Learn Russian: У меня нет зонта, и не успел я дойти до работы, как промок. - I don't have an umbrella, and I had no sooner reached work than I got soaked.

Literally, не успел я дойти means "I didn't have time to reach [work]". When paired with как (which acts like "when" or "than" here), it forms a fixed construction meaning "no sooner had [action 1] happened than [action 2] occurred". It emphasizes that the second action happened immediately after, or even interrupted, the first.

Why is the subject я placed after the verb in не успел я?

While я не успел is perfectly fine, putting the verb first (не успел я) is very common in this specific "no sooner..." construction. In Russian, moving a verb to the front adds narrative emphasis. Here, it makes the sequence of events feel faster and more dramatic.

Why are the verbs in this construction (дойти, промок) both in the perfective aspect?

The не успел ... как ... construction almost exclusively uses perfective verbs. This is because it describes two completed, instantaneous actions: you managed to finish reaching work (дойти), and exactly at that moment, the result of getting totally soaked (промок) was achieved.

Wait, is промок a past tense verb? Why doesn't it end in -л like a normal masculine past tense verb?