This is a small user manual about me, so we can better work together and you can get the most out of me.
### Personal Introduction
I like:
- Building meaningful stuff - I launched CodePhenix, a coding bootcamp for inmates, and DyingStoic, a Twitter Bot that encourages Memento Mori meditation (bot down atm, read [this](https://corentin.trebaol.com/Blog/5.+Juniors+build%2C+seniors+glue%2C+staff+engineers+architect.) in the meantime)
- [Reading](https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/55075407-corentin?ref=nav_mybooks&shelf=read&sort=rating)
- Sailing - I love [flying boats](https://youtu.be/v5Qay1LS5bo?t=20) and sailed around the world for a year
- Meditation - 600+ hours
- Music - [guitar](https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ8EoYQAsuVOHYsWw_gZWS7SjJE7Adt_2UXLXs0/), bass, piano, ukulele :)
- Process optimization - I ate homemade soylent almost exclusively for 3 years ([recipe](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TykCu-X-3h3-KNMhQDwd6UYNTT17RxG3RjjTM886Lpc/edit?gid=1858306470#gid=1858306470), [article](https://corentin.trebaol.com/Blog/2.+3y+of+Fuel+Optimization))
- Sports - IronMan, [14km swim](https://tristantrebaol.notion.site/Il-a-travers-le-L-man-avec-la-mucoviscidose-r-cit-et-photos-8ce3006a78d04c53b2215d1f42133861), marathons
I don't like
- Noise (I shower with earplugs)
### Communication Channels
- Immediate and important answer required → please call me!
- No need to ask yourself if it's a polite time to call! If it's not a good time, I won't answer. Note that sending a message mentioning asking if now is a good time won't always work as I often turn off notifications.
- Can wait for up to 4 hours → Slack
- Slow and thoughtful response required → Email
### Stress & Frustrations
**Stress**
If you notice one of the below, it’s probably a sign I am passed the threshold of stress being productive and would appreciate a nudge to go on a walk:
- I say “yeah, it’s fine” with a low-energy voice.
- I burrow in low priority detailed work like optimizing a model past the point of decreasing marginal returns.
**Frustrations**
- Badly structured work - you'll hopefully never notice this one, but badly structured work hits me emotionally. Things like spaghetti code that repeats itself and is sprinkled with metasyntactic variables, and spreadsheets where there's no source of truth given data has been copy-pasted and modified multiple times in multiple sheets. When I feel like bad thinking will cause hours of manual work from people I like, I feel physical pain. Which makes it hard not to want to fix things. You can take advantage of this in two ways:
- If you spent hours building a maze that needs fixing but you don't have the energy to power through, it's easy to get me to help.
- If you feel like you picked a suboptimal approach to solve a problem, ask me first how I would tackle it before showing your work
- Notifications sounds - no worries though, I have good earplugs & headphones :)
### Operating Principles
- **Mission first.** GitStart is larger than me. If you can do a better job as COO, show us how it’s done and elect me out of office. If you can steer the ship better, I’ll work for you.
- **Extreme ownership**. I try to never blame others. If my team fails, it’s on me. There’s no bad team, only bad leaders. If I somehow don't take my fair share of responsibility, meaning 100% of it, show me this text and I'll give you $100.
- **Substance over form**. Teams’ output considerably increases when less energy is expended in looking smart and more in producing results. I have a soft spot for people who make ugly slides.
- **Feedback is always welcome**. I love feedback! Even if it's not constructive. By “always welcome” I mean that it’s especially welcome when I somehow forgot to ask for it.
- **Strong opinions weakly held.** I try hard to keep egos at bay.
- **Long term games with long term people**. I really care about the people I work with because we spend more time at work than with our families. My goal is to build relationships that compound over decades. So if I'm falling short in our work relationship, please tell me what I should start/keep/stop doing and I'll work hard on it. And if you need help in your private life, let me know.
### Culture
[The Culture Map](https://erinmeyer.com/books/the-culture-map/) explores how cultural differences influence work relationships, and provides this map comparing the US, French, and Thai cultures:
****
This helps illustrates 3 traits:
**Direct negative feedback** - I grew up in a culture where feedback is significantly more direct that in the US. *Significantly*. This means I would much rather you tell me exactly what I did wrong than share vague hints sandwiched with positive feedback. If I ever get pissed instead of thanking you profusely, have me read this text and I’ll give you $100.
**Wholesome work relationships** - In the US, people tend to separate work and personal relationships. In China, people tend to require personal bonding to trust people at work. I grew up in a culture that's in the middle and lived many years in China, which means I tend to trust with my both my head and my heart ([more here](https://erinmeyer.com/building-trust-across-cultures/)). In fact, I've built companies with close friends and never had a bad experience doing so. Hence the occasional personal questions, and the fact that you should never feel shy to ping me even after we stopped working together.
**High punctuality** - I lived in Germany 😅. And worked remote for many years. So if you’re from a culture where being a late it the norm, I will love you if you add “+/- 15 minutes” to our calendar event title. If you don't, no problem :).
### Personality
Sharing those as some people swear by personality tests!
**OCEAN**
1. Openness - High
2. Conscientiousness - High
3. Extrovert - Neutral to low
4. Agreeableness - Low
5. Neuroticism - Very low
**MBTI**: ENTJ
1. Extraversion - Medium
2. INtuition - Very high
3. Thinking - Very high
4. Judging - Medium
You'll find the associated strengths and weaknesses [here](https://www.16personalities.com/entj-strengths-and-weaknesses).
**Human Resource Theory**
- Share - Information
- Seek - Love
Basic theory follows that all interactions are transactions which exchange Love, Service, Status, Money, Goods or Information. We share what we have in excess of and seek what we are lacking.
**5 Languages of Love**
1. Words of Appreciation - Primary
2. Physical Touch - Secondary
3. Quality Time
4. Acts of Service
5. Gifts
If you want to thank me, oral or written words of appreciation and hugs tend to be more effective than physical presents. More about the theory [here](https://5lovelanguages.com/).
**PrinciplesYou - Ray Dalio**
1. Shaper
2. Commander
3. Coach
Extra info [here](https://principlesyou.com). I judge personality tests based on how good they are are spotting my weaknesses, to counter the Barnum effect. This one is on point.