STRATEGY: Check-in questionnaire for new members

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Why

People, but new members especially, come in without having a foundation of knowledge and often don't read the necessary documentation. Also, the documentation might be bad. This strategy could serve multiple purposes:

1. Help you pin down what new members need to know when they're coming into the project.
2. See if the project documentation is clearly communicating what you need it to communicate.
3. Setting new member expectations about what kind of responsibilities they're committing to. If they find this task unmanageable then this project or general activity might not be a good fit for them.
4. Help the new member better understand whether this particular project is a good fit.
5. Take some of the burden off of team leads by making sure that necessary knowledge is properly absorbed before people jump in with ungrounded suggestions.

How

Create a check-in questionnaire for new members to self assess how well they read documentation.

Resources

Copy of Clean Slate example check-in questionnaire: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VUiFpABefYvVu3nibae5Te4epj9lGBPRYUpDt4rOU5Q/edit?usp=sharing

If you want a copy, use the 'hamburger' menu (three vertical dots) on the top right.

Proposal History

2020/02/08

1. Edit: Adds example from Clean Slate.
2. Comment: Looking good from short Clean Slate experience.

2020/01/30

1. Edit: Changed 'quiz' to 'check-in questionnaire'. This isn't meant to be a graded test.
2. Edit: Added internal reasons this technique can be useful. (Clarifying project and its documentation.)

2020/01/23

1. Comment: Not tried yet.
2. Comment: Brought up as an idea. No vote because each team will have to decide for itself.

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Clean Slate experiment going well. This is a copy: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VUiFpABefYvVu3nibae5Te4epj9lGBPRYUpDt4rOU5Q/edit?usp=sharing

If you want a copy, use the 'hamburger' menu (three vertical dots) on the top right.