Your First 90 Days
🚧 ExpandingI’m still building this topic out into the full guide, but the most important advice fits in a sentence: your first 90 days are for listening, not fixing. The instinct when you’re new and nervous is to prove your value by changing things fast — and that’s almost always how new managers lose the trust they’ll need for the changes that actually matter. (If you’re inheriting or assembling a team in these weeks, building a team deliberately is its own deep-dive.) This topic is about spending your early weeks earning the right to be heard before you spend any capital.
What the full version will cover:
- A listening-first plan: 1:1s, the questions to ask, and what to write down
- How to tell what’s genuinely broken from what just looks unfamiliar
- Picking one early, visible win without doing a “new manager reorg”
- Setting expectations with your own boss in week one
💡
In my first month I keep a running “not yet” list — every change I’m itching to make goes on it instead of into action. Most of them either solve themselves once I understand the context, or turn out to be load-bearing for reasons I couldn’t see on day one. The list keeps my hands busy without letting me break things.
📚 Go Deeper
Books
- The First 90 Days — Michael D. WatkinsThe canonical playbook for transitions, with frameworks you can lift directly.
- The Manager's Path — Camille FournierPractical guidance on running 1:1s and earning trust early.
Tools
- Lethain — Will Larson's engineering-leadership writingDeep, field-tested essays on starting a new leadership role well.
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