Technical Onboarding with Kristen Gallagher

When a new employee joins a software company, it is often unclear where that employee should begin. Do they have a mentor? What are they working on? What are the expectations for how fast that employee should be contributing?

The early period of employment is often referred to as “onboarding.” During the onboarding period, an employee will learn the basics of the company they have just joined. These basics include the work procedures, meeting schedules, expectations, and technical tools that an employee needs to become productive.

A poor onboarding process can slow an employee down, and even cause them to quit the company entirely. Conversely, a good onboarding process can accelerate an employee towards rapid contribution within the organization. A scalable onboarding process can be a difference in millions of dollars in productivity per year across the organization.

Kristen Gallagher is the founder of Edify, a company that helps organizations define and implement their onboarding process. Kristen joins the show to talk about the ingredients of a successful onboarding process and what she is doing with her company Edify.