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A WorkStyle manual
Quiet builder, loud listener
I do my best work in the gap between a half-formed idea and a working prototype — so the fastest way to help me is to let me sketch in public and react to something real.
S
Sasha Mendel
workstyle.app/example
Ch 01 — How You Work
Communication
best forSlack DMbest forAsync Loombest forLinear commentavoidCalendar invite — only if it needs a decision
Response times
I'll respond within a few hours during the day, and almost never after 7pm. If it's actually urgent, say the word urgent — I trust the signal.
How to send me things
Send the rough version. I'd rather react to a messy draft today than a polished one next week.
Default to async. Use sync for decisions, not updates.
Energy & Focus
Peak
7am–11am — design, writing, the hard thinking. Don't book me.
Collaborative
1pm–4pm — meetings, reviews, pairing. This is when I'm most useful to other people.
Tail end
After 4pm — small tasks, inbox, planning tomorrow. Don't expect strategy.
"If you put a meeting on my calendar before 11am, I will move it. Don't take it personally — I'm protecting the version of me you actually want to work with."
// On mornings
resets focusWalkingresets focusTea, not coffeeresets focus10 minutes of silence between meetings
Ch 02 — Working With You
How to Read Me
When I go quiet in a meeting
I'm thinking, not annoyed. I process out loud after, not during.
When I say 'love it'
I'm genuinely sold. I'm not buttering you up — I just like the idea and want to keep momentum.
When I say 'interesting'
I have a real concern I haven't surfaced yet. Press me for it.
Read the verbs, not the volume.
My Rough Edges
Over-polish
I will rewrite a doc twice before sharing it. Sometimes the second draft was worse and I should have just shipped.
Context tax
I assume people have read the context I sent. They usually haven't. That's on me.
How to help me with this
Tell me to ship it. I'll almost always be relieved.
What People Misunderstand
"People read my calm as agreement. It's almost always 'I need ten minutes alone before I know what I think.'"
// The biggest one
Deadlines aren't pressure
I love deadlines. They're the cheapest creative constraint that exists.
How I Give & Receive Feedback
Giving
Direct, specific, in writing if it's big. I'd much rather hear it hard and once than soft and three times.
Receiving
Same — direct and specific. Skip the compliment sandwich; I find it harder to trust.
What I do with it
Sleep on it. My first reaction to critical feedback is usually defensive; my second is usually 'oh, yeah, they're right.'
preferred channel1:1preferred channelWritten doc with inline comments
How I Signal I Need Support
The signal
I get quieter and my messages get shorter. If I'm one-word replying you, something's off.
What helps
Ask me what I'd take off my plate if I could. Don't ask 'are you okay' — I'll say yes on reflex.
I won't ask for help. I will accept it gratefully if offered.
Ch 03 — What You're Made Of
My Values
what I optimize forCraftwhat I optimize forTrustwhat I optimize forBoredom-free work
Respect time
If a meeting could be a doc, write the doc. If a doc could be a Loom, send the Loom. Respect for time is a love language.
Say the true thing
If you don't know, say so. I'll respect you more for it, every time.
What I'm Proud Of
The onboarding rewrite
Shipped a redesign of our onboarding in 11 days that took new-user activation from 34% to 58% — and the team it shipped with still talks about how good those two weeks felt. The number mattered. The way it felt mattered more.
Context
Senior PM · Folio · 2023
"The thing I'm proudest of isn't a launch. It's that two engineers who quit other jobs to come work with me both stayed for three years."
// What I actually point to
The Compliment That Stuck
The line
"You make the room calmer when you walk into it." My first manager said it offhand in a 1:1 in 2019 and I still think about it weekly.
Context
Associate PM · early job · 2019
Why it stuck
It reframed leadership for me. The job isn't to be the loudest signal in the room — it's to lower the noise enough that everyone else can hear themselves think.
Best Advice I've Gotten
"Optimize for the next conversation, not the current one."
The story
An old mentor told me this when I was stuck in a contract negotiation. I wanted to win the email. She wanted me to still be on speaking terms in two years. She was right.
Context
Mentor · over coffee · 2021
A Learning Moment
The story
Killed a feature three days before launch because the demo with a real customer revealed we'd built the wrong thing beautifully. The cost of stopping was a weekend of bruised egos. The cost of shipping it would have been a year of regret.
Context
Lead PM · Folio · 2022
What I took from it
Confidence and conviction are not the same thing. Conviction survives a customer demo.
"The bravest thing a team can do is not ship something they spent six weeks building."
Ch 04 — The Full You
Who Inspires Me
Person
My grandmother, who ran a bakery for 40 years and could tell when bread was done by the smell alone. She taught me that mastery is mostly attention.
Person
Rick Rubin — for proving that the job of a great collaborator is often to do less, more carefully.
bookThe Creative ActbookHow Buildings LearnbookWorking in Public
I'm not inspired by people who have it figured out. I'm inspired by people who keep showing up to figure it out.
How I Show Appreciation
Long-form
I'll write the message instead of sending the emoji. If it took you a week, it deserves more than a 🙌.
Behind your back
I tell other people about your work when you're not in the room. The compliment that travels matters more than the one you hear.
The signature
Cookies. Real ones. From the oven. It's a tell that I think we're going to be working together for a long time.
All About Me
live inBrooklyn → Lisbon (slow move)personalityENFJ-leaning, with Saturdays offweekend selfBread bakerweekend selfBad at chess, persistent anyway
Household
Two dogs, one extremely opinionated cat, and a sourdough starter named Beatrice that has outlived three jobs.
Working in person
If we ever work in person: I take walking meetings whenever the weather allows, and I will absolutely remember that you don't drink coffee.
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