This came up in our ND&MW meetup the other day and I was so happy to hear it I was bouncy like Tigger. The personal user guide is a document that has a few origins out in the world[1]. I found out about it from an autistic friend that works in the UK. She’s a complete powerhouse, and works in WebDev with a solid commitment to mentorship of Women in Tech. She described that in one of the teams she was working in they each created a User Guide for themselves. Just like a manual for using a new piece of tech a Personal User Guide gives clarity to things that motivate you as well as the things that just drive you into a bad place.
Coming into a job at director level I decided to share mine with the people that I work with most closely as well as my direct reports. It’s tricky as a neurodivergent worker, there are so many things that you toss up as to whether to explain or not, how out you want to be, and what the risks/rewards are of opening up. The great thing about a Personal User Guide is that you can be open about neurodivergent needs without having to have a red carpet and parade moment about being ND.
Project Management author Julie Zhuo has a great article unpacking it and it’s worth a read on how she came up with and uses her own one[2].
And here is my User guide in case you are interestedhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1swGuvcEXTVvz167WFyhVDjZfxaTCsVYYkuqT_ZzNuMQ/edit?usp=sharing
Best,H
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Further Reading: [1] https://friday.app/p/personal-user-manual-for-work[2] https://lg.substack.com/p/the-looking-glass-a-user-guide-to
Thank you so much for sharing this, Heath! I really love this idea and want to implement this not only in my workplace but at home as well!
I think it's really cool for a number of reasons. It's great to ask for accoms and have to do a big song and dance. It's great for managers as well.
Absolutely! I love so many things about it. The process of writing it is invaluable for ourselves, it fosters communication and community with those you share it to, as well as manages expectations for the team.
I also appreciate you sharing your own user guide, Heath. It was good to learn a little more about you and also see an applied example. I liked how digestible it was; when I think of the term, "user's manual" I think of a lot of information that most people don't bother to read, but that's not at all the case here.
Thanks again!
I agree. It's an excersise in pragmatic brevity. Every time go into it I learn a whole lot more about myself.