SecondPen.aiTemplates · People & leadership
Personal user manual (Manager README) template
Origin: Popularized in tech leadership circles in the 2010s (the "user manual for me" practice).
Sections
- How I work
- Communication preferences
- What I value
- How to disagree with me
- Quirks
- What I expect
How a tough reader scores it
When you score a draft against this format, the Critic evaluates this user manual. The weights add up to 100; the fixes for the weakest criteria arrive as cards in the editor.
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Specific and actionable, not generic virtues | 30 |
| Honest about blind spots | 20 |
| Clear expectations in both directions | 20 |
| Explains how to disagree safely | 15 |
| Concise, under 2 pages | 15 |
How it works in SecondPen.ai
Open the template and the editor writes the blank once, with a line of guidance under each heading that you delete as you fill it in. Write your abstract and the editor names the format it reads like. Ask for a document with a slash command and it offers to start from the matching format. When the draft is ready, the Critic scores it against the criteria above, the way this format's toughest reader would, and the three highest-leverage fixes become Editor cards.
More in People & leadership
- Role scorecard (Topgrading / Who)Geoff Smart and Randy Street, Who: The A Method for Hiring (ghSMART, 2008)
- Structured interview kitGoogle re:Work structured interviewing research; Laszlo Bock, Work Rules! (2015)
- 30-60-90 day planMichael Watkins, The First 90 Days (2003)
- Promotion packetGoogle and Meta promotion-committee practice
- Performance feedback (SBI)Center for Creative Leadership's Situation-Behavior-Impact model
- One-on-one docAndy Grove, High Output Management (1983): the 1:1 is the report's meeting
- Org design proposalOrganizational design practice (Galbraith's Star Model; Team Topologies by Skelton & Pais)