The Simple Project Onboarding Habit That Saves Me Time Later

Whenever I join a new project, the first few days are usually about understanding the project, meeting the team, and getting familiar with the setup.

Recently, I started doing one more thing during onboarding.

I create a project resource sheet.

I keep track of:

Project manager and key stakeholders
Team members and their roles
Client-side dependencies
Areas of expertise and skills
Official work contact details

It sounds simple, but I've found it surprisingly useful.

A few weeks later, if I suddenly need to contact someone about a specific issue, I don't have to search through old emails, chats, or meeting notes.

I can quickly check:

Who owns this area?
Who has the right skill?
Who should I contact?

It also helps during stand-ups, retrospectives, and task discussions.

For example, if a task suddenly needs some backend knowledge and I know a frontend developer on the team also has strong backend experience, I can suggest that person instead of randomly looking for someone.

I recently started practicing this in a real project, and it has already made communication much easier.

Knowing your project is not just about knowing the codebase.

It's also about knowing the people behind it.

⚠️ A small but important note: This sheet can contain sensitive work-related information. It should be created and maintained only using your official work account/work-approved storage. Avoid keeping employee IDs, phone numbers, or other work contact details in a personal account or personal spreadsheet, as that may violate company security and data-handling policies.