I recently joined Manus, and today marks my first month.
What I Did
- Participated in a big feature: Manus Connectors
- Updated internal UI component documentation
- Patched a few bugs
I have some thoughts I want to note down—some are observations I've made, while others are personal reflections.
Adaptation Phase
- Adjusting to a different language environment
- Navigating different working dynamics
- Adapting to different working hours
I need to pace myself and remind myself that this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Fast Pace
- People make decisions quickly, often in seconds.
- Requirements change rapidly, sometimes within seconds.
- Features are shipped quickly, often within weeks.
Resources
- It's great to have access to resources.
- They make you feel like you can achieve anything—and you actually do when you put in the time and effort.
Engineering Process
Disclaimer: I've only worked on one feature so far (sample size = 1), so I expect these thoughts to evolve over time.
- Figma mockups are not the final design.
- Figma is simply a tool the team uses to visualize the product.
- As the team builds the product, they also experience it firsthand.
- A design may look good in Figma but could be discarded after testing the actual built version.
- The scope was large, making it challenging for one person to detail everything out.
- Engineers are responsible for their own slices of the scope, figuring out uncertainties as they build.
- Engineers communicate extensively—lots of DMs, lots of huddles.
- I can see the characteristics mentioned by Sam Altman in my everyday work life, at least on the engineering side. Sam Altman Blog: Super Successful Companies
Gratitude
I'm happy to finally get the chance to work on a consumer product because I'm a consumer myself!
The team has set a new bar for me in terms of engineering quality and product quality. I've learned new and better ways of thinking and building, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to grow alongside such talented people.
Small Plug
We're hiring! If you're interested, drop me an email with your resume at shinjie.tan@manus.ai!
Check out what we're building at Manus and see our open positions at https://manus.im/careers.