An onboarding checklist where every line has an owner
One day two new people with the same first name started on the same day. It was funny until we noticed the usual mess, doubled: new hires without accounts, without access, without a signed NDA.
So I wrote an onboarding checklist with one rule: every line has a named owner. Accounts — this person. Access to repositories — that one. Contract and NDA — someone else. And the whole process belongs to whoever ran the interview: they walk the newcomer through the list and collect the sign-offs.
| Step | Owner |
|---|---|
| Set up the workspace | Team lead |
| Give the work computer and accessories | IT admin |
| Create the user account and password | IT admin |
| Prepare and sign the work contract | Office manager |
| Sign the NDA | Office manager |
| Work-safety and fire-safety briefings | Office manager |
| Office rules, keycard, alarm | Office manager |
| Add to team chats | Team lead |
| Invite to time tracking | Office manager |
| Add to Trello | Team lead |
| Access to the shared drive | CTO |
| Git key and repository access | CTO |
| Documents with our processes | CTO |
An excerpt from the checklist (a later English version; names replaced with roles).
We applied the same idea to releasing new game skins: a “Game Flow” document of about a hundred steps, each with its owner.
The lesson: a checklist without owners is a wish list. Put a name on every line and one name on the whole thing.