I value continuous, incremental improvements that solve customer needs, but I know that sometimes I can let that get in the way of pushing for the bigger, bolder solution.
Working Hours: I typically work from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m Pacific Time, but will occasionally flex hours to accommodate meetings with other timezones or get heads down time at the end of the day. Message me any time regardless of Slack status, time, or day of the week. I tend not to answer during evenings or weekends. Likewise, if I send you a message when you are busy or offline after hours, I don't expect an immediate response.
Flexible processes. I am not a stickler for process—I ultimately just care that we do good work that drives good outcomes. But if a lack of process is getting in the way of that, then I’ll push for process improvements.
I like to share context and ideas. I can hold a lot of context in my head, and try to regularly share it with my teams in order to build shared understanding. This may come in the form of a Slack message, a doc, or product walkthrough, or a mockup. Oftentimes, these may be half-formed thoughts or loose opinions and I don’t expect immediate action. I try to let you know my hill-dying status (#idea, #suggestion, #recommendation, #plea) so that you know how to take it, but if it’s ever unclear, just ask. And at the same time, I love to hear whatever you’re thinking about and I’m always down for a jam session.
1-on-1 Meetings Every week, we will have a one-on-one (1:1) meeting, which is one of the most important meetings I will have all week. But this is your meeting. It's your opportunity to bring anything and everything you want to talk about to the table. After we catch up, my first question will almost always be, "What's at the top of your mind this week?" Our best 1:1s will be when you bring the most significant problem or challenge you face that week.
I will default to coaching (asking lots of questions and listening). But there may be times when you want advice or feedback. Let me know when you need or want that more than coaching. The 1:1 is primarily about one thing: your growth. Topics will likely include:
As for performance feedback, I'll do my best to give you quick and actionable feedback — both the good and the constructive — as often as possible. Whenever I provide feedback, it will be all about helping you succeed. If you want more feedback, just ask. And if there’s something in particular that you’re trying to improve on, please let me know so I can make it a focus for feedback.
Also: feedback is a two-way street! As your manager, I want your feedback on my management skills. Where am I doing well, and where do I need to grow? One of the most challenging things about being a people manager is the lack of feedback. Please help me grow by providing me with feedback.