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Comment by b-karl | Hacker News Reader

I have not done the 1 on 1 method before, it sounds interesting and will try it in the future, but I agree with utilizing the grace period to explore, ask and learn as much as possible about the organization and industry.

My additional recommendation would be to try to identify limited-scope projects that contribute to your role and where you can start delivering some value. For me this helps set a clear goal and it is usually easier to identify the specific skills/knowledge/information/contacts I need to complete the task. It also usually feels motivating to check off those early projects.

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> My additional recommendation would be to try to identify limited-scope projects that contribute to your role and where you can start delivering some value.

If you are in a leadership role over a team then having a pre-chewed problem ready for new members of your team is a very useful thing you can do. I'm talking well defined problem with a clear path towards success. This helps the new member become use to the team and processes, and gives them an easy win to put some wind in their sails. Also, this can serve as a litmus test to their on the job performance.

It can work really well but you can sometimes find individuals who won't play along.

In which case that's good feedback to give to management.

Unless they have very good reasons and offer an alternative ("I'm on deadline so can't talk now, but after this sprint I'll have time.") those individuals are actively sabotaging the team and should be dealt with accordingly.

Often management knows all about it and does nothing for one reason or another.

I had two cases of having a toxic coworker and only being able to get them fired after leaving myself. (Step 1 is “oh shit, we lost an important team member”, Step 2 is “aha! we haven’t been able to replace that team member in six months because of the behavior of the toxic employee”). Next thing I see the person is on LinkedIn looking for a new job.

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