Hitting the ground running is much harder than we think

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I once jumped out of a moving car. The pickup truck was only doing about 15-20 kph. It ended badly.

I once jumped out of a moving car. The pickup truck was only doing about 15-20 kph. It ended badly.

Hitting the ground running is much harder than we think. Literally and figuratively.

I recently hired a smart, experienced and highly capable DevOps engineer. On his first day I told him I expect very little from him in the short term but I expect a lot from him in the long run.

I explained how “hitting the ground running” is a workplace myth and in the first couple months his job was to learn.

What do we really do? Who are our clients? Where are we heading? Where does our team fit into that?

Who are my team members? What are the other teams? How do the teams interact? What are the official processes? And the unspoken ones?

Where do I get info? What do these acronyms mean? What are our products? How do they integrate with each other?

The list is almost endless. The more items are checked off, the more capable the new hire becomes.

Their job in the beginning is to stay humble, ask questions and make notes. To look, listen & learn.

Your job is to avoid the curse of knowledge. New people hit their stride as they integrate their existing capabilities with their new environment.

And that takes time.

Great primer by DHH: https://lnkd.in/d4C9UJp