This artifact was created to make sure we did a good job onboarding new team members in a high-headcount-growth period of the company. I wish I'd formalized this earlier. I could have had extra years with people who had better clarity on the strategy and stronger skillsets.


I was surprised at how much this mattered for speed. I thought it might be a handy reference and reminder to myself to get things done. Instead, by sharing it openly with the person being onboarded, it turned into huge speed gains.

This section is important for effective onboarding in mid-to-large teams. There has to be a reasonably up to date reference to help facilitate "where do I fit in" understanding as well as to outline expectations.


These books were on the desk when you showed up on the first day.


I've edited the book section over time to fit the zeitgeist and most relevant things for us, and I'd do another round if we were going to start new folks today. Some are evergreen though, and I'd probably keep more than half of them as-is.

We experienced that having this artifact as well as the resources linked within it created a lot of aha moments for new hires that we weren't seeing beforehand. What used to take 3-6 months to "intuit" was made explicit and we saw faster ability to contribute because of the increased speed of understanding things.

These links point directly to Asana boards for direct and easy access to ongoing work - they were provided as context during all onboardings even when not functionally relevant, just to help build that understanding across the team.


Don't assume that this checklist can replace being human. Make sure to have frequent discussions to guide development and uncover the unique development path for each individual.


Bjorn Seaton

I used this onboarding guide to speed up how quickly new members of the marketing team could become effective and start driving value.

 pretty fast - so you can start crushing tasks and flex on the team.

Make it really clear what the job is, and what success looks like.

Give you the best possible conditions to succeed at that.

Show you just how welcome you are (hint: it's lots)

Complete this course at your own pace, but within 1 year of starting at Trendhim.

https://cxl.com/institute/programs/ecommerce-marketing/

https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.803/pdf/hubbard1899.pdf

 and know that we're an entire organisation of people who can carry a message to Garcia.

Trendhim's Marketing Strategy and Tactics

In the original onboarding doc, there was a link to an (unsharable, ultra secret) 20-slide dense deck outlining the operating protocol for the marketing group. It included sections on the following

Audience, vision and positioning as it relates to these high level elements.

The separation of diagnosis, strategy, guiding principles, people and projects - very similar to the separation in Good Strategy Bad Strategy, Rumelt 2011.

Communication guidelines, with a link out to the brand manual.

A description of the core user experience, as in the touchpoints that all users were guaranteed to experience (by design)

A channel-by-channel tactical rundown across the 5 main channel groups.

A high level overview of measurement protocol.

A description of our work cadence. How often which meetings and reports land, standups, etc.

Notes on how to collaborate with other teams and how to represent marketing in the organisation.

Enjoy your curated book package, custom tailored to you. Keep in mind that you're encouraged to order 

 for our shared library as you need them - but this 

Alchemy - to challenge your assumptions about what works.

How Brands Grow - to bring you up to speed on what the science says about brand growth.

Linchpin - to provide you with a frame of reference for what we expect of each other. Challenges, and a relentless focus on what's important.

The War Of Art - it's normal. Work with it. Work through it.

Atomic Habits - to give you key tools for incrementally improving life through habits.

The Phoenix Project - to exemplify process excellence in a memorable narrative.

Principles - to show a fully codified set of principles for life and work that you can figure out if you agree or disagree with. Both are fine. As long as you're growing.

Additional relevant books may be assigned to specific roles.

 for controlling notifications - you don't 

 to do all of it, but do the parts that can help you. Don't fall victim to everyone else's demands on your time.

You'll receive introductions to every department at Trendhim from the manager of that group. Enjoy, and make sure you ask any questions that come into your mind either during or after the introduction. They're welcome!

You'll be invited to an extended intro session with Bjørn about the strategy and how marketing supports and drives specific elements, and where you fit in. Ask questions.

You'll be invited by every manager or team lead on the marketing team to get a more detailed introduction to their focus area and the portions of strategy they're responsible for delivering on. Ask questions.

You'll have introductions with each individual on your team, either facilitated by a teamlead/manager, or directly.

Lastpass is organised in folders. You've been given access to some of them, and as you take on varied responsibilities you may need access to more. Say the word.

 team and sub-boards - get amongst it, see how different teams are organising and displaying work.

 boards for each individual team except campaign team. Campaigns often live across channels and/or in their own projects.

Slack channels for marketing team. You have access to marketing-core and marketing-extended, as well as your own unit's slack channel.

The first many 1:1 check-ins with your manager will include space for reflections about:

Marketing Onboarding at Trendhim

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