Who is who
Who is who
The organisation chart records reporting lines accurately and tells you almost nothing about who you will actually need.
What the people on this page had to find out, and where from
Who signs off a schema change
you asked4Three people were asked before the right one
That two people on the team do not speak to each other
worked out11Worked out from who was never on the same call
two things you had to know · nobody told you any of them · the median arrived in week 11 · all two you went and got
Two facts about the shape of a team, neither of which appears on any chart and neither of which anybody would have said out loud.
The Org Chart Is Not the Map
An organisation chart records reporting lines accurately and tells you almost nothing about who you will actually need.
Finding the People You Will Actually Need
Three methods find the people who matter, none of them is the organisation chart, and all three work in the first fortnight.
Who to Go to for What
Different questions belong to different people, and sending all of them to your manager is the most common and most costly mistake of a first month.
The Person Who Answers Everything
Every team has somebody who answers, they are usually not senior, and the main risk to a new person is using them up.
Meeting People Without a Reason
A new person can ask almost anybody for twenty minutes and be granted it, and the permission expires after about two months.
What an Introduction Is Worth
An introduction gives you a name and permission to write to somebody. Everything after that has to be built out of ordinary working contact, and often is not.
Noticing Who Is Not in the Room
Who attends a meeting, who is consulted and who is absent describe an organisation more accurately than any account of it, and a new person can read all three.
Keeping Your Own List of People
Ten names with a note beside each is the most useful document a new person keeps, and the note is more important than the name.