Manager interview: Rui Marques - 7Graus

[donbonifacio]

Hello Rui. Can you introduce yourself and talk a bit about your background and what you do?

[ruipmarques]

Well, as most readers know by now, my name is Rui, I am happily married and father to 3 wonderful children. I have a degree in Informática de Gestão, which is a combination of Business and Computer Science, two areas that I have always been fond of.

As an entrepreneur, I like thinking of new ideas to help people in different aspects of their lives, and that is something that is clear in the companies I have created as cofounder. One example is 7Graus, in which I am the CEO, developing strategies and business plans that are aligned with our short and long-term goals. I supervise the operations and make sure they have the desired results according to our strategy and mission. But that’s a lot of “business talk”. One of my main goals is to lead and motivate my team, including them in the vision and mission of the company. I am focused in unlocking people’s potential, and seeing people working with a purpose.

[donbonifacio]

How do you make sure that the results are aligned with your strategy and mission?

[ruipmarques]

I’d recommend that you shouldn’t try to “make sure”. What I believe is that as a leader, the only thing you need to “make sure” is that the Vision and Mission of the company are clear and are transparently and consistently communicated to the team. Another thing you should make sure is that the team has the conditions to get the results. It’s not you who gets the results… the team does. But you should also be strong enough to say no when something is not aligned with the vision or mission.

[donbonifacio]

Can you talk a bit about your hiring process? Any tips on how to hire people that are aligned with the vision and your culture?

[ruipmarques]

In our recruitment process we are very prudent in the assessment of the people that want to work with us. Our main focus is on the attitude of the candidate and their particular traits, because we want to check if they are aligned with the job requirements. It is very important to evaluate if they are passionate about the tasks they will be performing, because we want happy and motivated people in their roles.

If that assessment goes well, we try to understand what is the person’s drive, what moves her life and if that is aligned with the mission of the company.

These are fundamental points and in some extent they are more important than the technical skills. But of course, we do evaluate their technical skills.

[donbonifacio]

When you have new hires, what kind of onboarding process do you follow? How do you make them up to speed on the culture, strategy/mission and day to day responsibilities?

[ruipmarques]

We have a list of topics that the person will have to follow throughout the onboarding process. Each group of topics has someone assigned to it and the new team member must consult with them. Apart from that, everyone that joins our team has a mentor that will accompany and help them, clarify doubts, etc.

As the CEO, my role is to welcome the person, explain the culture of the company, its values, mission and vision. I also explain the attitude that is expected from every team member. Although this explanation is very important, there are some routines such as the daily standup meetings, Show and Tell, retrospectives, that will help them understand our culture.

[donbonifacio]

And how do you make people grow? What tips can you give in making sure our people are continuously learning and improving?

[ruipmarques]

We want people in our company to experience growth, not only professionally but also personally. In order for this to happen we give people freedom and encourage them to take technical training that they believe is relevant for them or for the company. That could be and online courses, in-house training, peer-learning, etc.

In terms of personal growth, we provide coaching sessions for every team member. Although this is optional, we encourage people to take part. Everyone has all the tools they may need in order to grow, and we are always open to listen to suggestions. At the same time we give the team feedback about the attitude we expect in the company and the growth we would like to see.

One fundamental thing in the subject of technical and personal development is that the leader should set the example and show that he is eager and available to learn and grow.

[donbonifacio]

What about performance evaluation? How do you communicate performance/productivity and balance team healthiness with team output?

[ruipmarques]

We don’t have performance evaluations. We believe in continuous feedback between peers, and it doesn’t have to be top-down. What we do evaluate is each team member’s attitude. Everyone knows the attitude that is expected from them, and every 6 months we communicate individually if they have the desired attitude and if there is room from improvement. During this meeting we also make ourselves available to help them improve and offer several tools for it, like coaching.

[donbonifacio]

How would you define a senior/seasoned developer? What skills and traits would you expect? How do they make a difference?

[ruipmarques]

In my opinion a senior developer is someone with broad experience, who has faced different situations, enabling him/her to adapt and come up with an effective solution when a new problem or challenge arises.

In terms of attitude, we expect someone who challenges the status quo and tries to challenge oneself and the team constantly.

A senior developer can also bring tranquility and a calm environment that only come with the knowledge acquired through experience

[donbonifacio]

Can you give some examples of situations that would be useful for a developer to experience?