Ask HN: Is this a good idea to onboard new employees?

#1

Post by binora » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 2:26 AM UTC

We have this idea to maintain a log of 'events' or decisions we take in our team. So whenever a new employee joins our team, she/he is able to gain context in a short amount of time by just going through the log.

For starters, we can just maintain a repo and commit these decisions/events to it.

I guess, then, the question is:

1. Is this really needed ? 2. If go ahead with this approach, what are those events or decisions worth committing?

   some examples from the top of my head:
   * we decided to rewrite the auth flow. why? => ...
   * we chose language xyz for this particular module...

We obviously have a wiki that has concrete things like setting up your laptop, information about existing products, blah blah.

Re: Ask HN: Is this a good idea to onboard new employees?

#2

Post by jkubicek » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 2:29 AM UTC

I think it’s not a great idea for onboarding. New employees aren’t going to have the context to get the most out over even the most well-written decision documents.

That said, this is a fantastic idea for all your current employees. Documenting why a decision is made is going to help people really think through the reasoning behind their decisions and is going to be incredibly useful 1-2 years from. Is when you’re trying to figure out why you didn’t do [something much simpler].

Re: Ask HN: Is this a good idea to onboard new employees?

#3

Post by ggm » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 3:12 AM UTC

A: because the last guy who knew how it works left three months ago

Q: why am I re-writing this mission critical thing wishing I had a time machine?