Working with Dag Frode

Hi there! I’m looking forward to the pleasure of working with you!

This page is an attempt to efficiently communicate what it is like working with me. The process of getting to know your coworkers usually takes about 6 months, let see if we can speed this up!

Based on Working with Claire: an unauthorized guide

First things first

A few items that will be most noticeable and affect our working relationships the most.

Headsets

I have a hard time working if I hear people talking around me, I need my inner dialog to think, this means I will most likely be wearing a headset when at my desk. I am however usually free to help out, but prefer that you ping me on Slack so my flow is not broken. I’ll get right back to you, letting you know if I’m free right away, need a couple of minutes to finish the thought I’m working on, or if I’m deep into something and need some time before I am available.

Sociability

Introversion has had many different definitions through the years. I’m rather low on sociability, get energy from solitude, and prefer smaller groups of people and a calm environment. I can get overstimulated.

This does not affect work to a large degree, it does however affect the social aspects of work and being part of a team to some degree. Meetings and work-related tasks are fine. More social situations such as eating out or doing social activities with the team in busy environments can take quite a lot out of me, especially before I’ve had a bit of alcohol. So I tend to participate less in such activities as I need to prioritize other social activities.

This means I might skip eating with the team during lunch break, not because I don’t want to spend time with you, but because the lunch room often drains me.

I do however get a lot out of spending time with my co-workers in smaller groups, especially talking about deeper things. I will try to find some ways to get to do activities with you to get to know you better. Like inviting you out for a walk.

Walks

Talking about walks. I have developed a habit of breaking up the day with at least one walk during lunchtime. Feel free to join me. I need the air, sunlight, and movement to be at my most productive.

I might need to get out for another walk if the work I’m doing is particularly challenging or if I get overstimulated during the workday. Some work is also easier to get done while walking.

Task style

Drive

I’m pretty driven, preferring to focus and get things done. If left to my own devices, I forget to take enough breaks and suffer because of it. I believe tasks expand to take the time given to them. And I try to make the best possible products for our users.

Structure

I go back and forth between the big picture and detailed thinking. I can get stuck in detail thinking, or not thinking to think big enough or get stuck thinking too big.

I try to balance this so I don’t get stuck, and use the people around me to discuss. I might jump a bit between the big picture, and details thinking when talking as talking often helps me think, I might present some really good arguments for something when I start talking, then end up changing my mind as I shift perspective concluding with something different than what I started arguing. I will try to notify you when this happens as it can cause some confusion.

Adaption style

Conceptual

I shift between practical and innovative thinking. I enjoy spending time innovating, then get bored and want to get practical achieving something. I can often be very practical getting quite a bit done, then spend some time innovating and redoing what I just did more efficiently. I usually need to spend some time exploring patterns before innovating. Hench redoing things I just did more efficiently, usually in a way that makes the next similar work more efficient.

Flexibility

I’m pretty flexible, though I might need a bit of pep talk or a chat if there’s a sudden change in plans. Once I start focusing I don’t like to change the wave I have built up.

Mastery

My natural state is improvement—I’ve been coding for half my life, so making things smoother and reducing unnecessary work is my jam. I can get into a pretty good flow and get a lot done when needed, but that requires some more effort building up a wave to ride on.

Achievement style

Ambition

Ambition-wise, I enjoy learning and challenging myself. Life can be a bit intimidating until you give things a shot. Once I’ve mastered something, I like to mix things up to stay motivated.

Power

As for leadership, I’m more of a practical leader. I know how to get things done, follow up, and make sure the team is rocking it. I do not care for power. I’m in it to achieve goals, challenge myself, and help others shine.

Teamwork style

Cooperativeness

I’m very cooperative, except when I’m in the zone. I prefer separating planning and doing work. I enjoy spending time cooperating planning what to do, then time alone doing the work. I also enjoy helping others but have so far found working by myself and then checking with peer reviews to be the most effective. But I’m up for challenging that!

Sensitivity

I’m pretty sensitive, have a lot of compassion, sensing others’ feelings. I am trying to be more stoic as in the true meaning behind stoicism, which is about understanding feelings, both our own and others.

Humility

I will say I’m pretty humble. I’m trying to be more proud of the things I have achieved, break free of the “Janteloven” and be inspired by Jan Thomas

Emotional style

Composure

I’m pretty passionate, this can however often show as frustration when I don’t get things working, or by being overly excited about all sorts of nerdy details I for some reason enjoy. Apart from that, I’m pretty calm.

Positivity

I’m a realist, but my team often sees me as positive and encouraging. This means I play the devil’s advocate when needed.

Awareness

I’m pretty self-aware and try to steer clear of overthinking. I’ve spent enough time being anxious.

Interaction style

Assertiveness

I can be assertive if needed, but my motto is “listen first, then talk.”

Liveliness

Socially, I’m a bit reserved at first, but once you get to know me, you’ll see some outgoing bursts. I might not be the chattiest, but I’m always up for a good chat.

Excited to be part of the team and get to know all of you better! 🚀

TMI section

Personality

A quick big 5 based on taking the test every year or so the past few years. Generally wanting to achieve things, dealing with quite a bit of personal stress and uncomfortable feelings, trying to be good to the people I work with and the people affected by the work I do. - Extraversion - Friendliness - high - Gregariousness - low - Assertivness - mid-high - Activity level - mid - Excitment-seeking - low - Cheerfulness - low - Agreeableness - Trust - mid - Morality - high - Alturism - high - Cooporation - high - Modesty - low - Sympathy - high - Conscientiousness - Self-efficacy - high - Orderliness - mid-high - Dutifulness - mid - Achievement-Striving - high - Self-Discipline - mid - Cautiousness - mid - Neuroticism - Anexiety - high - Anger - mid-high - Depression - high - Self-Consciousness - mid-high - Immoderation - high - Vulnerability - mid - Openness to Experience - Imagination - high - Artistic Interests - mid - Emotionality - high - Adventurousness - mid - Intellect - mid-high - Liberalism - high

ADEPT-15

- **Drive** - I can be rather focused. I like completing tasks and know that tasks tend to take the time you give them and that quite often it is prefered to get to some level of completion before improving a solution for the sake of the user. - **Structure** - I did say I would only hightlight my outliers, the thing is, in terms of the big picture vs small picture thinking I would say I'm and outlier in both extremes. I like to go into small details and make sure they are right as they can often cause confution later on. But I also like to look at the big picture and make sure what we are doing makes sence in that regard. So I tend to go a bit back and forth between thouse perspectives. Witch can be a bit confusing as I might end up contradict the point I started making when I started talking as I shift mindset while talking. - **Conceptual** - I lean mostly toward practical, with shorter bursts of innovating - **Flexability** - I'm in general flexible. Until I have made up my mind about what task to do next, then I might need to do a bit of reframing, or simply have a chat with someone to build my motivation with the changed task. Scenarios we talk about in this regard is when we have decided what I should be working on for the rest of the day and half an hour later some other factor changes the demand. - **Mastery** - My natural state is improving. Figuring out how we can improve devx, reduce busywork, redundant work and in general use less code better. I guess it is a result of writing code for half my life and having spendt my fair share of time doing mundane tasks and wanting to avoid doing them. - **Ambition** - I'm rather striving. Not quite sure what for. I like to learn, to challenge myself. I find that things in life can be rather scary until you try it once. Once I've tried it a few times it can almost get boring so I keep changing things up to get the feeling of motivation and doing good work. - **Power** - When we talk about leadership, I tend to think about visionaries. I don't tend to fit that part of leadership, but I would say I fit moust other parts, I know how to get things done, follow up, and do what the team needs to work well. But I do not have a strong need to feel power in a team setting, it has more to do with wanting to acheve things and challenging myself in new ways. I also enjoy healping others and helping them be their best selfs. - **Cooperativeness** - I'm very cooporative in most aspects, except while doing the actuall work. I tend to get distracted by others talking and have a hard time articulating what I'm doing as it is just flowing trough me. - **Sensitivity** - I am rather compassionate striving to be more stoic. - **Humility** - I am rather humble. I have done a lot of things I'm proud of and feel like we should be able to be proud of ourselves, but I do not feel like I'm above anyone and most people I have meet have done things I'm impressed by. - **Composure** - I'm moustly calm. With streaks of passionate when I get overwhelmed. - **Positivity** - I am rather realistic and know that a lot of things are hard. But the people that work with my experience me as positive and encurraging. - **Awareness** - I think I am rather self-aware. I'm activily not devlling to much on things as I've been a rather anxious person and that is to no benefit of anyone. - **Assertiveness** - I can be rather assertive, when I feel the need, witch for the most part I don't. I try to go by "First listen, then talk." - **Liveliness** - I'm rather reserved untill I get to know you better. I can be outgoing in short outbursts, but ar rather low on sociability.

A bit about my personality as per Big-5 and ADEPT-15. I’m only hightlighting facets that are outliers as they tend to be the interesting ones.

There are also a few things that you will probably notice quickly with me that I want to hightlight.

In the work I do, my drive is to solve problems for people and reduce frustration and friction for the people using the software solutions we are working on. This does extend to the other people working on the software in terms of improving devx, processes and frameworks for the work we do to make our work flow better.