Starting Fresh: The First 90 Days

It was my 43rd working day (or ~2 calendar months). Friday at 4:48pm. Closed my chat window, sent a final email, quick calendar check for Monday, leaned back into my chair and thought… 

“That was a great day! That was my first great day...Which means there’s so much possibility in the great days to come”. 

What makes for a great day? For me, it was a culmination of things: an exploratory & energizing new feature meeting where everyone was participating, conversations around diversity and inclusion, feedback that we nailed a presentation, and a random 1:1 that led to engaging about leadership, ambient computing, and what it means to be a part of Google. Also...didn’t hurt that it was a Friday :) 

But wait, what about the first 2 months? 

Well...there were good days! And there were tough days. There were chaotic days. And motivating and humbling days. However, there had yet to be a great day… 

Starting a new job is hard. Everyone tells you that. And they tell you in a variety of ways. “How’s drinking from the firehose?!” or “Onboarding during the pandemic must be tough!” or “It’s going to take you at least 2 months to know anything, then in month-3 you’ll realize you still don’t know anything, PLUS some of what you thought you knew was totally wrong”. By the way, these points are 100% accurate. 

All who have gone through this initiation, this trial by fire, this strange experience of finding a way, have empathy for those first few months (or frankly, first year). They remember elements of what it was like to start fresh. And they genuinely wish you all the best as you navigate your own path forward. 

Time will pass, and I, too, will forget what it’s like to be the new kid. I’ll remember this time in broad strokes, but without clarity or precision. And so, I’m writing to cement this professional chapter. To carry lessons & appreciations forward. With future hopes that I, too, will contribute to making someone else’s 43rd day -a great day.

Much love, -Becks 

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Tips in Starting Fresh: Particularly During the Pandemic 

*NOTE, in-person human connection is extremely important to me. Some of these tips may be less relevant to folks where contact and connection is less critical. 

• Be strategic with breadth, depth and timing of your 1:1s. Work is about relationships…It’s about understanding values, motivations, work styles and hopefully connecting with coworkers beyond a surface/transactional level. It’s about navigating org complexity -which is made up of individual complexity. To that end, I took, and will continue to take 1:1s with basically anyone and everyone who wants to meet. Tenure, department, function shouldn’t really matter. [For what it's worth, some of my most interesting and inspiring conversations were with colleagues vastly different than me]. That said, know your daily limiting. For me, it’s six 1:1s per day, max. I can actively participate in back-to-back group meetings...But more than six 1:1s, I start to lose my presence and awareness with others. Catching myself drifting, not at full attention. Manage your calendar, your energy and make your 1:1s count. Last tip, take notes. What does he care about? What are her kids' names? What’s the biggest challenge she’s going through? What matters? Even if you don't always look back at the notes, writing (for me) helps memorialize answers.
• Ask questions. Spend 1:1s asking questions; not talking about yourself :) You have these 3 months to ask questions. Stupid (yes, really stupid) questions, provocative questions, basic questions, curious questions. You’re new -and you get a pass to ask basically anything you could dream of. Take the opportunity to learn about the people, the product, the history, and the culture. In hindsight, I should have asked even more questions. Should have gotten over any fear or doubt in looking stupid...and just asked. 
• Write down your thoughts. In the midst of asking all those questions, you'll come across process, decisions, behaviors that seem strange (to you). Write down those thoughts -express them on paper, not to your new coworkers! There's usually a reason why things are done the way they are. On month 3, come back to your list... For the observations that lack a clear "why": What's still relevant? Where could you spark improvements, enhancements or flat out valuable change?
• If possible, meet up for a walk or a distanced coffee (in real life). Some of my closest colleagues live in SF… I’ve met up and will continue to meet up in person -masked, distanced, and consensually, of course. While it’s challenging to block out time, it’s so critical to have some in-person experiences. The investment is worth it.  
• “Be your kind of successful”. I write weekly work/life goals. It’s a ritualized invitation to think about aspirations, constraints and focus for the coming week. Each week I write down the same high-level goal, which is “Be My Kind of Successful”. A reminder to focus on what matters to me beyond just getting work done and shipped. To invest in relationships & inclusion activities, to remain calm even when things are chaotic, and to save enough energy to be an available partner and friend after work. I fail, over and over, but come back to it weekly as a cue. The best advice I was given (from a fellow employee) was “You’re not going to be the smartest person here, don’t bother trying; You can’t outwork others, you’ll just burn yourself out; SO...the best way to be successful is to be a good teammate”. That really resonates. What does “Your Kind of Successful” look like? 
• Write a 30, 60, 90 day plan. Don’t write it too early….Wait at least until you’re ~3-4 weeks into the role. You’ll still get a fair amount wrong, but it's the journey as much as the output that’s valuable. I completed around 60%-70% of my plan -biting off more than I could chew, but it was a directionally accurate and beneficial asset. 

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TL;DR of My 30 / 60 / 90 Day plan 

Month 1: Listen 

Build relationships. Listen to challenges, passions, focus areas -and understand the history. Why are things done this way? What matters about the people, the product and the culture? How does stuff really get done?   

Month 2: Synthesize 

Begin to synthesize your thoughts. What patterns emerge? Where are the hotspots on your team / or in your org? What problems should you address first? What's your mission, vision, and thoughts on approach to execution? 

Month 3 (and 4): Operationalize with Flexibility 

Time to put your plan into action -in partnership with all your partners. How might we best move forward together?

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I certainly have room to improve next go-around in my first 30/60/90 days. But I’m proud of the foundational efforts.  

So Much Appreciation 

I loved Pandora. 13 years of close friendships, products shipped, challenges overcome, and personal growth. So many fond stories and memories of that chapter in my life. But what I valued most was a deep sense of belonging. Both to the mission, and the people. 

To that end, I am deeply, deeply grateful for a few specific folks in these first few months at my new job, who went above and beyond, reaching out in truly meaningful ways to ensure I felt like I belonged. 

• A now close coworker, in our first 1:1, told me he really liked my introductory email. That it was interesting and rich with detail, and made him feel like he knew me as a whole person. Sharing his perspective invited belonging.   
• A fellow female eng tech lead, in a different org, met me at a training, realized I was new and specifically reached out saying “I know the beginning is tough, I’ll put time on your calendar and we can talk about anything“. Her proactive nature took all the work off my plate. That’s belonging. 
• And probably the most special, a partner eng leader reached out for a 1:1. First asked me flat out “Have you gone through your new job depression? Everyone does at the beginning”. We talked about life, and robotics, and our passions and even a bit around longer-term life goals. He ended the 1:1 by asking me “What are your 3 biggest work challenges right now?”...And then proceeded to provide thoughts / guidance and open some doors around the 2nd challenge and my list. That’s true belonging. 

The campsite rule | Leave it better than you found it: Now I'm 4 months in. Still fairly new, but have my legs under me a bit more. Reflecting back, I aspire to leave every new person in better shape than I found them. What can I do to pay-it-forward? How might I be most genuine, helpful, and connecting in those initial interactions?