Communication and visibility

Keeping your manager and team informed, raising problems early, and collecting the evidence of your work.

Also called weekly update

What: A short, regular written note on what you finished, what is in progress, what is blocked and what you need.
Why: Your manager sees less of your work than you think. A five-line update each week prevents surprises in both directions.
Example: Done: CSV export shipped. In progress: retry logic for webhooks, PR up. Blocked: waiting on API keys from the partner. Need: 20 minutes with Sara on the billing schema.

Also called escalating

What: Telling the right person as soon as something stops your progress or puts a date at risk, with what you tried and what would unblock you.
Why: Bad news early is a plan change; bad news late is a missed deadline. Managers trust people who flag risks early.

Watch out

Hoping to catch up quietly and announcing a slip on the day it was due.

Also called 1:1, 1on1

What: A regular private meeting with your manager, usually weekly or every two weeks, that belongs to you as much as to them.
Why: It is where you get feedback, clear up expectations, raise problems and talk about growth, not just repeat standup.
Example: Bring a short list: one win, one thing you are stuck on, one question about expectations, and one request for feedback.

Watch out

Arriving with nothing and letting it turn into a status meeting every week.

Also called brag doc, accomplishments log, work log, brag document

What: A running list of what you did, why it mattered and the evidence, such as links to pull requests and messages of thanks, added to weekly.
Why: It feeds your updates, one-on-ones, probation review and first performance review with facts instead of memory.

Watch out

Starting it the week before a review and forgetting most of the year.

What: Asking specific questions about specific work, such as "what would have made that PR easier to review?", rather than "any feedback?"
Why: Specific questions get useful answers. Regular small feedback lets you correct course long before a formal review.

Watch out

Asking only at review time, when it is too late to change the outcome.

Also called SBI, situation behaviour impact

What: Listening fully, asking for an example if unclear, thanking the person and saying what you will try, even when the feedback stings.
Why: How you take feedback decides whether people keep giving it. Defensiveness makes feedback stop, and growth with it.

Watch out

Explaining why the feedback is wrong before you have understood it.

What: Saying clearly what you will deliver, by when and with what risk, and updating people as soon as that changes.
Why: Reliability is judged against what you said, not against what you did. Under-promise a little and update often.

Watch out

Saying yes to every request in your first months and delivering none of them on time.

What: Thanking people publicly or telling their manager when a teammate helped you or did great work.
Why: It builds goodwill, makes invisible help visible, and people remember who noticed their work.

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