Instead of letting new hires spend months learning the ropes, aim for them to be organizationally competent in three days. This forces the company to meticulously document all processes, roles, and assets in a central place like Notion, eradicating inefficient "tribal knowledge" and accelerating a new team member's impact.

To ensure its design team embraces modern tooling, Shopify requires every new designer to commit at least two pull requests to the main codebase during onboarding. This establishes coding as a core, non-negotiable responsibility from day one.

Media company Wait What halted all work for three days for an immersive "AI sprint." Every employee formed small teams to build AI-driven solutions for specific business problems. This collective, hands-on approach accelerates adoption and surfaces practical, immediate use cases far more effectively than traditional training.

AppLovin's culture empowers engineers to solve business problems directly, often without a product spec. A new data flow engine for their e-commerce ads was designed on a napkin by engineers at breakfast, highlighting a philosophy where engineers are competent enough to ideate and build products autonomously.

AppLovin's CTO found junior engineers were disconnected from business, receiving only low-level tasks. By showing them how their work directly impacted business outcomes, he unlocked their ability to contribute ideas and solve problems more effectively, improving the entire team's output.

A new hire's first project was planning a major event happening in three months. This trial-by-fire approach is an effective onboarding method, forcing rapid learning of company systems, team dynamics, and external vendor management, which quickly and effectively integrates the new person into the team.

To instill a culture of high velocity, new designers at Snap are required to present work on day one. This practice immediately immerses them in the cycle of making and receiving feedback, breaking down the "preciousness" of individual ideas and fostering a mindset of rapid, constant iteration.

To build deep customer empathy, embed every new employee—regardless of role or seniority—with a real customer for several days. Their sole task is to solve one real problem, creating an immediate, visceral connection to the company's purpose.

When a new person joins, give them one primary, challenging objective that represents the most important goal. Clearly state that their success will be judged on this single task, even above other contributions. This provides extreme clarity, focus, and a clear measure of their effectiveness.