What should I do in my first 90 days?
The first three months set how people talk about you for the next three years. Most of that is decided by listening rather than by output.
- Session length
- 30 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Matched on
- Your field
Three things worth knowing.
Spend the first weeks understanding how the work really flows: who decides, what gets rewarded, where things get stuck.
Meet people one to one and ask the same three questions each time. The overlaps tell you what the team actually believes.
Deliver one small, visible thing early. It buys patience for the bigger work that takes longer.
A sequence that works.
- 01
Agree what good looks like
Ask your manager what success at 90 days means, and write the answer down.
- 02
Run listening conversations
Fifteen people across the teams you depend on, in the first month.
- 03
Ship something small
A fix, a document, a process nobody owned. Early proof beats a grand plan.
- 04
Check in at week six
Ask for blunt feedback while it is still cheap to change course.
What to avoid.
Rewriting how the team works before understanding why it works that way
Only meeting your own team
Waiting for a formal review to ask how you are doing
Hiding confusion instead of asking in week one
The things people ask first.
How long before I stop feeling new?
Usually one full cycle of the work, which is three to six months in most jobs.
Should I mention things that seem broken?
Yes, as questions rather than verdicts, and after you understand the history.
What if the job is not what was described?
Raise it early and specifically with your manager. Six months of silence makes it harder, not easier.
Get this answered for your situation.
A mentor who does the job you are aiming at can tell you which of this applies to you.