90-Day SME to PM Transition Roadmap

ASSESSMENT RESULTS

Total Score (out of 50):

Readiness Level:

YOUR FOCUS BASED ON READINESS LEVEL

Level 1 (10-14) - Technical Expert:
Focus: Stop doing technical work. Delegate 2-3 tasks/week. Block 3hrs weekly for strategic thinking.

Level 2 (15-24) - Emerging Leader:
Focus: Build consistent delegation habits. Shift from solving to guiding. Establish clear boundaries.

Level 3 (25-34) - Defined PM:
Focus: Embrace PM identity fully. Delegate challenging work. Increase strategic planning time.

Level 4 (35-44) - Managed PM:
Focus: Refine delegation quality. Deepen strategic thinking. Build team independence.

Level 5 (45-50) - Optimized Leader:
Focus: Mentor other transitioning SMEs. Drive organizational leadership development.

Question	Score	Priority?
Q1: Delegate tasks
Q2: Focus on leading
Q3: Empower decisions
Q4: Guide vs micromanage
Q5: Communicate goals
Q6: Strategic decisions
Q7: Recognize technical slip
Q8: Create opportunities
Q9: Use PM tools
Q10: Set objectives

YOUR TOP 3 PRIORITIES FOR 90 DAYS

Priority 1: Biggest Development Need

What skill/behavior needs most improvement?

What does success look like in 90 days?

Priority 2: Quick Win

What can you improve quickly for visible impact?

Priority 3: Team Development

Who on your team needs immediate skills development? What capability?

DAYS 1-30: FOUNDATION

Week 1: Assessment & Communication

Action	✓
Observe strengths and weaknesses of each team member
Identify one concrete action to improve your communication skills
Identify one task to stop doing that is impacting your PM transition

Week 2-3: Delegation & Structure

Task to Delegate	Assigned To	Result

Week 4: Month 1 Evaluation

Time split - Technical: ___% | PM: ___% | Strategic: ___%

What will you do differently in Month 2?

DAYS 31-60: DEVELOPMENT

Week 5-6: Team Development

Team Member	Strength to Leverage	Development Action

Week 7-8: Process Improvement

Identify and Fix:

Bottleneck:

Communication gap:

Month 2 Check-In

Learning opportunities created:

Delegation successes:

Challenges encountered:

DAYS 61-90: REFINEMENT

Week 9-10: Advanced Delegation

Significant responsibility to hand off completely:

Who takes it? What support do they need?

What oversight will you eliminate?

Week 11-12: Culture & Sustainability

Establish:

Team member recognition practice
Feedback mechanism created
Problem-solving approach

90-DAY EVALUATION

Quantitative Progress

Activity	Day 1 %	Day 90 %
Technical work
PM work
Strategic thinking

Retake assessment - New Score:

Score improvement:

Tasks successfully delegated:

Qualitative Reflection

Behavior change you're most proud of:

What was harder than expected:

How has your team responded:

YOUR NEXT 90 DAYS

Continuing Focus Areas

Habit needing more consistency:

Skill needing deeper development:

Next-level leadership capability to build:

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

⚠️ Warning Signs You're Reverting to SME Mode

• Working on more tactical tasks than leadership tasks | • Solving technical problems instead of guiding | • Haven't delegated significantly in 2 weeks | • Checking in multiple times daily

🔄 Emergency Reset Protocol

1. Acknowledge without judgment | 2. Identify the trigger | 3. Re-delegate work you took back | 4. Block 2hrs for strategic thinking NOW | 5. Recommit to one PM behavior this week

✓ Weekly Check-In Questions (Every Friday)

□ Delegated 2+ significant tasks? | □ Spent 50%+ time on PM/strategic work? | □ Resisted taking over when team struggled? | □ Created learning opportunity? | □ Communicated vision clearly?

Remember

This transition is a journey. Setbacks are normal. What matters is recognizing them, learning from them, and course-correcting. Every week you practice leadership in you project manager role, it becomes more natural. You have the plan—now execute it.