Part 1: Welcome to Black Tangent

How are we organized?

Our teams as organized around the products we develop and the skill set required to deliver those products. You'll see some developers jump across products sometimes when their skills are needed elsewhere. Know where you can help and get involved in the projects. You have the responsibility to make sure you're useful to others and that you're productive on your own.

My first week

During the first week, you might be wondering how this can actually work. You'll be invited to our stand-ups and scheduled meetings, but first, you have some reading to catch up on. The projects are well documented with documentation and wikis, we even have another handbook for getting you started, which answer most questions that are frequently asked.

What will I be working on?

At Black Tangent, we work on products intended for the commutation service provider industry and our skill set revolves heavily around this.

Short-term vs. long-term goals

Long-term goals are the most important as these goals are mostly more precisely defined. The message and vision are often conceptually more straightforward, but the rewards are more significant. It gives an idea of how things should be for the better.

Sometimes we will find ourselves going back and forth between shorter goals when the cost of solving these issues are, and losses will be more significant in the long term, it's hard to address immediately. This sounds like a good thing and always is, but the short-term goals come at a higher cost which is being reactive instead of proactive which will have more substantial damages eventually to the company and the teams as a whole. Be good at addressing potential issues before they arise, address the crucial when they arise, keep your focus on the long-term goals to make sure you stay motivated.

Team leads

Often, someone will emerge as the "lead" for a project. This person's role is not a traditional managerial one, but more practically a clearinghouse of information. They keep track of the entire project in their head at ones, and people can use them as a resource to check decisions against. The efficiency of the team often depends on how quickly we can make the right decisions. As most of the work we do can be measured objectively, an efficient solution should be agreed on soon with the right mindset.

Working Hours

While people occasionally choose to push themselves to work some extra hours from time to time when something big is going out, or when there's a delay. For the most part, working overtime for extended periods indicates a fundamental failure in planning or communication. If you find yourself or see others being always in "crunch mode" over an extended period, there might be an imbalance in the output on the team or a lack of communication. It's essential that people feel they have time to live the lives they want to live, and still have the extra energy and effort to put in when it's most needed.

Project Structure

When working in teams, the structure falls naturally. The structure might also change over time as it adapts to the project's needs. It's important that we don't see ourselves as we have...

I screwed up

As human beings, we are prone to make mistakes. We want to create an environment where people can feel confident enough to believe in their own abilities and decisions. Screwing up is the only method we have to test our assumptions in the world, but you make sure that you have an idea of the expected outcome, or you have not achieved anything.

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