There is a so-called “100-day check” for new managers: for the new minister, for example, the new CEO or the new coach of a Bundesliga team. The common expectation seems to be that a new incumbent will set the course within 100 days so that the first results can be seen after around 100 days. After 3 to 4 months, a new manager should certainly have had the opportunity to make their mark and it therefore makes sense to check how much progress you or someone else has made.
A few weeks ago, a client contacted me with a request to carry out a “100-day check” for a project we had done together. The customer in question had introduced planning software with which the planning processes were to be sustainably automated and optimized. After a project duration of 8 months, we went live with the project in April. In consultation with the customer’s project manager, it was agreed that the support would be shut down within a few weeks after the go-live. Colleagues should learn to work with the new tool and the changed processes themselves. And now, after around 100 days, the project manager wanted to know how well his team was doing.
Naturally, I was happy to comply with this request. After all, it was also interesting for me to see how far the team had progressed on their own. I was pleased to see that the departments working with the new software were already well underway. Of course, the key users had adjusted some parameter settings in coordination with the specialist departments due to the current situation. In addition, the basis that we had developed together had already been expanded in some areas. After 100 days, the jointly developed solution had successfully taken root.
Of course, during this 100-day check, I also noticed a few points that the customer hadn’t quite taken on board. We then discussed these together in a web conference and improved the settings a little.
I have come to the conclusion that a 100-day check makes sense not only for new office holders, but also for projects. The project team was able to show how much progress has been made and set the first milestones. And with the distance of a few months, I also noticed a few things that hadn’t been on my radar before. A 100-day check is therefore certainly not only useful for new managers, but also for projects.
Stay healthy,
Yours, Dirk Ungerechts
Image: Unsplash/ © by Jasmin Sessler
