Should you write a personal user manual?
I switched jobs for the first time in my 10+ year career this week. In the weeks I interviewed and leading up to starting my new role, I experienced a great deal of self discovery. Throughout that process, I recalled an interesting idea a prior colleague had to share a personal user manual. I also thought it would be useful to clarify, in a written document, things about myself – both for my own learning and for my future coworkers.
What is a personal user manual?
A user guide, also commonly known as a user manual, is intended to assist users in using a particular product, service or application. It's usually written by a technician, product developer, or a company's customer service staff. Most user guides contain both a written guide and associated images.
- Wikipedia
A personal user manual is a written document that provides explicit details to others on how to best interact with you. The document's purpose can serve to get to know each other, share personal preferences, what elements help others to communicate best with you, or how you like to receive feedback.
Why write a personal user manual?
I found this exercise of documenting a user manual to be helpful for the following reasons:
- Self discovery – I learned a lot about myself. Personality tests helped me to identify tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses in a concrete and clear way.
- Remote relationships – I feel that in any working environment (especially a remote one), this can be a helpful introduction to get to know various aspects of the people on my team.
- Team building – Some of this information requires us to be vulnerable (weaknesses) and allows us to work together to identify our tendencies and help each other to grow.
I love how Leah Fessler put it:
Here’s a funny thing about work: We spend more time with our colleagues than with our friends and family. Yet more often than not, we don’t really understand our co-workers—because being honest with one another is scary. When a teammate’s lack of organization annoys us, we vent to others. When a boss says “this is fine” (not “this is great”), we wallow in anxiety. Many of us figure out our colleagues’ personalities, preferences, and dislikes through trial and error, not through explicit conversation.
How should I structure my manual?
There are many ways you can structure a personal user manual. Perhaps the most important question to answer is: what outcomes do I want to achieve with my manual?
Break the ice
If you are on a remote team and you want to get to know your coworkers. You could include break the ice with fun facts about yourself, your hobbies, or a short snippet of how you got into your industry.
Behavioral tendencies
If you want to understand how to best work with each other, you might consider taking personality or behavioral tests and sharing results. Consider a Myers-Briggs, DISC, or The Four Tendencies test.
An important note is that personalities and behaviors are fluid and can change. Consider taking a test multiple times if the results don't quite speak to you. Then, tailor the tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses you include in your manual to more appropriately align with you.
Role-specific
Your role or job function can also heavily influence the content. For example, a manager might want to include how they conduct one-on-ones, what they expect from their reports, and how they prioritize work.
Values and work style
If you want to share what's important to you and how you work, you may consider documenting what you value and your working style. Consider a list of core values, pick 3-5, and explain why that value resonates with you.
You may also consider various work styles, such as how you like to communicate, how you approach conflict, how you make decisions, or what motivates you.
Safety first
Above all, a personal user manual should only contain information about you that you feel safe to share. You may not feel comfortable sharing details about your personal life and may want to tailor your manual to be strictly business-focused. You may not feel comfortable sharing your weaknesses, strengths, or personality tendencies.
However, it may be valuable to do so. The more comfortable and safe we feel with our team, trust will increase, and so will productivity. For those who don't feel safe, I encourage you to write two separate user manuals. A private one that is detail-rich for your own self-discovery. And a second one with what you want to share with your team.
A living document
One last thing to consider is that your personal user manual should be a living document. As your career develops, you will change over time. Your perspective and tendencies may change completely or mature. You may consider checking in on your manual once a year and making appropriate adjustments.
Conclusion
Writing a personal user manual may not be everyone's cup of tea. And maybe you're not in a safe enough environment for such a document. If so, I hope you can find a healthier place.
A personal user manual can be a great way to get to know your teammates and be a catalyst for growth together. At the very least, it can be a fantastic self-discovery exercise.