Krishna Dey Note
What good 1:1s look like
A 1:1 is working when it creates information a dashboard cannot, and both people leave with a next move.
I run 1:1s as a working session, not a status meeting. Status belongs in the planning system. The 1:1 is for the things that do not show up on a board: career stretch, a stuck decision, a relationship going quiet.
A useful 1:1 usually does three things:
- It creates information I did not already have.
- It makes it cheaper to name ambiguity early, including about me.
- Both of us leave with a next move that is owned, not vaguely agreed.
If the hour could be replaced by a dashboard, I am using it wrong. If it is only coaching from me and no signal back, I am using it wrong in a different way.
The growth path I care about is task ownership → project ownership → technical judgment → organizational ownership. The 1:1 is where that path gets specific: which project is the stretch, what good looks like, and what I will stop doing so they can own it.