What steps would you take when starting work on an existing project?

When starting work on an existing PHP project, you should:

1. Familiarize yourself with the project documentation and requirements.
2. Set up a local environment so that the project runs on your machine.
3. Study the code structure: main modules, used frameworks, dependencies.
4. Check the version control system — review commit history and current branches.
5. Run tests (if available) and understand coverage.
6. Understand the business logic and key scenarios of the application.
7. Discuss current tasks and priorities with the team.

This approach will help you quickly integrate into the project and start working effectively.