Template
30-60-90 Plan
A written plan for a new hire's first 30, 60 and 90 days — goals per phase, and evaluation checkpoints that are transparent from day one.
Use it for every meaningful hire. Most onboarding is a laptop, a Slack invite and vibes — expectations stay implicit until someone is quietly frustrated at month three. This plan makes the expectations explicit in week one, and makes the evaluation open and kind instead of a surprise.
Transparency about early evaluation is kindness, not surveillance. Tell them on day one exactly when and how they will be evaluated — and that a low score at day 30 is fine, because they are new. What matters is trajectory.
The shape
Three phases, each with a handful of written goals. The examples below follow one composite hire — a first marketing lead joining a Series A B2B SaaS.
| Phase | Focus | Example goals |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1–30 | Learn | Meet the ten people who matter most, inside and out; sit in on five customer calls; write back what they've learned about the funnel — including what they'd challenge. |
| Days 31–60 | Contribute | Own one channel end to end; ship the first campaign; agree the metrics that will define the function. |
| Days 61–90 | Own | Running the function without hand-holding; a costed plan for the next two quarters; first hire or agency decision made. |
How to run it
Write it together in week one
You draft the skeleton before they start; they fill in and push back in the first days. A plan written about someone is a test — a plan written with them is a contract.
Book the checkpoints on day one
Three calendar invites — day 30, 60, 90 — before the first week ends. At each one, score them on the Performance × Culture Grid.
“At each checkpoint we'll look at the plan together and I'll score performance and culture openly. Day 30 will be low on performance — that's expected.”
Watch trajectory, not the number
A 4 at day 30 that becomes a 6 at day 60 is a great hire settling in. A 6 that is still a 6 at day 90 is the conversation you're avoiding.
Fold in the premortem watch-list
If you premortemed the hire, the top risks become explicit things to watch at each checkpoint — not vague worries you carry alone.
Related capabilities
Related tools
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