Skip to main content

Your First 30 Days in a New Role



If you're about to take on a new role, congrats! You've made it through. Outshining the rest to come out on top. Celebrate, you earned it. 

As your start date approaches, the descent from cloud nine begins and you're back down on earth (and maybe a tad nervous). It's showtime but where to start?

We love ambition. Your bias for action is why you got hired. We want to hit the ground running and show our worth right away. However, rushing in and imposing yourself is a sure-fire way to become alienated. Burning bridges before they're raised. 

Your experience and skills are invaluable, but to leverage them you need a strong foundation. Your first 30 days should be focused on building relationships and a knowledge base (learning all you can). 

Work with your manager and get a list of folks to have 1-on-1s with. Identify the key stakeholders. Understand their background, their challenges, working style, and your relationship with them. 

Learn as much as you can. Understand the customer, the product, the company. Our strengths, our gaps, your place in it all. The good, the bad, the ugly. 

Once you have a solid footing. Take your theoretical learnings and apply them with a "starter project". Something that adds values, allows you to learn how the company works on a deeper level, but low stakes enough to limit risk while you're still learning/experimenting. 

You won't change the world in your first 30 days, but you can set yourself up for game-changing opportunities. Connect and learn. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Today's Special: Humble Pie

You champion a project, fight for an idea, and then...reality sets in. That churning in your stomach isn't butterflies, it's the realization you've missed the mark.  Pride will puff up your chest, and kick in the "defend at all costs" instinct. But arguing with the umpire never changed a call. Admitting you're wrong isn't a sign of weakness. It can strengthen your professional standing. In a world obsessed with the illusion of infallibility, the courage to adjust course is a breath of fresh air. It shows you're confident enough to be wrong, and adaptable enough to learn from it. Do your research, think critically, and stand behind your decisions. But when the data whispers (or screams) otherwise, don't be afraid to swallow that slice of humble pie. Be the first to acknowledge. Don't wait for someone to point out your mistake. Be open, take responsibility, and most importantly, focus on what you're going to do to address it. Don't dwell ...

Starting Really Really Small

On your desk is one of the most intimidating sights known to man. A blank page. The prospect of filling it up with anything resembling decent seems insurmountable. Staring at the long road ahead fills you with anxiety and dread.  The first step is the most difficult. So we procrastinate. We " research ", we " prep ", we " plan ". We do everything except tackling the problem. We avoid the pain for as long as we can.  To make a blank page less intimidating. Tear it in half. There, half as scary, twice as easy. Still too much? Do it again. And again. Keep doing it until the task is so small that it's too easy not to do.  Getting starting is the hardest part. So make the hardest part as easy as possible. This doesn't guarantee amazing results, but it gets you in the game. You can't win if you don't play.  

Why We Shouldn't Be Afraid of Ambiguity

Ambiguity. That fuzzy monster that chases us down darkened hallways, whispering doubts about our roadmap and feature sets. You know the feeling. You constantly wrestle with unknowns: Will users like this? Is this the right direction? Frankly, if you had a nickel for every time the answer wasn't crystal clear, well, you might actually want to chase that ambiguity down the hall. But here's the thing: ambiguity isn't your enemy. It's your dance partner. Innovation rarely happens in a land of perfect clarity. Sure, there's a time for well-defined processes. But when you're creating something new, there are bound to be more questions than answers. The key is to learn to waltz with the unknown .  Embrace the experiment. Don't be afraid to throw some spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.  Focus on outcomes, not outputs. Don't get hung up on features. What problem are you trying to solve? How will you measure success? Get comfortable with "go...