20 Onboarding, Training Milestones, and Offboarding
This chapter defines how members join, grow, and leave the group well. Good onboarding makes people productive and connected quickly; good offboarding protects continuity, relationships, and reputation.
20.1 Onboarding
New members complete the New Member Onboarding Checklist. At a high level, the first weeks look like this:
20.1.1 First 7 days
- Read this manual; sign the acknowledgment form.
- Meet your mentor and the PI; understand your project and pod.
- Get accounts and access: messaging channel, GitHub org, shared drive, project tool, RIPLRT Bench (Section 11.3), Aliquary when your role involves samples (Section 17.5), and any other project-specific tools — provisioned at least privilege (Chapter 12).
- Add a short bio and (optional) photo for the group directory; set up your availability.
20.1.2 Step 0 — Confirm your umbrella
Before the first-7-days checklist, your mentor confirms and records which umbrella you join under (Section 2.2), because it sets your IRB, training, and authorship path:
- Lynn University (EBDL): Lynn CITI/IRB, Lynn accounts and resources, Lynn policy.
- UPR or other external / independent: your home institution’s CITI/IRB and policies; RIPLRT-direct mentoring and any collaboration/DUA terms.
This is captured on the onboarding checklist and the manual-acknowledgment form (forms) so your record is unambiguous from day one. Offboarding confirms that data, accounts, and products are returned or transferred to the correct entity for the umbrella you worked under.
20.1.3 First 30 days
- Complete required CITI/IRB training; be added to relevant IRB protocols before touching human-subjects data.
- Complete tool onboarding: Git/GitHub basics, R or Python setup, reproducible-notebook walkthrough, and the data-governance rules.
- Take ownership of one defined, mentored task that ladders up to a named deliverable.
- Co-create your Individual Development Plan with your mentor.
20.1.4 First 90 days
- Independently own a named deliverable (a figure, codebook, literature synthesis, or reproducible notebook).
- Present once to the pod or group (a wins-and-roadblocks update counts).
- Have a first IDP check-in to calibrate goals and support.
20.2 Training milestones
Members progress along the development ladder (Chapter 8):
| Milestone | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Foundation | Trained (CITI/IRB), tooled up (Git, R/Python, reproducibility), manual signed |
| Contribution | Independently owns a named deliverable; first abstract/figure/notebook |
| Leadership | Leads a pod component; mentors a newer member; first/co-first authorship |
Milestones are tracked in the IDP and reviewed each semester. The aim is growing independence and leadership, not just task volume.
20.3 Offboarding
People move on — graduation, new positions, end of a term, or a planned transition. We offboard deliberately so nothing is lost and relationships stay strong. Members complete the Offboarding Checklist.
20.3.1 Knowledge & continuity handoff
- Transfer ownership of repos, documents, and tasks; ensure successors have access.
- Document the state of every active project: where things stand, what’s next, where things live.
- Ensure all code is committed and pushed, notebooks render, and data is stored per governance rules.
- Update the variable dictionary and project operating manual.
20.3.2 Credit & products
- Confirm authorship/contributorship on in-progress and completed products (Chapter 15). Leaving the group does not erase earned credit; departing members remain authors on work they did.
- Agree on how in-progress manuscripts will be completed and who leads them.
20.3.3 Access & security
- Revoke access appropriately (accounts, repos, drives, data environments, RIPLRT Bench, Aliquary, and any other lab platforms) — security hygiene, not distrust.
- Return or properly handle any equipment or restricted materials.
- Confirm sample-inventory ownership and open freeze–thaw / aliquot records in Aliquary are handed to a successor before access is removed (Section 17.5).
20.3.4 Relationship & growth
- Final IDP review and a forward-looking conversation: references, recommendation letters, sponsorship, and staying in the network.
- Capture the member in the group’s alumni record; alumni remain part of the RIPLRT community and a source of mentorship for current members.
- An exit stop/start/continue conversation: what should the group keep, start, or stop? Departing members often give the most candid, useful feedback.
How we say goodbye shapes our reputation and network as much as how we say hello. Alumni who left well become collaborators, references, recruiters of future members, and ambassadors for the group. Invest in the exit.