As a team lead, I’m responsible for the growth of five engineers in my team. I hold bi-weekly 1-on-1s with my peers, scheduled for 30 minutes. I usually follow always the same procedure.

Preparation

I use the tool Logseq for notes keeping and journaling. I have a dedicated page for each of my peer in the style of 1-on-1@{Name}. During the week I try to collect feedback or open TODOs, I want to talk about.

For example, a note on that page could be

• Reminder about refining their yearly goals
• Praise {Name} for the very good performance in our public review
• Talk about the misunderstanding in Slack Thread with {Other Name}

When the actual meeting is about to start, I copy my notes from the dedicated 1-on-1 page to Logseqs daily journal page, but linking the 1-on-1 page:

# 15-04-2026

- [[1-on-1@{Name}]]
    - Reminder about refining their yearly goals
    - Praise {Name} for the very good performance in our public review
    - Talk about the misunderstanding in Slack Thread with {Other Name}

1-on-1

In the actual (remote) meeting, first I try to talk casually about private things as an icebreaker. I make sure, that my peer is mentally present and not distracted. Then I’ll start with giving my feedback. Usually, a response or a longer conversations starts then.

Next, I ask if they have any specific topics to talk about. Sometimes I get a response, typically some administrative or organizational request, for example vacation related. But in many cases, they don’t have any concrete issues bothering them. Sometimes, I can take concrete TODOs with me, mainly researching some company regulation or asking something the higher management.

After that, I take over and talk about open TODOs, that are not feedback related, or I summarize the current situation in the project and give an outlook what will come next.

Finishing Process

When I got some open TODOs in that meeting, I put them on my Logseq journal. When done, I typically reply back to my peers with the information that they want.

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