Latest / New Manager Conversations with Fexingo: First 90 Days, Managing Former Peers, and Leadership Basics / How New Managers Can Build a Personal Operating System
Transcript
- Lucas: So you get promoted to manager, and suddenly your calendar is a disaster, your Slack pings all day, and you feel like you're reacting instead of leading. I think we've all been there. Luna: Oh, absolutely. My first month as a manager, I felt like I was just putting out fires. I didn't have a system. Lucas: Right. And a lot of advice out there for new managers focuses on the soft skills — how to give feedback, how to delegate. But there's this practical layer that often gets skipped: how do you actually structure your own work so you can show up intentionally for your team? Luna: You're talking about a personal operating system. Like, a repeatable framework for how you plan, decide, and communicate. Lucas: Exactly. I first heard the term from a friend who became an engineering manager at a mid-size software company. He was drowning in interrupts, so he built himself a system. And within two months, he told me he'd cut his reactive firefighting in half. Luna: That's a huge shift. What did his system actually look like? Lucas: Three pillars. First, structured weekly planning — he'd block out 90 minutes every Monday morning to plan his week. Not just his own tasks, but also what he wanted to accomplish with each direct report. He time-blocked his calendar so that certain hours were for deep work, others for 1-1s, and he protected those blocks religiously. Luna: I love that. I've done something similar. I used to let anyone book over my focus time, but then I never got anything done. Lucas: Right. The second pillar was a decision log. Every time he made a significant decision — like approving a project scope change or resolving a disagreement between two team members — he'd write down the decision, the rationale, and the expected outcome. Then he'd review the log monthly to see if his decisions were panning out. Luna: That's interesting. There's actually research from Harvard Business Review showing that managers who keep a decision log improve their judgment by over 30 percent. It forces you to calibrate. Lucas: Yeah, I've seen that study. And the third pillar is communication rhythms. Instead of ad-hoc messages flying around all day, he set predictable touchpoints: a weekly team email with priorities, a Friday recap of what got done, and structured 1-1s with an agenda template. Luna: That reduces the mental load on the team too. They know when to expect updates, so they stop pinging him randomly. Lucas: Exactly. The key insight is that a personal operating system isn't just about your own productivity — it models intentionality for the team. When your team sees you sticking to a system, they start to adopt those habits themselves. Luna: I want to talk about the pitfalls, though. What's the most common mistake new managers make when trying to build one of these systems? Lucas: Over-engineering it. They try to adopt every tool and template at once — Notion, Trello, a decision log, a time-blocking app — and they burn out within two weeks. You have to start with just one pillar. Luna: So if someone's listening right now and feeling overwhelmed, what's the one thing you'd tell them to implement first? Lucas: The weekly planning block. I'd say, every Monday morning, take 60 to 90 minutes and do three things: review your priorities for the week, time-block your calendar for the most important work, and write down one key outcome you want for each direct report. That alone will change your week. Luna: That's concrete. I'd add that the decision log is probably the easiest win after that, because it doesn't take much time — just a few minutes after each decision. Lucas: Right. And once you have those two in place, the communication rhythms start to feel natural because you have a clearer sense of what to communicate. Luna: Lucas, I want to ask — what about when your boss or your peers don't respect your system? Like, they book meetings over your focus blocks. Lucas: That's a real challenge. I think the answer is to be transparent about your system. Tell your boss: 'I protect this time for deep work so I can be more present for the team. If something urgent comes up, I'll adjust.' Most bosses will respect that if you frame it as being more effective, not less available. Luna: And for peers, you can say, 'I'm trying to reduce context-switching. Can we batch our conversations into specific windows?' Usually they get it. Lucas: Yeah. And if they don't, you might need to escalate or negotiate. But in my experience, peers appreciate knowing when you're available versus when you're heads-down. Luna: So let's say someone builds this system. How do they know it's working? What metrics do they look at? Lucas: Qualitative ones at first. Do you feel less reactive? Are you getting your deep work done? Are your 1-1s more productive? A good sign is when your team starts saying things like 'I know you'll get back to me by Friday' instead of 'I need an answer right now.' Luna: That's a great signal. And then you can track something like the number of unplanned interruptions per week. I've seen managers go from 20 to five after implementing a system. Lucas: Exactly. And you can also track how much time you spend on strategic versus tactical work. Ideally, it shifts toward strategic over time. Luna: You know, this conversation reminds me that a lot of new managers think they need to be available 24/7 to be effective. But the opposite is true. Lucas: Completely. The best managers I've seen are the ones who are very present during their scheduled interactions and very absent outside of them. They model boundaries. Luna: And by doing that, they give their team permission to set boundaries too. Lucas: Right. So if you're a new manager listening, start with that Monday planning block. It's the highest-leverage change you can make. Luna: And if you found this episode useful, you know, the reason we can keep making these without ads is that listeners like you support the show. If you feel like we've helped you think through a career move or a management challenge, you can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to keep this going. Lucas: Yeah, we really appreciate that. Every contribution helps us stay ad-free and focused on practical advice. Luna: Alright, back to the system. Lucas, one thing I've seen fail is people who build a system but never revisit it. They set it up and then forget to adapt. Lucas: That's a great point. Your personal operating system should evolve. My friend reviews his every quarter — he asks himself what's working, what's not, and what he needs to change. Maybe his team has grown, so he needs longer 1-1s or a different communication rhythm. Luna: So it's not set-and-forget. It's a living system. Lucas: Exactly. And the goal isn't perfection — it's progress. If your system reduces your firefighting by even 20 percent, that's a win. Luna: Alright, I'm going to implement that decision log this week. I've been meaning to do it for months. Lucas: Do it. And let us know how it goes. For now, I think we've given listeners a solid starting point. Luna: Yeah. Next time, we can talk about how to scale this system when your team grows. Lucas: That's a great idea. Until then, take care.