When you think about onboarding at its most basic level, it’s a series of steps that allow a new hire to contribute to a team. A precise checklist takes away the guesswork from this process. Document what the new hire needs to do, by when they need to do it, and how. Here are a few tips to design the checklist.

• Focus on the essentials. It can be tempting to throw the kitchen sink at your new hires. Instead, think of the shortest path to productivity. What’s the least they should do before they make their first contribution to the project?

• Start with verbs. The checklist should have a list of actions for the new hire to perform. This could include reading some documentation, completing some paperwork, getting access, or completing a course. Phrase these checklist items such that they start with a verb. That way the new hire knows exactly what they need to do.

• Make it the onboarding hub. Link the checklist items to their associated resources. For example, if the new hire needs to fill out a form, link the corresponding checklist item to the form. If they need to learn something new, link to the course they need to complete. Be sure to provide a point of contact if you expect they may get blocked. These points of contact can be on a per-item basis or for the entire onboarding journey.

• Provide due-by dates. Just so the onboarding process doesn’t drag on, provide a due-by date for each checklist item. That way the new hires can keep themselves accountable. To make the checklist generic, you can keep the date ranges broad - e.g. what to do in the first week versus what to finish in the first 30 days. 

The key here is to think like a designer. The design of your onboarding journey should be subtractive, not additive. That mindset will help you keep things lightweight, so you don’t overwhelm your new teammates.