Working manuals are short documents where each person on a team sets out how they work best, written by the person themselves. One manual helps a pair of colleagues understand each other. A full set, kept current and actually read, changes how a whole team runs. This guide brings together everything we have learned about them: what goes in one, how to write one worth reading, how to roll them out, and how to keep them useful after the first month.
What a working manual is
A working manual, sometimes called a personal user manual or a working with me manual, is a one-page account of how you communicate, how you like feedback, when you do your best work, and what people often misunderstand about you. The idea was popularised by Adam Bryant in a 2014 New York Times piece on leaders sharing a personal user manual, and it has since spread to whole teams. If you want the short version first, start with what is a working with me manual.
On the Working With Me platform this document is called a Working Profile, each person's own working with me manual, hosted where the whole team can find it. The two names describe the same thing: an honest account written by the person, never a test scored about them by someone else.
Why teams write them
- New starters settle faster, because how the team works is written down rather than learned by trial and error.
- Handovers and requests land the way the receiver needs them, so less time is lost to back and forth.
- Working differences become visible and useful, which matters most where people think and work in different ways.
- Managers stop guessing. One conversation about the manual replaces months of misreading each other.
The effect is strongest for people joining: see how manuals help new starters settle faster.
What goes in a working manual
Keep it to one page. Most good manuals cover:
- How I prefer to communicate, and which channel for what.
- How I like to receive feedback, and how often.
- When I do my best work, and when I do not.
- What drains me, and what helps me focus.
- Things people often get wrong about me.
- The best way to ask me for something urgent.
For a fuller walkthrough of each section with examples, use the personal user manual guide.
Writing one people will actually read
Write it yourself, in your own words, and be specific. "I prefer questions in writing so I can think before I answer" is useful. "I value good communication" is not. Honesty beats polish: the manual works because colleagues trust that it came from you. Most people draft theirs in under an hour, and a team usually builds them together in a single session.
Rolling manuals out across a team
Manuals spread on usefulness. Start with one team that feels the friction most, build the manuals together in one session, agree how you will use them day to day, and let the results travel. The full playbook is in how to roll out working manuals across your company, and making working styles visible across a team covers the team-level view.
Keeping manuals current
A manual written once and forgotten helps no one. Revisit them when roles change, when someone new joins, and at your regular team review points. This is where hosting matters: Working With Me Core keeps the whole team's manuals in one place, ready for new starters and simple to keep current.
Manuals and neuroinclusion
Because each person writes their own manual, nobody has to disclose a diagnosis to be understood. The manual carries what colleagues actually need, the how, without the why. That makes manuals one of the most practical neuroinclusion tools a small business can adopt. More on this in the people module.
Where manuals fit in the wider method
Manuals are the people layer of the Working With Me method: people, priorities, and ways of working. On their own they improve understanding. Connected to shared priorities and a steady team rhythm, they change how the work itself runs, because how each person works best starts shaping who does what and how.
The fastest way to put all of this in place is the Working With Me workshop: in one day your team builds their manuals, agrees how to use them, and leaves with a four-week platform trial to make the habit stick.
Common questions
What is a working manual
A short document, usually one page, where a person sets out how they work best, written by them. It covers communication, feedback, focus, and what people often misunderstand.
How long should a working manual be
One page. A manual no one reads helps no one, so keep it short and specific.
What is the difference between a working manual and a Working Profile
They are the same thing. Working Profile is the name for the manual on the Working With Me platform, where it is hosted for the whole team.
Do working manuals replace personality tests
They do a different job. A test is scored about you by someone else. A manual is your own honest account, which is why colleagues trust it and use it.
How does a team get started with working manuals
Build them together in one session and agree how you will use them. The Working With Me workshop does exactly this in a day, with a four-week platform trial included.