General tips:
- Be humble in your approach1
- Listen more than speaking1
- Don’t try to contribute value to early1
- Don’t belittle past efforts1
- Have opinions not dogmas1
- Focus on evolution, not a revolution (don’t flip over the table)1
- Don’t chase ghosts, I.e. don’t bring the problems of your previous company and assume the same issues are relevant to the new company 2.
- One of the the things that the best new executives will do is get the lay of the land, talk to a ton of people, put together an org plan, and put together a time-based roadmap for their function 3.
Erik Bernhardsson wrote a narrative for on-boarding as technical leader in data 4. Much of the narrative is data specific, but the approach is generalizable as a technical leader: identify problem areas, find ways to deliver business value, re-trench on people / org issues, meet with stake holders.
References
1.
Rubinstein, N. How to start a new tech exec job. Medium at https://nirrub.medium.com/how-to-start-a-new-tech-exec-job-76947c93d447 (2021).
2.
Larson, W., Scanlan, B. & Reddy, D. Calm’s Will Larson on how to build a technical leadership career. at https://www.intercom.com/blog/podcasts/calms-will-larson-on-how-to-build-a-technical-leadership-career/.
4.
Bernhardsson, E. Building a data team at a mid-stage startup: A short story. Erik bernhardsson at https://erikbern.com/2021/07/07/the-data-team-a-short-story.html.