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I would follow up by saying that one-on-ones are pretty useless even in a business setting. I have had only one boss in my career where I felt like I actually g

I would follow up by saying that one-on-ones are pretty useless even in a business setting. I have had only one boss in my career where I felt like I actually got real personal career advice during my one-on-ones with him. Every other boss I've had has treated one-on-ones as just another status meeting. I think the problem is the scheduled nature of it. If there were actually something to discuss (like maybe I'm not delivering what I should be, or I'm working on something that's not the highest priority) then by all means, I'm glad to hear that feedback. But all too often managers just have one-on-ones because they're on the schedule, not because there's anything to discuss. In those case, it just devolves into a discussion of the current project and me repeating what I've repeated already in sprint planning, daily standups and weekly status e-mails.

makach 7y ago
I had 1-2-1 with different employers, I learned with some that I was a very pessimistic person and others that I was a very optimistic person. Variation basically boils down to whatever impression your manager wants to have of you. The 1-2-1 is usually not very useful if I have to sit through a scripted conversation. Nowadays I use 1-2-1 for my own purpose. I angle the conversation towards what I want to learn or talk about, and that's it. I am keeping it short, precise and am not trying to tell my manager too much, because sometimes they read too much between the lines. It can be a great place to exchange knowledge but make sure you have some ground rules in place.