Rands: Getting through the first 90 days of a new job

This is an article I came across while reading the Joel blog @ reddit.com ....
Here is a small excerpt, you might find useful...

#1) Stay late. Show up early. You need a map of the people you work with and I find the best way to start scribbling this map is to understand people and their relation to the day. When do they get there? How long until they engage in what they do? Coffee run? Wait, no. Late arriver. Doesn't leave until he gets something done. Makes his coffee run at 4:30pm. Doesn't drink coffee? Really? Why? These long days of watching give you insight and they give you tools for understanding what each of your team members want.

#2) Accept every lunch invitation you get. People are stretching themselves for you the first few weeks you show up. They're going to go out of their way to include you and no matter who they are, you've got to take the time to reciprocate. The lunch invite from that guy in the group you pretty sure you'll never interact with will result in stories and you have a stunning lack of stories right now.

#3) Always ask about acronyms. It's great that we're all speaking English, but why is it that you're sitting in your first staff meeting and not understanding a word? It's because every team develops acronyms, metaphors, and clever ways to describing their uniqueness which you must understand. Cracking the language nut is absolutely essential to assessing the hand you've been dealt and you're going to need to ask a couple of times.

#4) Say something really stupid. Good news, you're going to do this whether it's on this list or not. I'm saying it's ok. This stupid thing that you're going to say is going to demonstrate your nascent engagement in your job and when they stop giggling, the team is going to know you're desperately trying to figure it all out.

#5) Have a drink. Similar to the lunch task, but more valuable. No barrier is crossed when someone invites you to lunch, but when you get the drink invite, someone is saying, "C'mon. Let's go try a different version of honesty." Stories are revealed over drinks, not lunch.

The full article you can find here.