Leadership 101: your first 30 days as a manager

First-time managers usually do one of two things wrong: they keep doing their old job while badging the title, or they over-correct and start managing a team they don't yet understand. Here's the middle path.

The shift

Week 1: listen

1. 30-minute 1:1 with each direct report. Three questions: what are you working on, what's blocked, what should I know about you.
2. 30-minute 1:1 with your manager. Align on what success looks like in 90 days.
3. 30-minute meeting with 2-3 cross-functional partners. Ask what your team does well and where it frustrates them.
4. Don't change anything yet.

Weeks 2-3: align

• Document what you've learned: team, priorities, friction, opportunities.
• Share back to the team — what you heard, where you agree, where you'll push.
• Establish 1:1 cadence: weekly, 30 minutes, employee owns the agenda.
• Establish team cadence: weekly standup or weekly written, your choice.

Week 4: commit

Pick 2-3 specific changes you'll make in the next quarter — based on what you learned, not on what you assumed. Share them. Write them down. Revisit at day 90.

The habits that compound

• Weekly 1:1s, no skipping.
• Feedback within the week it happens — not at the review.
• Public credit, private correction.
• Block 2 hours a week for thinking, not doing.
• Read one good management book per quarter.

Where to go next

• 1:1s — how to run them well.
• Feedback frameworks.
• Difficult conversations.
• Engineering manager first year (if you're in eng).