Thoughts on ‘overcommunication’?
I work in a team where I have weekly 1-on-1’s with my manager. I often find myself rushing to finish work right before my meeting with him versus a more consistent effort over the week. A strategy I’ve come up with is to give him daily updates on my progress and if there’s anything I need help with. This would force me to work since I don’t want to give him a weak update, and also keeps him in the loop. I’m wondering if this is a valid approach and whether this would work as I move up in levels?
![Senior Software Engineer [E5] at Meta company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fmeta.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Da7a5bcc0-e178-4b5b-b71e-09bf6c6aefae&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
![Entry-Level Software Engineer [L3] at Google company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fgoogle.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3D780356ef-3efc-4728-9eb4-d909b75bb4a6&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Discussion
(2 comments)- 1
a month agoAI/ML Eng @ Series C startupNot informed enough to know whether this works for higher levels, but this is a good strategy for now at least. Erring on the side of overcommunication is better, especially if you're fully/partially remote.
Don't be discouraged if your boss doesn't respond, he/she will still read those updates and have some piece of mind. Plus if you're getting blocked on a 5-day task, you'll be able to catch it Tuesday and not the following Monday
Oh. and. Try to carve out 4-6 hour blocks of time where you're doing some deep work coding. Alex mentions this in his "Maximize your productivity" course, and that really helps from personal experience
- 1
a month agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroI feel like daily updates is overkill, but if you can do it, go for it! I have rarely found overcommunication to be a problem, and if it is, they will tell you. It's much better to adjust down (e.g. go from a daily update to a twice-a-week update) then to adjust up (e.g. realize that your manager really wanted weekly updates while you were only giving monthly). The latter is a recipe to be labeled as a low performer, and in an intern's case, not get a return offer.
What I will say though is that if you're doing organic status updates outside of 1 on 1, don't use the 1 on 1 to do more status updates. Try to have that awkward 1 on 1, and in your case, you just want feedback on how you're doing. Given how internships are so short, I think it is very reasonable to effectively ask "How am I trending towards a return offer?" (and ask for feedback as well obviously) every 2-3 weeks. With a standard 12-week internship, even just 2 weeks is over 15% of your entire time there.
If you haven't already, I recommend this course as well (it's specific to Meta, but it also covers many fundamentals that apply to any internship): Nail Your Return Offer As A Meta Software Engineer Intern
