New hires rarely struggle because the handbook was unclear. They struggle at the moments the handbook does not cover: forty-five minutes stuck on a task, unsure whether asking for help looks weak; spotting a mistake in a deck ten minutes before the client call; not knowing whether "ping anyone anytime" is real or polite fiction. Culture is a set of default decisions, and defaults are learned by making them.
Branching scenarios let new hires make those decisions in week one, safely, and see how they play out at your company specifically. Each scenario encodes a norm — how we ask for help, how we disagree, who owns what — as an experienced consequence instead of a slide bullet.
In ScenarioSplice each one is a short build: decision-tree template, feedback tags, one link in the onboarding checklist.
The stuck ticket. A new support engineer has been blocked on a config issue for 45 minutes. Keep digging silently, DM the tech lead, or post in the public help channel? The silent branch ends with a breached SLA and a kind-but-clear retro; the public-channel branch surfaces the norm — we ask in public so the answer helps the next person too.
The error in the deck. Week two: a new analyst notices a wrong number on a slide ten minutes before the client presentation. Say nothing, quietly message the presenter, or raise it in the room? Branches show how each lands — and the debrief explains why quietly-message is the house move here, and when it would not be.
Who approves this? A new hire needs a software license: ask their manager, file the IT request, or expense it and ask forgiveness. A light-hearted way to teach the real process — with an info page carrying the actual approval map.
Handbooks answer the questions people know to ask. Scenarios build judgment for the ones they don’t. Because the learner commits to a choice before seeing the outcome, the norm arrives as a small felt experience — mild regret or quiet relief — which is how culture is actually absorbed on the job, minus the real stakes. Spaced across the first month, a series of five-minute scenarios also gives structure to the awkward gap between orientation day and real productivity.
Collect the moments first: ask three recent hires "what decision were you least sure about in month one?" and you will have your scenario list. Build each in ScenarioSplice from the decision-tree template, tag branches correct, partial, or incorrect to match the norm, and put manager-facing context in private facilitator notes. Learners need no account — the assign link goes straight into the onboarding checklist and works on a phone during the commute. Start with the step-by-step guide.
Onboarding is the one place where presentation is not vanity. A new hire’s first week is a stream of first impressions, and a scenario that looks like it came from a random SaaS tool quietly says the company improvised this. The same content under the company wordmark says someone planned it.
That cuts both ways for anyone building onboarding for other people — HR consultancies, fractional People leads, agencies standing up an onboarding program for a client. Professional ($19/month) lets the finished scenario carry the employer’s logo, colors, and a welcome screen in their voice. What you cannot do yet is give the client their own editor login; you build it and hand over the link.
Both, ideally. HR owns tone and consistency; the team lead supplies the true stories, because the team knows which norms are real and which are aspirational. The best onboarding scenarios are co-written in an hour-long session.
Three to five well-chosen ones beat twenty. Stuck-on-a-task, disagreeing-with-someone-senior, and who-owns-what cover most first-month anxiety.
No. Learners open the link and play in the browser — no sign-up, no app. Only the author signs in (with Google) to build and edit.
Edit the scenario like a document — the visual map makes small changes quick, with undo if you fumble. Your content also exports as JSON, so nothing is locked in.