Dlead New Lead 90 Day Plan

---
name: dlead-new-lead-90-day-plan
description: Builds a New Design Lead 90-Day Plan with weeks 1 to 4 to listen, weeks 5 to 8 for one visible win and weeks 9 to 12 to set the rhythm, plus what you stop doing as an IC and the questions to ask your manager. Use for "run dlead-new-lead-90-day-plan", "first 90 days as design lead", "I just became a design manager", "new head of design plan", "IC to manager transition", "what do I do in my first month as lead", "stop redesigning my team's work", "new design lead onboarding", part of the Claude for Design Leaders Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# New Design Lead 90-Day Plan

## When To Use
You just moved from IC to lead, or into a new head of design role, and the old job keeps pulling you back: redesigning someone's screens at 9pm, jumping into every critique. It answers: what do I do in each of my first twelve weeks, and what do I stop doing?

## When Not To Use
If someone else is joining your team, use Designer 30-60-90 Day Plan. If you are past the first months and need the team's direction for the year, use Design Strategy One-Pager.

## Inputs
- Your start date, the team (roles, not names, is fine) and the partners you work with most
- What your manager said they expect, in their words if you have them
- Your current IC tasks, and anything you already know is broken
If you have none of this, I start from your start date and role and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
A common pattern in public transition guides for new design managers: listen first, deliver one visible win, then set the rhythms the team runs on. The judgment behind it is that a new lead's value moves from the work you do to the work you enable others to do. The failure it prevents: the new lead who proves value in week two by redesigning a senior designer's flow, and spends the next quarter rebuilding that trust.

## Workflow
1. Ask three questions: is this your first lead role or a new head of design role, what did your manager say success looks like, and which IC tasks are still on your plate?
2. Weeks 1 to 4, listen. List 1:1s with each designer and key partner, with questions about the work and what gets in the way, never about the person. Add a Stakeholder Map task and learning what leadership prioritises. Mark one rule: no big changes yet.
3. Weeks 5 to 8, one visible win. From what you heard, pick one improvement the team itself raised, that leadership can see, deliverable in about 30 days. If the team did not raise it, it is your win, not theirs; pick again.
4. Weeks 9 to 12, set the rhythm: 1:1 cadence, the critique ritual, how you report up. Point to Design Team Operating Rhythm to write it out.
5. What you stop doing as an IC: each task by name, and who now owns it. Flag any line where you still review or redo others' screens; that habit is the hardest to drop.
6. Questions to ask your manager: expectations, your decision rights, how your success is judged and when you check in on it.
7. Close with the identity note in one line, and keep the plan in a Project (beta) or any chat so you can update it weekly.

## Output Format
```markdown
# New Design Lead 90-Day Plan
**Role:** [IC to lead / new head of design] | **Start:** [date] | **Manager check-ins:** [dates]
## Weeks 1 to 4 · Listen
| Who (role) | 1:1 questions about the work | What gets in the way | Notes (what they said) |
|---|---|---|---|
| [role] | [question] | [obstacle they named] | [their words] |
## Weeks 5 to 8 · One visible win
| Win | Raised by (role) | Visible to | Done by | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [improvement] | [role] | [leader] | [date] | [name] |
## Weeks 9 to 12 · Set the rhythm
- 1:1 cadence: [cadence] | Critique ritual: [day, format] | Reporting up: [format, frequency]
## What I stop doing as an IC
| Task | New owner | Handover date |
|---|---|---|
| [task] | [name or role] | [date] |
## Questions for my manager
1. [Expectations] 2. [Decision rights] 3. [How success is judged, and when]
## Decision
[Your manager] agrees the visible win and your decision rights by [date, end of week 4].
```

## Done When
- Every week band has dated tasks, and the win was raised by the team, not invented by you
- Every IC task has a named new owner or an end date
- The three manager questions are written and booked into a check-in

## Quality Bar
- 1:1 questions ask about the work and obstacles, never rate a designer
- The win is small enough to finish in the window; one, not three
- No change to team process before week 5 unless something is on fire
- Notes quote what people said; Claude never fills in what a designer or leader thinks
- 1:1 notes record what people said about the work, never a judgment of the person.

## Next
Run dlead-staff-path-map (Staff Designer Path Map) if the lead role is a choice you are still weighing against the IC path.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).