One-on-Ones Guide

Overview

Beyond group meetings, most of the discussions we have at work happen in 1/1s. Weekly syncs we have with our manager, but also the "can you have a look at this?", "do you have 5 minutes?".

One-on-ones generate — without a doubt — most of the meeting culture in organizations.

The problem intensified when companies started hiring globally. We experience it when we try to find a common slot for discussions that require a bit more time than a slack.

Best case scenario – that is hardly the best – we find the time to meet. But we interrupt each other all day with questions like “do you have time for a quick chat?”

Worst case scenario? We become a bottleneck, without enough time to help our colleagues.

The 1/1 Playbook solves for this. Record a claap, ask for feedback, done. If there is still something unclear or deserving a proper discussion, finish it sync.

When to use the one-on-one Playbook

The most common complain about 1/1 is how much time we spend on updates and not on solving problems. Roadmap update, pipeline review, progress made on OKRs.

We know we don't need a meeting for this.

But it's also true the alternative was incomplete. If we create a report, it's hard to explain the reasons behind the numbers without writing a thesis. If we record a video, we then have to jump to Slack or to a meeting to answer questions.

The answer? Merging both solutions with asynchronous meetings. With Claap, you give an update on your projects and let your manager ask questions directly in the video. This way, when you do meet, you can focus on solving complex problems.

How to get started

Record your updates

Record your screen to give context and explain the latest changes in the project. Give context: why did you make these changes, why they matter, and show your manager / team where they can see them.

Ask for feedback

You can leverage comments and mentions to structure your claap and make it clear when you expect feedback. The recording will automatically pause on these comments to encourage them to answer.

Centralize discussions with topics

Create a dedicated topic for each 1/1 you have. Helpful to organize recordings and ensure only selected people have access these claaps. You can also use labels to keep track of discussions.