How to train new employees on technical work without repeating yourself
Standardizing onboarding is difficult because variables in projects make it impossible to train someone on everything at the start, leaving them to rely on asking whoever is around. This leads to managers answering the same repeat questions over and over instead of having a centralized, written reference like an SOP.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Creating written standard operating procedure checklistsDid this help you?
- 2Recording short Loom-style videos explaining repetitive tasksDid this help you?
- 3Using markdown files in an internal GitHub repositoryDid this help you?
- 4Cloning project checklists so team members can update them on the flyDid this help you?
- 5writing answers and processes down in word documents or standard operating procedures (SOPs)Did this help you?
- 6recording videos using tools like Loom to automatically create SOP referencesDid this help you?
- 7building an internal knowledge base where employees can search for answersDid this help you?
- 8relying on basic initial training and having employees learn on the go as variables ariseDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I've been working with wordpress for awhile now, and I've gotten to the point where I could use extra hands. Every business uses SOP'S to standardize the work for on boarding.”source ↗
“Rather than walking someone through the process of learning and building alongside them, I opted for a more hands off approach.”source ↗
“Curious how other small business owners/managers deal with this — when a new employee has a question, where do they actually go? Is everything written down somewhere, or do they mostly just ask whoever's around?”source ↗
“is there a question you feel like you've answered a hundred times to different employees over the years? How do you usually handle repeat questions like that — do you write it down after the first time, or does it just stay something people ask?”source ↗
“there’s so many variables with what people can bring in that it’s impossible to train someone on everything. You get the basics at the beginning and learn more and more as you go.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3Ideas for engaging lunch and learns across multiple time zones
- 4Employee onboarding workflow for small teams
- 8How to learn advanced HVAC tech without formal training
- 4How do you explain SEO work to clients without sounding technical?
- 6Why do I have to train my new manager?
- 3How to teach students how to fill out Scantron forms