Story map for the Chapter

“If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.” - Seth Godin

• Why should you read this? You will learn about what it is like to have your first day on the job in your new engineering management role.

Scenario: Your first day

You hold the ID card out so you can read it. Fortunately, they’ve spelled your name correctly. Shame about the photograph, though. You return it to your pocket. You’ve arrived. It’s day one.

“I’m so glad you’re here!” says an approaching figure with her arm extended to vigorously shake your hand. It’s Lisa, your new boss.

You follow your manager across the open-plan office and look around to take in the sights and sounds of your new workplace. As you pass the kitchen, you hear the frothing of the milk wand on the espresso machine and the chatter of your new colleagues. A ping-pong ball ricochets off of the glass dividing wall. A man whizzes past on a scooter. This is different from your old workplace.

A whiteboard in the middle of the office is surrounded by a red velvet rope. Lisa turns to face it. You look puzzled because it’s crammed full of impenetrable mathematics. The bottom right contains a collection of signatures, and Lisa points at it.

“This is the algorithm that gave birth to this company. The signatures are from our founders. Who’d have thought that such a beautiful series of calculations could create a unicorn?”

You nod and smile in acknowledgment, pretending to understand what it means.

Lisa continues walking toward the side of the office that has floor-to-ceiling windows. You can see her making a beeline toward an empty desk. She gestures toward your chair.

“Have a seat,” she says. “I’ve got to run to a meeting, but send me a DM if you need anything. I’ll pop over again later.”

“Sure, thanks!” you reply. Lisa dashes off behind one of the whiteboards. Unlike the one in the center of the office, it’s not covered in complex mathematical symbols. Instead, it has an incredibly bad drawing of a horse with some text underneath. You squint to read it.

“Hello, new neigh-bor!”

Oh, dear. You sit down. Your chair emits an almighty squeak. You move your arm. Another giant squeak. Well, that’s going to get old fast.

Hitting the spacebar, your computer comes to life. You type your username and temporary password into the login prompt and hit return. You have two unread emails. Number one:

Hey,

I forgot to tell you my DM handle. It’s @lisag. Shout if you need anything and I’m sorry about that horse drawing. Glad to have you onboard!

Lisa

The next message appears to be automated.

Welcome!

We are proud to have you as part of our company. Please click the link below to check if your personal details are correct.

Click here to check your details.

An automated message from PeopleWare HR Solutions. Do not reply.

You click the link and are taken to a page to review your profile. Your eyes are drawn to the box denoting your role.

Job title: Engineering Manager

Team: Infrastructure

Hello, and welcome to your new job as a manager. It’s great to have you here. We’re going to get straight to business. It’s your first week on your new job. How should you get started? What should you be doing? Help is at hand. We’re going to give you some structure to make your first week a breeze.

Learning objectives

• Meet your team and your manager.

• Book in the meetings that you need.

• Create your snapshot of the team.

• Create an action list of items to focus on next.