90 Days To Succeed When Starting a New Job
The checklist I use every time I start a new job
This is really one of the cards I feel is most relevant to activate. Like a joker or a booster in my pocket.
I’m a freelance product owner in the IT industry, and I’m constantly changing jobs.
In my twenty-year career, I’ve changed jobs nineteen times. In other words, starting a new job doesn’t scare me anymore. Well, almost not.
Every time I start a new job, I feel the same apprehension. The fear of the unknown mixed with the excitement of starting out with a new team, a new project.
It’s exhilarating.
I put myself in my own shoes, nine months ago. Because nine months ago I started my new mission as product owner design system.
I had my coffee, and asked myself: What are the difficulties I encounter in the first three months in a new job?
And then I asked myself: What solution would make all my problems obsolete?
Two birds with one stone, you get the idea.
And I found the solution. Here’s the fruit of my thoughts.
The 5 difficulties I encounter when starting a new job
1) Finding my place in my new team
New job, new team.
I remember the first day of school, with the same excitement of discovering a new place and new colleagues.
I’ll get to know everyone’s personalities, their projects and their tempers. An office is a nice sociological mix.
Sometimes my role is clearly defined. For example, I’m a sales rep or a service delivery manager.
But sometimes roles are less defined, with no job description.
It creates questions and sometimes friction, but in reality I can get past that without aggravating the situation.
2) I understand the organization’s processes
New job, new organization
Over the years, processes become familiar. We all operate in more or less the same way, and every company wants to draw inspiration from what others are doing.
From my point of view, it’s very important to understand and apply company processes.
It’s probably one of the first things I ask when I arrive.
3) Training in my new technical environment and tools
As a product owner, I work on an IT project. That doesn’t change.
However, I may well be positioned in a particular field: mobile application, design system.
These are my two specialties that require specific skills.
Whether I already have those skills or not, I have to train in that area.
And the same goes for the tools I use. Product owners often use the same tools from one project to the next, but that doesn’t stop them from continuing to improve.
4) I identify legacy problems and technical debt
I’ve never met a company without legacy and technical debt.
Well, yes, the startup I’m working on.
But for older companies, I deal with this debt. Which means it’s part of the life of my project.
If I don’t make this choice, it’s like starting a new relationship without taking my partner’s experience into account. Sometimes debt is managed, sometimes it’s mismanaged.
5) I go looking for documentation
When I began my job as product owner design system, I was pleasantly surprised to find documentation. It was detailed and well organized.
It’s so comfortable to be able to rely on written decisions, documented processes, shared diagrams, …
But in reality, I haven’t seen that anywhere else.
Few teams actually document their projects.
In any case, if such documentation exists, I know I absolutely have to get hold of it.
What if I could wave a magic wand and make these headaches disappear?
The pain-points I’ve just shared are, after all, very recurrent.
In a previous article, I shared in more detail what attitude I adopt in business:
And yet, on closer examination, there’s only one action that can help me make the others obsolete: communication.
Let me explain: with good communication, I can remove a number of barriers.
1) I avoid emotional and sensory overload
By communicating with my colleagues and my manager, I get to know them, their expectations, their past and their projects.
This frees me from the stress of not being accepted, because I realize that nobody has anything against me.
And then I’m more easily integrated into the team and therefore more effective.
2) I clarify my priorities and therefore my time
By communicating with my manager, I listen to priorities and am then able to organize my time.
And so align myself with the company’s objectives.
3) I clarify my understanding of processes
By communicating with my colleagues and manager, I express my need to understand the company’s processes.
So I’m in line with the organization’s expectations.
4) I discover the corporate culture and the changes that are taking place
Organizations are constantly changing. By listening to my professional environment, I understand what my colleagues have been through.
So it’s easier for me to take a step back in my decisions, but also to find my place. I don’t rush, I let time do its work and I gently fall into line.
5) I avoid misunderstandings about roles and responsibilities
By communicating, I avoid a lot of misunderstandings, especially about who’s who. After all, there’s nothing more frustrating than someone sharing your perimeter.
There’s a very real risk of doing the same thing twice. This confuses our efforts and undermines our message.
And it creates frustrations that could easily be resolved.
If I sum up my difficulties, which become my points of attention when I start a new job
- I take the time to talk to my colleagues and understand their expectations → I find my place in my new team
- I take the time to understand my organization’s processes → I don’t make mistakes that would put me at odds, and I’m more quickly integrated into the organization
- I take the time to train myself in my new environment and tools → I don’t revolutionize everything, I discover and train myself before proposing change
- I get to know the legacy and the technical debt → so that I can integrate it into my project and avoid alienating all the techies.
- I read the documentation → before criticizing anything and to become autonomous more quickly
- and above all, I COM-MU-NIC!
People underestimate the power of good communication
Yet exchanging ideas openly and respectfully can avoid conflict.
We all want to work calmly in a company, to make progress on our projects and in our careers.
A rotten atmosphere at work can shatter teams. So, as far as possible, keep in mind that everyone has their own experiences, everyone has their own liabilities.
We don’t know everything. But you can admit you’re wrong, ask for help, ask for clarification.
You can explain why you need to discuss a particular point.
It’s really one of the cards I think is most relevant to activate. Like a joker or a booster in my pocket.
Personally, since I’ve understood this, I feel so much more comfortable and confident in my work. I’m no longer afraid to ask, to look for information to be more efficient.
I write everything down. Because I forget quickly. I record and organize. And thanks to this, I’ve become a reliable, stable person on whom my customer can rely.
Once you’ve understood that, the rest becomes easier.
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