The 30/60/90 Plan That Doesn’t Make You Look Like a Try-Hard

You got the job. Congrats.

Now please don’t walk in on Day 1, slam down a 12-tab spreadsheet, and announce:

“BEHOLD, MY 30/60/90 DAY DOMINATION PLAN.”

That’s not a 30/60/90 plan.

That’s a cry for help (and an early draft of your manager’s Group Chat Storytime).

Scene

I’ve seen new hires do the “big plan” thing in Week 1.

The intention is good: they want to show motivation.

But the effect is usually the opposite, because a giant plan written with zero context signals:

• you don’t know what matters yet
• you’re optimizing for looking impressive
• you’re about to burn cycles on the wrong work

A good 30/60/90 plan doesn’t say “I’m the main character.”

It says:

“Help me align quickly so I can learn the right things, ship the right things, and avoid dumb mistakes.”

Promise

In this post you’ll get:

• a one-page 30/60/90 template you can copy/paste
• the “non-try-hard” rules that keep it from sounding cringe
• an email script to send your manager that makes the plan feel like alignment, not a manifesto

What prompted this

I keep seeing spicy threads where new grads ask if they should show up with a full 30/60/90, and the replies split into two camps: “yes, be proactive” vs “please don’t ambush your manager with a 10-page plan you made with zero context.” The more useful middle path is: start your job well, then draft a one-page alignment doc you review together (see: https://www.askamanager.org/2012/08/how-to-start-your-new-job-properly.html and https://www.askamanager.org/2014/06/how-to-make-1-on-1-check-in-meetings-more-useful.html).

What a 30/60/90 plan is actually for

Think of it as an alignment document. A lightweight way to answer:

• What should I learn first?
• What does “good” look like by Day 30/60/90?
• What work is valuable to this team (not to your LinkedIn caption)?
• What help do I need so I’m not blocked for three weeks?

Onboarding is often… vibes-based.

If you’ve ever felt like your “training” was a Slack channel and a prayer, you are not imagining things.

The “doesn’t make you look like a try-hard” rules

1. Keep it to one page. If it needs scrolling, it needs therapy.

2. Ask for input instead of announcing it. Your plan is a draft, not a decree.

3. Use plain language. “I will leverage cross-functional synergies” = you watched one corporate TikTok too many.

4. Tie it to team outcomes. Your manager cares about team goals, not your self-improvement arc.

5. Include assumptions + support needed. This is where you stop being “try-hard” and start being useful.

6. Make learning a deliverable. Early wins are often “I can now do X without hand-holding.”

Build your 30/60/90 in ~45 minutes (the intern/new grad version)

Open a doc and fill in these five blocks.

1) Outcomes (what “good” looks like)

• By Day 30, my manager would say I’m successful if: ___
• By Day 60: ___
• By Day 90: ___

If you don’t know, ask. This is the whole point.

2) Learning (what you need to understand to be useful)

• Tools/systems: ___
• Process (how work moves): ___
• “How we decide things here”: ___
• Glossary (yes, really): ___

3) Relationships (who you need to know)

• My top 5 people to meet + what I need from them: ___

Translation: your calendar is part of your ramp.

4) Deliverables (small, real work)

• 1–2 low-risk outputs you can ship early: ___
• A “proof I’m ramping” artifact (doc, dashboard, process map): ___

5) Feedback cadence (how you’ll avoid surprises)

• 1:1 frequency: ___
• What feedback you want early: speed vs. accuracy? communication? priorities?

One-page 30/60/90 day plan template (copy/paste)

Role: ___

Team goal(s) this supports: ___

Manager’s definition of success by Day 90: ___

Assumptions: (access, training time, approvals) ___

Support I need: (tools, intros, data, examples) ___

Check-in cadence: ___

Days 0–30: Learn + de-risk

• Learn
  • Complete onboarding/admin + tool access
  • Understand: product/service, customers, team priorities
  • Build a “how we work” notes doc + glossary
• Relationships
  • Meet: manager, buddy/mentor, key partners (list)
  • Ask each: “What does success look like for me by Day 30/60/90?”
• Deliver
  • Ship 1 small, useful output: ___
  • Create 1 reference artifact: ___
• How we’ll measure progress
  • Signals: fewer basic questions, faster task turnaround, clear status updates

Days 31–60: Contribute + own a slice

• Learn
  • Deeper domain knowledge (top 2 areas): ___
• Relationships
  • Regular touchpoints with 2–3 stakeholders
• Deliver
  • Own a recurring task/process: ___
  • Ship a scoped project with review: ___
• Risks/blocks
  • What might slow me down + mitigation: ___

Days 61–90: Operate + improve

• Deliver
  • Lead a small initiative end-to-end: ___
  • Propose 1 improvement (process, doc, automation) with ROI: ___
• Quality bar
  • Definition of “done” + review steps: ___
• Next step
  • What I should own after Day 90: ___

Email script to send to your manager (non-try-hard edition)

Subject: Quick draft: 30/60/90 alignment (happy to adjust)

Hi [Manager Name] —

I put together a one-page draft 30/60/90 plan to make sure I’m aligned on what to prioritize and what “good” looks like early on. It’s meant as a starting point, not a finished plan.

If you’re open to it, could you glance at it and tell me:

1. What should I change based on team priorities?
2. Is there anything here that’s not important / not the right timing?
3. What would make you say “they’re ramping well” by Day 30?

Happy to revise after our next 1:1.

Thanks!

[Your Name]

Two quick notes, depending on where you sit:

• Early-career: your plan is allowed to be wrong. Your job is to make it easy for your manager to correct it.
• Manager: the best 30/60/90 plans are basically a structured way for a new hire to ask, “What should I learn? What should I ship? What should I avoid?” If you answer those once, you prevent three weeks of low-value hustle.

Edge cases

• If you’re an intern for <10 weeks: compress it. Make it a 2/4/8 week plan.
• If your company already has a formal onboarding plan: use this as an overlay — not a competing system.
• If your manager is overwhelmed: skip the big doc and start with a 6-line plan in your 1:1. You can always expand later.

Next step (do this today)

Open a blank doc, paste the one-page template, and fill it in with placeholders — even if it’s ugly. Then schedule 10 minutes in your next 1:1 to review it.

If you want the “what do I actually do in Week 1?” version, use the Week 1 Checklist.