A presentation at DevOpsDays Chicago in in Chicago, IL, USA by Jacquie Grindrod
Hey, Listen! Whether you’re a first time quester or a seasoned adventurer, it’s dangerous to go alone so we’ll be reviewing 3 onboarding patterns found in both Hyrule & the tech industry to help you prepare for your journey.
It’s the Dawn of the first day but the clock’s already ticking. How can we get up to speed & equip ourselves for success? I’m Jacquie Grindrod, an avid gamer, fantasy lover & a Senior Developer Advocate at AWS & I’ll be your guide for this session.
A poor onboarding experience can hamstring new teammates before they’re able to start, isolate those with different learning styles and even serve as a team gate keeper. In truth, the onboarding experience begins before your teammate even arrives.
The first impression has lasting implications. Too few details & we risk leaving them alone and frustrated but too many, and we overwhelm them. Crafting a good experience takes buy in, time & practice. You need to know your strategy.
Which brings us to our first pattern. The first game from 1986 throws us straight into the fray in less than a minute with only 7 words: It’s dangerous to go alone, take this. It was up to the player to figure out where to go & what to do.
It could look like handing a new employee access to source code, a link to the docs then sending them out bug hunting & ticket crunching. A red flag to look out for: “well I figured it out, so can they”. While it’s a classic approach in both spaces, it’s probably due for an update.
There’s a time and place for discovery, but at the start we should meet people where they are. Identify gaps in the onboarding experience and documentation and remember: It’s typically easier for you to check in on them than for them to ask for help.
We see this pattern in both Ocarina of Time (~17m) & Twilight Princess (3 hours). It’s characterized by a series of linear steps that must be completed in order & a guide who will chime in when you ask.
Your onboarding probably falls into this pattern if it consists of a series of often loosely documented steps that must be completed in order or the new teammate is blocked. Red flags could be task lists that lack context or long meetings that verbally dump knowledge on the attendees.
It’s crucial that your documentation is up to date. Old or unclear task lists & readmes can lead your onboardee into the nebulous Lost Woods. Consider having onboarding buddy checkins to help them stay on track and split the work for updating the bumps you find along the way.
Beware an intro that is too long and narrow. While context and backstory are important, a process that takes too long to complete can leave new teammates feeling unable to meaningfully contribute. Keep tasks actionable in size and help them build momentum.
Breath of the Wild added further quest documentation and clearly marked Shrines, places that teach you a specific concept or skill. If you’re not ready for that challenge you can leave and progress elsewhere. This lets you learn what you need at the time you need it with the freedom to explore as you do.
This could look like a 3 month plan with a suggested order for task completion and the flexibility to swap tasks as you’re ready to learn and complete them. Good documentation, definitions of done & continuous iteration are key requirements for this path.
Taking this path, we want to provide clear and concise tasks with additional documentation for the onboardee to explore. Make it safe to ask for assistance or temporarily walk away from a task if it’s too much at that point of onboarding..
Before we wrap up, I’d like you to take a moment & reflect: What works best for you & why? Which pattern does your team use? If you could fix part of it today, what would it be?
Just like in video games, the best way to progress is to gain experience & gear up. Be realistic about the state of your knowledge base and where to find it. Learn about your new teammate’s style and how you can best work together. Meet them where they are.
Regardless of which pattern you use, your team’s Onboarding experience is an investment worth making. There’s no one size fit all. Onboarding will always be a little uncomfortable but the active support of those around us makes all the difference in how we experience this process.
As you enter and explore this new challenge, remember to be patient with yourself. Every project and team is different, and even experienced adventures need time to discover the lay of the land. Don’t be afraid to ask questions - you never know which path ends with treasure.
Similar to difficult boss fights, the more we try it and learn the mechanics the better we can perform. We’ll continue to iterate and evolve our culture, processes and capabilities and in turn, we hope to leave a smoother path for those who come after us.
5 minutes is a short amount of time, but I hope I’ve left you with some things to consider. Thank you so much for joining me today. If you have any questions or want to see more of the work I do, I’m Jacquie Grindrod & you can find me @devopsjacquie. Enjoy the rest of the conference!
(Hey! Listen!) The first Zelda game (1987) set you off on your own after only 7 words and less than a minute of play. As game companies recognized how onboarding is crucial to retention and experience, they continuously iterated on the structures and durations. Future introductions ranged from 17 minutes to almost 3 hours and added travel companions to help guide you on your journey, such as Navi or Midna. Whether your company is just getting started or is already established, there’s valuable lessons we can glean from their implementations.
Your new teammate’s onboarding experience will set the tone for their time with you. Too few details and we risk leaving them lost, alone and frustrated. Too many, and we risk overwhelming them. Crafting a repeatable, smooth onboarding process for first time questers or seasoned adventurers is critical to building a healthy team culture. This process itself is a journey that requires buy in, time, and practice. What lessons can we take from Zelda and how can we apply those to improve the onboarding experience in tech?
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