It has been five years since I joined Grafana Labs. In my entire career, I have never worked at any company for this long. This is a new situation for me. Turns out, you can stay in the same company, with the same people, for years and still feel fulfillment, joy, and growth.

I recently had a conversation about performance and promotions. The person I was speaking with shared feedback they had received: they needed to work on a project with “high business impact” to get to the next level. I am a manager. I have given this feedback myself. Many, many times.

I’ve been thinking a lot about solitude at work, not in a philosophical sense, but in a very real, everyday way. The thought first came up because of my 7 year old son. He’s an introvert, the textbook kind. He enjoys learning on his own, prefers silence to noise, and doesn’t rush to speak in groups.

In the world of collaborative teams, we love the idea of distributed ownership. It sounds fair, empowering, scalable. And it often is.

As an engineering manager and leader, the hardest part of my job has always been performance management. Giving and receiving feedback is never easy, but it’s also not just about feelings or hard conversations. There’s a huge monetary aspect to it. Companies spend millions every year on exit packages and terminations, often within the first year of a new hire.