How do I reduce ramp time for new hires?

Record the parts that repeat -- your own product from a customer's point of view, the internal tools nobody documented, how work actually moves, and the demo you want your sales team giving. Those are asked by every new hire and answered identically every time.

Why do written onboarding docs stop working?

They are written once by somebody who later leaves, about interfaces that change, and nobody re-reads them -- so errors are found by a new hire following them into a dead end. A walkthrough at least fails visibly, because the watcher can see the screens no longer match.

Can recordings replace shadowing for sales hires?

For the demo itself, largely -- shadowing teaches a new rep from whoever is available rather than whoever is best, while a recorded version is a standard they can practise against repeatedly. Judgement and objection handling still need real conversations.

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When New Hires Take Too Long to Get Up to Speed

August 28, 2026

A new hire spends their first weeks discovering things that everybody already there knows, mostly by interrupting somebody.

A good share of that is genuinely repeatable, which means it can be recorded once instead of explained every time.

What is worth recording

Your own product, properly, from a customer's point of view rather than an internal one.
The internal tools nobody documented because the person who set them up is still here.
The workflows -- how a deal, a ticket or a release actually moves.
The demo your sales team gives, so a new rep can watch the good version rather than shadow the available version.

Why written onboarding docs decay

Documentation about internal tooling is written once, by somebody who leaves, about interfaces that change. Nobody re-reads it, so nobody notices it is wrong until a new hire follows it into a dead end.

A walkthrough decays visibly. When the screens no longer match, the person watching says so, which is a much better failure mode than silent inaccuracy.

For sales hires specifically

Ramping a rep on the demo is usually done by shadowing, which means they learn from whoever happens to be available rather than from whoever is best.

A recorded version of the demo you want given is a standard, and it lets a new rep practise against it repeatedly without occupying anyone.

What recording will not fix

Judgement, context and relationships are not transferable this way. A new hire still needs to be wrong in front of somebody experienced a few times, and no library replaces that.

The goal is to stop spending those conversations on things a recording could have handled, so the expensive human time goes on the part that actually requires a human.

Frequently asked questions

How do I reduce ramp time for new hires?: Record the parts that repeat -- your own product from a customer's point of view, the internal tools nobody documented, how work actually moves, and the demo you want your sales team giving. Those are asked by every new hire and answered identically every time.
Why do written onboarding docs stop working?: They are written once by somebody who later leaves, about interfaces that change, and nobody re-reads them -- so errors are found by a new hire following them into a dead end. A walkthrough at least fails visibly, because the watcher can see the screens no longer match.
Can recordings replace shadowing for sales hires?: For the demo itself, largely -- shadowing teaches a new rep from whoever is available rather than whoever is best, while a recorded version is a standard they can practise against repeatedly. Judgement and objection handling still need real conversations.

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