It’s been over a year since I wrote about my version of Manager READMEs and it’s been great to see READMEs and discussions about them crop up all over the internet. I shared some tips about successfully sharing information through documents on Twitter and here I’ll apply them to a Manager README to help you avoid some common pitfalls that can lead the document to hurt more than it helps.
As a reminder, my intent of a Manager README had two parts:
- Share expectations
- Build trust
A year later, I think it’s better to focus on the recipient’s value of this document, hence this new and improved intent:
- Share expectations to reduce their anxiety
- Build trust as they get to know you
Matt Newkirk's NotSoSoftware 