I got pulled into a project with a deadline next week, and the team needs hands to hit it. The issue is I don’t have much background (they have done months of client studies), so I’m mostly handling legwork. It makes me feel a bit out of place in the daily stand-ups—like I don’t want to report on formatting or basic execution stuff while everyone else discusses the core work. It’s not the most exciting contribution, and I’m worried it comes across poorly. Any suggestions?

likehelpful
Posting as :
works at
You are currently posting as works at

Just report out on the progress toward your deadlines, don’t worry that your stuff isn’t important enough. Best thing you could say in standup is “I’ve gotten through all the stuff so far and will have capacity this afternoon”. Be a stellar workhorse with high throughput, don’t worry that you’re not designing the racetrack

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Just be honest that you are here to help but have zero context. You want to make it clear you are being a great team player and are humble and not fussy about just helping out wherever. Do not try to come across as an expert because you’ll be found out.

“Hi everyone, I saw some formatting needed doing and some links that were broken so I fixed those but I have no other context or background for this so keen to just lean in here I can take the weight off someone else”

Something like that. Just add value wherever you can.

Remember the advice: be know for getting sh*t done, and being clever. In that order.

likehelpful

Your contribution is valuable or they wouldn’t have you do it. Be proud of the work you’re doing!

like

Set up a discussion on your role and scope on the project to set expectations

The project is wrapping up in 2 days, I was pulled in and was drinking from the fire hose. No time to have additional meetings, every meeting is whole team

like

You are there for moral support, be that for couple of days

Sounds rough for everyone but yeah just do what you can to help with your limited background and then move on. Hopefully your stepping in for moral support will get at least a bit of appreciation.

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