Many people are shy about asking for other people's time, even if it's actively encouraged, especially when they're new. For those I work with regularly, I setup recurring one on one meetings, but due to time constraints, that's impractical to do with everyone. So, to help people feel comfortable giving feedback, I hold office hours. Just like in school, people can make an appointment or just drop by to ask questions or talk about how things are going.
This has had two main benefits for me:
- The team knows that they have a guaranteed venue to share their feedback. There's no need to worry about interrupting me when I'm working on something else.
- If I'm in the middle of something I can ask whether an issue can wait until office hours without someone feeling like I'm being dismissive.