BEST PRACTICE 01

The Manifesto

Respect each other. Help each other. Polish your skill of giving and taking feedback.* Spread happiness and joy.

* 🎁 feedback is a gift ©

BEST PRACTICE 02

Respect each other's time

First look for the answer in the task itself, on the consultant's side, and in Google — only then turn to a live teammate.

A colleague typed "Hi" with no actual question? You don't need to reply.*

* if they're a good colleague, send them a link to this guide. once. 😜

BEST PRACTICE 03

Ask questions

Everyone in the team is ready to help. Your team leader takes any question; subject-matter experts cover almost every topic.*

"But what about not distracting people?" — People love interesting questions.

* a RACI matrix is basic hygiene for any team

BEST PRACTICE 04

Meetings & the tertial plan

Weekly and daily team meetings are mandatory — come prepared. Everything else is optional.* Any free slot in a calendar can be booked without asking, so keep yours updated. Accepted the invite? Be punctual.

At the end of each tertial, set your deliverables for the next one. When reporting, check every result against the initial plan and expectations. Personal matters must not interfere with business responsibilities.

* it's acceptable to skip any meeting without a defined agenda — unless it's with senior management

BEST PRACTICE 05

Outcome beats time and effort

Staying until 3 a.m. every day when it's not something you enjoy is bad. Leaving at 4 p.m. and delivering great results on time is good. Constant overload leaves no time to think — and breeds mistakes.

Time spent on courses, new technologies, and side projects moves you, the project, and the team forward. Don't discuss who works where and how visibly hard — discuss the work itself.*

* see "Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It" · what "discuss the work" means → appendix below

BEST PRACTICE 06

Make deliverables visible

A result counts when it's visible and easy to understand. Communicate every achievement to the right level: team leader → squad → department → company. If something "became better" — count how much better.

deliverable = task + initial deadline + link + email + screenshots

BEST PRACTICE 07

Help optimize

Bad task description? Say so. Too many urgent tasks? Say so. Something weird or irrational going on? Help make it better.

Never as a personal accusation. Start by asking why it happens this way — and better yet, act preventively.

helping must not block your ongoing tasks

BEST PRACTICE 08

Better to do than to ask

Question on a task? Do what feels right, then describe the problem and your solution. Found a mistake? Fix it on the spot, then inform.* Invented something? Ship it and showcase your success.

* don't forget the backup

BEST PRACTICE 09

Learn to read minds

Behind every email there is an idea, a problem or a task someone is trying to convey.

First, do your best to understand. Then — to be understood.

BEST PRACTICE 10

No false commitments

Never promise "same-day delivery" if it actually ships tomorrow — and only after payment. If a manager insists on something dubious, ask and discuss: maybe there are details you don't know. But we never propose dubious things ourselves.

Something dubious on the project, unfeasible commitments, suffering user experience? Ask.*

* in this order: project team → team leader → your manager. it is very important!

BEST PRACTICE 11

Continuous self-development

Practice self-study daily and on purpose: books, websites, RSS, professional channels, video lectures, homework, certification.

Write summaries and share them with the team. Apply new things to your daily work right away. Remember the outcome.

BEST PRACTICE 12

Location dictates the specifics

In the office, personal work time is scarce — think twice before pulling anyone away. On a remote site, shared time is scarce — a video call beats chat, chat beats email or a task-tracker comment.

Remote? Use every opportunity for informal communication.*

* decisions made verbally must be documented in email or Confluence. mandatory.

BEST PRACTICE 13

An email is a task

Got an email addressed to you? You are now the assignee. Can't or shouldn't do it — send a reasoned decline ASAP. Can't meet the deadline — move it in advance. Reply to every email.*

Emails are for when everything is fine. When it's not — meet in person or at least call. Every missed call gets a call back ASAP.

* except FYI · details: mindmeister.com/60121164

BEST PRACTICE 14

Compose emails properly

A correct, self-explanatory subject is a must — tag the project in brackets: [Website] [Mobile app] [HFS] — it sorts itself. Keep a precise narrative: who, what, when, and what outcome.

Write in English if there is any chance a non-Russian speaker joins the thread. Watch that subject and content match.*

* details: mindmeister.com/60119979

BEST PRACTICE 15

Inbox zero, daily

An empty inbox every day takes one hour of sorting and replying to what's crucial. Automate the sorting: by product, project, budget, marketing, HR, admin, other.

* 1000 unread ≈ 2.5 hours. a month-old email is no longer relevant — anything urgent will reach you through other channels

BEST PRACTICE 16

Dig deep for the meaning

Before doing anything, understand who needs the outcome and why. Do not accept tasks whose goals are unclear or look not quite right.*

We only profit from the long-term success of our company. Do not let wrong decisions pass.

* "quite right" = project performance: conversion, campaign results, participants, sales

BEST PRACTICE 17

Managing time and tasks

Build your own productivity system like a puzzle, from the practices that work for you. Keep a single to-do list, always at hand. Plan the day, week, month, tertial; estimate every item; decompose big things into small ones.

With a deadline — plan in reverse: what must be ready, what to do and when, down the chain to the start date. Reserve ~20% for pitfalls and the constant stream of unplanned work. If there's any chance the deadline shifts even one day, tell the team leader the moment you see it coming (in person + email). New requirements from a stakeholder → communicate the possible plan shift (in person + MoM/email).*

* keep track of time; compare plan vs fact. all time-management books begin with this. even the gentlest ones.

BEST PRACTICE 18

Plan is the norm. Urgent is not.

Working according to a plan is normal. "Urgent" tasks flying in are not — minimize their number. Since no plan is 100% accurate, some urgency will occur; accept a reasonable amount of it calmly.

BEST PRACTICE 19

Keep things in order

Inbox, documentation, Confluence, Dropbox, Analytics, hosting, campaigns, notifications — everything, in order.

The only way to keep things in order is to keep them in order continuously. Always.

BEST PRACTICE 20

"Done" means done

A responsible person can take a task and be forgotten about: they will either deliver and double-check, or come back with constraints and a reasoned decline. "Done" = completed, verified, and confirmed to match expectations. "Done, I just need to send it" = not done.

To break out of endless iterations, run the loop: present against the task list → collect feedback → sort it into improvements → do them → repeat. If it's truly due at 9:00 — it's ready at 8:59. Other people's mistakes never justify yours.*

* "well, YOU were late to the meeting" = automatic loss of the argument

BEST PRACTICE 21

Personal responsibility

The team is accountable for everything in the product that concerns KPIs — including trustworthy numbers in every dashboard and report. The team leader approves outcomes; feedback becomes a list of improvements.

Experience makes approval faster — at some point "just to show" is enough. But key things are always approved.

BEST PRACTICE 22

Ask for help in time

Can't finish in time, workload too heavy, resources missing, approval blocked? Ask for help. Hints are not enough: state the problem and the desired action. Discuss out loud, fix decisions in MoM or email.*

* who reports risks in time gets trusted with bigger work

BEST PRACTICE 23

Mistakes are normal

"Tried — didn't work", "invented — didn't fly": the more you try, the more will succeed. “Only while sleeping one makes no mistakes. Making mistakes is the privilege of the active — of those who can correct their mistakes and put them right.” (c) Ingvar Kamprad.

Work on them: fix → evaluate consequences → find causes → split into random and systemic → make systemic ones unrepeatable → communicate actions taken.

BEST PRACTICE 24

Unforced mistakes are a curse

"Didn't think", "didn't check", "didn't notice", "noticed but ignored" — these could have been avoided. Formal ceremonies and your own productivity system exist precisely to bring them to zero.

BEST PRACTICE 26

First "under control", then "IMPROVEMENT"

The product must be healthy first — it works, works correctly, doesn't break, and when it does, you find out fast through a trusted channel. Only then go for improvements.

Otherwise the product falls into the regression spiral of death: nothing new gets done because the existing things keep breaking.*

* the complexity of a project you can trust to a person (or an agency) is proportional to the complexity they can handle