Onboarding Checklist Template - Free Download & Example

The first weeks of a new developer determine whether they become productive quickly or need months to understand the system. A structured onboarding process reduces time-to-productivity by an average of 40% and significantly increases retention. Without a checklist teams regularly forget essential steps such as setting up development environments, granting access to repositories and services, introducing coding conventions and assigning a buddy. This template covers the complete onboarding journey: pre-boarding tasks that need to be arranged before the first working day (laptop ordering, account creation, workspace setup), day one activities (welcome meeting, team introductions, development environment setup), the first week (architecture overview, first pull request, attending code review), the first month (independently picking up features, 1-on-1 meetings, feedback moment) and the three-month checkpoint (evaluation, improvement plan, expectation adjustment). Each phase has concrete checklist items with a responsible person and deadline, ensuring nothing is overlooked and the new colleague feels welcome and productive from day one. The template also includes a section for documenting team-specific knowledge that does not live in official documentation, such as informal communication channels, decision-making processes and the culture around code reviews and feedback. For remote and hybrid teams there are additional checkpoints ensuring social integration proceeds as smoothly as it would with physical presence in the office. The template also contains an evaluation section allowing you to measure onboarding effectiveness through a short survey so you can continuously improve the programme based on feedback from new team members.

Variations

How to use

Step 1: Download the onboarding checklist template and customise it for your organisation and technical stack. Every organisation has its own tools, processes and culture, so the template is a starting point that you need to adapt. Step 2: Assign an onboarding buddy: an experienced team member who serves as the first point of contact for all questions from the new colleague. The buddy is not the manager but a peer who can explain daily working practices and facilitate social introduction. Step 3: Complete pre-boarding tasks before the new colleague starts. This includes ordering and configuring hardware, creating accounts (email, Slack, GitHub, project management tool, password manager), preparing the workspace and sending a welcome package or message. Step 4: Plan the first day carefully. Start with a welcome meeting with the manager, followed by team introductions, a tour (physical or virtual) and the technical setup of the development environment. Do not end the day with administration but with a success experience: have the new developer make a small, focused change and deploy it. Step 5: Plan the first week with a mix of knowledge sessions and hands-on work. Organise an architecture overview by the tech lead, have the new developer review an existing pull request to learn the codebase, assign a first ticket or user story and schedule a pair programming session. Step 6: During the first month gradually increase independence. The new developer takes on increasingly complex tasks, participates in sprint ceremonies and receives regular feedback via 1-on-1 meetings with the manager. Schedule a formal feedback moment at the end of month one. Step 7: Evaluate the onboarding process with the new colleague after three months and adjust expectations where needed. Also ask for feedback on the onboarding process itself so you can continuously improve it. Step 8: Automate the technical setup as much as possible with onboarding scripts that install the development environment, required CLI tools, database seeds and IDE configuration in one go. This saves the new developer hours of manual configuration and prevents frustration on the first day. Step 9: Create a knowledge map of the team showing the expertise areas of each team member, so the new colleague knows whom to approach with specific questions about particular parts of the codebase, infrastructure or business logic. Step 11: Schedule an introduction round with all team members during the first week. Prepare a timetable with short fifteen-minute one-on-one conversations so the new team member gets to know everyone and understands who has which expertise. Step 12: Prepare a glossary of commonly used abbreviations, project-specific terminology and internal tooling so the new team member does not have to keep asking what certain terms mean.

How MG Software can help

At MG Software we have developed a refined onboarding process based on dozens of successful onboarding experiences. Every new developer receives a buddy, a structured 90-day plan and access to our internal knowledge base with architecture documentation, coding conventions and best practices. We also help client teams set up their onboarding process, so new team members become productive faster and the investment in recruitment pays back sooner.