Where I Fit on Your Team

My most productive role on a team is playing a productive role as a technical, innovative, and creative engineer. I am highly motivated, self-initiated, and outcome driven with strong ethical values about the quality and outcome of the engineering practice.

I am in the Gordon Engineering Leadership Program that serves to give MIT engineers the skills and insight needed to be effective leaders in an engineering context. The program gives foundation on many aspects of successful engineering leadership including team management, negotiation, communication, project planning, and other engineering fundamentals. In the program I've taken:

• Engineering Leadership - theory and case studies for effective leadership techniques
• Engineering, Innovation, and Design - design process and making engineering beautiful
• Engineering Learning Labs - 20 rigorous sessions of real leadership challenges
• Project Engineering - critical path, risk, project portfolios, and finances

This test is supposed to help broadly classify who I am. My result was:
INTJ: Introvert (+11%), iNtuitive (+50%), Thinking (+12%), Judging (+33%)

• When teammates are friends
• Jokes that are almost funny
• Having ways to channel feedback and new ideas
• Working directly with stakeholders/users
• When I can change what I am doing frequently
• Clean kitchens / labs and messy desks
• Pretty inspirated art
• Animated presentations
• Entertaining little kids
• When new people I meet wear nametags
• When people talk to me privately about concerns
• When people use math and graphs effectively
• Portfolio-worthy work
• Highly structured easy-to-read writing
• Cost effective purchases and food
• Negotiation where the goal is to mutually add-value
• Phone calls when presenting hard topics
• Well formated bullet point emails
• Taking initiative
• Structured communications during meetings with minutes sent out
• Trustworthy teammates who speak up if there are problems
• Failing early
• Diversity on teams
• Recycling and saving energy
• Freedom to hack at new ideas
• When people approach problems like engineers

• Not having time off during daylight hours
• Small talk for long durations
• Dull presentations
• Incorrect assumptions about people
• Fermented drinks
• Run-around
• Wasted time
• Paperwork
• Not having any control or view of progress on the critical path
• Ethically questionable work
• Masking problems
• Superficial expressions

Good Hearted

I like doing good. It's important to me. I also often go out of my way to help the team. If there is ever any concern, simply talk to me privately. This will raise awareness as to what I am trying to do and importantly why.

Active

I probably could have been diagnosed with mild ADHD. As a youngster, I would incessantly jump down the hallway while staying in line and during class move about while always aware of the main discussion. Today I just keep 5+ apps and 30 tabs open with 4+ desktops. Please don't fear if my mind is caught following a creative thought. Kind verbal pings are welcome.

Frugal

My first major purchase was a 30lb bucket of nails for 5 dollars when I was probably less than 7 years old. It was expensive for me, but I bought it. Ever since, I have had a proclivity and joy for windfalls.

Hard-working

I get excited about work, and sometime this carries over into overtime. If overtime happens, I might appear tired, but please reserve judgement. As my surprised linear algebra teacher explained, I could appear out of it, and then instantly animate to ask extremely relevant questions. I'm deeply thinking.

Grudgeless

I do not hold grudges. This might come as a surprise to someone who might think it odd if after a strong debate I'm immediately very friendly. I separate people and their actions.

Friendly

I strongly value positive relationships within teams. Relational conflict within a team can cause me distress - in part because teamwork usually incorporates a significant part of my social life. I also may pay attention to those more neglected in an environment - quiet individuals, janitors, etc.

Tech Structured

After hand typing css and latex for a number of years, I have a strong preference for 'proper' use of styling in documents and presentations. I love it when people take just a little time to do proper linked styles.

Artistic

My father is a professional artist and I have played trumpet for over 12 years. At MIT, I have a proclivity for well-chosen fonts and colors, and I believe 'design should always have a reason.' I am happy with the simplicity of a terminal screen or an elaborate palette, but any artistic work should be able to be explained. In designing presentations I often get inspiration from client's websites and logos or iconic pictures.

Critical

I am highly critical of myself and of the project at hand. I quickly identify technical risks and unknowns. I am also critical of subpar work, but quick to pardon mistakes of others. I am less quick to forgive mistakes I make, so sincere encouragement is useful when things go wrong. If I appear frustrated while critical it's probably because ironically I don't want to be critical.

Quick and Eager to Fail

I love failing concepts. I get excited about it. I will make the quickest prototype or calculation to either confirm or deny an assumption. Ironically, I will tend to be very happy if a quick and early test comes back with a negative. I see it as time, money, and effort saved.

Playful

Blocks to crafts to athletic games to engineering, I am playful. I am especially playful when brainstorming - even connecting ideas that may seem far out of the norm. I appreciate strong serious leadership on the team that allows me to have an effective playful role as an engineer.

Imaginative

I grew up without a TV, and perhaps in consequence I developed a strong imagination. However, my imagination is so strong that it is hard to separate reality from fiction. Intense scenes or deaths of characters in books or movies deeply affect me. Hence I have much preferred math and science over literature and history.

Self-Initiated

A few years back I was on a team that was gave a lot of resistance to change. I had advocated for fully-dimensioning our parts in SolidWorks and using standard dimensions, but it didn't get done. Two weeks later, this started to cause many problems and we had to redo everything. I approached a teacher who shared that in his experience, if the team was headed towards a deadend and wouldn't change direction, it was best to independently solve the problem. For myself, I will usually make aware I am doing something - whether privately to an individual or to the whole team.

Humble

I value humility. I am quick to appreciate the value of the other people's ideas - regardless of their position or past experience. Additionally, I am okay with being corrected by anyone.

Smart

Teammates generally describe me as very smart. I usually have a great engineering intuition that can quickly identify problems and creative solutions. If I'm advocating for something, ask me why. The likelihood is that I've identified something very important. Additionally, it is useful to make sure there is a way I can channel ideas I generate.

Objective

I am usually objective in my reasoning and arguments. I like things stated directly. I do not mind concerns presented as thought-provoking questions, as this can lead to new ideas. I'll try to frame criticism gracefully - and sometimes I might not say anything if it's less important and might undermine the progress of a team.

Animated

Especially during presentations, I am a very animated person. I like excitement and I will try to muster excitement wherever I go.

Everyone can come to a team with different mindsets. The following lists a few mental models that shape how I often view situations. Some of these many not apply in a given context, so it may be useful to point this out verbally if that is the case.

All things should be done out of love

Goes for anything big or small.

All people can bring value and are approachable

I believe all people could potentially bring value to a project, and similarly all people are approachable. I do believe the value (or opportunity cost) may vary from person to person. I much prefer flat organizations, but if there is a political structure to an organization, it is helpful to specifically tell me this. Similarly, I view all people as "regular" people and not vehicles for tasks.

All people have some potential element of good in them

I believe ignorance may cause prejudice, and this should be approached usually with humility.

Primary sources are important

This may apply more to news, but similarly, I find a lot of value in getting things from their source.

Going green is important

It saddens me greatly if there is no recycling, lights are left on, or heat is wasted.

Hacking / prototyping is wonderful

I come from a culture at MIT where hacking away at interesting ideas is adored. Sometimes this can be preceived as off-topic or counterproductive. If you every feel this way - come talk to me privately.

Taking offense to anything is a choice

This idea came from a friend at MIT. If you took offensive to this statement, please relax and reread it.

Mistakes are okay

This is especially true if done early in a project.

Safety is always most important

Clamp twice, save a life.

The consumer is nearly always right

I always want to listen to others and try best to make things right.

Leadership should be transformational not transactional

I love it when teammates give feedback and direction to a team in highly motivational ways.