Josh Boyles

Individual Development

Below you’ll find the “skills matrix.” A while back I wrote about the thinking that went into the creation of the skills matrix, so I’m not going to go in depth here.

Instead, I’ll give you the reader’s digest version. The skills matrix lists basic skills that all managers should have. It does not list ALL skills manager’s should have, nor is every manager guaranteed to have all these skills. But if you want to be a good manager, you should work to develop all of these skills, and then go beyond them.

For each category (row) we have different “scopes” (columns). This highlights the fact that you can’t teach a skill, or utilize a skill in a team setting, if you haven’t mastered the related personal skill. That means that, in each category you should start at the far left column, and then gradually work your way to the right. It is tempting to skip straight to the stuff on the right. I strongly urge you to avoid that.

Each individual cell links to details about that skill, which will include three main pieces:

  1. A quiz that helps you accurately place yourself on the proficiency scale
  2. A proficiency scale which outlines discrete tasks you should be able to accomplish indicating your level of mastery of the skill.
  3. Resources to develop the skill, including:

This is a work in progress so not everything is complete. I’m starting on the far left and working my way right, so you should see some stuff in some of the cells over the coming weeks, and I’ll gradually complete the entire matrix, but if you click on something and there’s nothing there, well, I’m doing this primarily in my free time and I don’t have a ton of that.

So without further ado, let’s get to the skills matrix.

Skills Matrix

IndividualTeamLeader
InterpersonalWritten Communication Active Listening Conflict Resolution
DoingPersonal Productivity
Project ManagementStrategy
ImprovingPDCATheory of ConstraintsContinuous Improvement
SustainingPersonal Workload managementTeam workloadsCreating healthy cultures

Personal Productivity

Doing, Personal

Quiz

If you answer all questions associated with a given number as “yes” you probably have achieved that number (although ideally you would have a mentor you work with to figure out where you land taking in your specific context).

  • Level 2
    • Have you read Getting Things Done or completed a course?
    • Have you created a physical or digital system to manage your tasks?
    • Does this system include:
      • An Inbox?
      • A space for scheduled tasks?
      • A space for “next action” tasks that can be done at any time?
      • A space for “someday/maybe” stuff to come back to and review regularly?
      • An archive for reference information?
    • Do you use the two minute rule?
    • Do you feel you have a good understanding of “getting things done” even if you haven’t implemented everything completely?
  • Level 3
    • Do you refer to your to-do system on a daily basis, multiple times per day?
    • Do you accomplish something from this system every (work) day?
    • Do you have, scheduled in your calendar, a weekly planning session where you review your system and update it?
    • Do you have, scheduled in your calendar, a monthly deep dive where you can review your progress, review your someday/maybe file, and improve your system?
    • Have you missed one or fewer monthly or weekly review in the past six weeks?
    • Do you feel that these meetings are helpful for you?
  • Level 4
    • Has it been at least three months since the last time you realized you completely dropped the ball on something?
    • Has it been at least one month since someone had to reach out and remind you of something (and you would’ve failed to do the task if you hadn’t been reminded)?
    • Ask the people on your team: are you someone they can depend on to get stuff done?
    • Have you internalized the processes and rituals of personal productivity to such an extent that, if you miss one of your weekly or monthly meeting (or realize you will miss it) you reschedule one immediately?
    • When you come in to work in the morning and review your to-do system, do you feel like you know exactly what you should be working on throughout the day?
    • Do you feel completely on top of your work?

Proficiency Scale

0Even with help, you have no success
0.5With help you have partial success at 2.0 content, but not 3.0
1With help, you have partial success at 2.0 and 3.0 content
1.5You have partial success at 2.0 content but major omissions with 3.0 content
2You have read or done courses on the GTD methodology and have diagrammed out your workflow and created an inbox, a way of managing tasks, a someday/maybe container, and other artifacts of GTD.
2.5You have mastered 2.0 content completely and have partial success at 3.0 content
3You have created the daily and weekly habits that allow you to follow GTD in your daily life, including daily downloads, weekly planning, and monthly deep dives (at least). You do these habits consistently and feel they improve your productivity and mental clarity.
3.5You have mastered 3.0 content completely and have partial success at 4.0 content
4You are known as someone who gets things done without needing reminders — if you look in your email there are no status requests or followups. It has been months since someone had to remind you to do something or work otherwise got lost in the cracks.

Resources

PDCA

Improving, Personal

Introduction

Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) is a repetitive cycle for problem solving and improvement. It’s also a major piece of much larger systems that lead to better workplaces.

We’re not going to focus on the larger systems for the individual. At the individual level, mastering PDCA means you use this repeatable process to identify areas for improvement and, you know, improve them.

You can solve problems without PDCA, but it brings a certain amount of rigor that benefits everyone’s (yes, everyone’s) thinking.

Quiz

If you answer all questions associated with a given number as “yes” you probably have achieved that number (although ideally you would have a mentor you work with to figure out where you land taking in your specific context).

  • Level 2
    • Can you explain what PDCA is, and how it is used to solve problems and create improvements?
    • Can you explain what an A3 report is, including all parts of it, and how it is used? (if you call your “A3” report something different that’s fine, but you should have some formalized problem solving documentation)
    • Have you used an A3 (or similar) report to solve a problem or improve a process?
    • Can you explain what a single variable experiment is?
    • Can you explain the “5 why” process?
  • Level 3
    • Do you regularly use A3 reports when solving problems or improving processes? (regularly here means you reference and work with an A3 report multiple times per week)
    • When solving problems, are you able to identify the key objective metric you’ll monitor to determine success?
    • Do you identify other metrics that shouldn’t change when your solution is implemented and track those as well?
    • Do you feel you’ve effectively solved problems or improved processes with PDCA?
  • Level 4
    • When doing a PDCA cycle, do you spend a significant portion of time before your first “do” understanding the situation?
    • When you implement a countermeasure, is the first one typically effective, or does it take multiple experiments before you find something that will work?
    • When designing your experiments, do you predict beforehand what the results of the experiment will be? And are you frequently (though not always) correct in your predictions?
    • When you “solve” a problem does it typically “stay solved” for an extended period of time?
    • Do you regularly work with other people who are new to the PDCA process to help them implement it effectively?
    • Have you used PDCA to improve your own PDCA process?

Proficiency Scale

0Even with help, you have no success
0.5With help you have partial success at 2.0 content, but not 3.0
1With help, you have partial success at 2.0 and 3.0 content
1.5You have partial success at 2.0 content but major omissions with 3.0 content
2You are familiar with PDCA and A3 reports and can explain how both are used in a problem solving and process improvement context.
2.5You have mastered 2.0 content completely and have partial success at 3.0 content
3You use A3 reports regularly in problem solving. You effectively identify issues and potential countermeasures, and create measurements that can objectively identify if a situation is improving or not. You have implemented fixes and improvements that have achieved their objectives.
3.5You have mastered 3.0 content completely and have partial success at 4.0 content
4When you use an A3 report, you spend a significant portion of your time understanding the current condition and looking for root causes using tools like “5 whys.” You have seen significant process improvements through your efforts that have been maintained for months. When you are problem solving, you typically only have to try a few countermeasures since you are an expert at identifying the root cause.

Resources

PDCA is a complicated process that interacts with many disciplines. As such we’ve included general resources, as well as more specialized resources below.

Written Communication

Interpersonal, Individual

Quiz

If you answer all questions associated with a given number as “yes” you probably have achieved that number (although ideally you would have a mentor you work with to figure out where you land taking in your specific context).

  • Level 2
    • Find your most recent professional sent email with at least three paragraphs and do the following:
      • Copy the text of the email into Microsoft Word
      • Use these instructions to find the various readability scores.
      • Is the “Editor Score” above 80%?
      • Is the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level above 10?
      • Is the Flesh Reading Ease below 70?
      • Is Passive Sentences below 20%?
  • Level 3
    • Do you provide written documentation for repeating processes or important reference information?
    • Does this documentation see frequent use?
    • Do you know when you should use emails vs chat or voice conversations?
      • A good way to know is to ask yourself “Do people often ask me to just meet after I send an email about something? Or have I been told a meeting could have been an email?” If the answer to either of those is yes, you may need to work on knowing when to use each medium.
  • Level 4
    • When you send emails, do you typically only need to answer a question once as opposed to multiple clarifying emails?
    • When you observe someone following a written document you wrote, do they accomplish the task without you needing to step in and explain things?
    • Ask coworkers about some of the reference documentation you made including:
      • Is it easy to understand?
      • Is it complete?
      • Do you wish anything were different?
    • Ask coworkers about your emails.
      • Are they the right length?
      • Do I typically answer your questions?
      • Do I send too few or too many?
    • When you think about your written interactions with others, do you feel like your are usually understood?

Proficiency Scale

0Even with help, you have no success
0.5With help you have partial success at 2.0 content, but not 3.0
1With help, you have partial success at 2.0 and 3.0 content
1.5You have partial success at 2.0 content but major omissions with 3.0 content
2You write at least at a tenth grade level with few spelling and grammar errors.
2.5You have mastered 2.0 content completely and have partial success at 3.0 content
3You regularly provide documentation and references for others that is used frequently. You know when to use email, chat, or in person conversations and you generally respond to emails promptly and completely.
3.5You have mastered 3.0 content completely and have partial success at 4.0 content
4When you send an email and chat it’s uncommon for someone to ask to talk to you to nail down exactly what you mean. Generally you can communicate exactly what you mean the first time without the need for significant clarification. When you observe others who have used your documentation you see that they have accomplished the task exactly as you envisioned. In short, your written words are well understood.

Resources

Written communication is a complicated process and the proficiency scale above reflects an escalating understanding of writing:

  • At level 2 the question is “do you write correctly?”
  • At level 3 the question is “do you use written communication in the appropriate places at your job?”
  • At level 4 the question is “do you effectively communicate what you’re trying to communicate?” Or, more simply “Are you understood?”

Because of that, different resources will help at different levels.

  • Level 2
    • Books
    • Courses/Videos
    • Experiences
      • The best way to gain experience is to write more. I highly recommend a blog! All the cool kids have blogs!
      • Also, read good books! Surround yourself with excellent writing.
  • Level 3
  • Level 4
    • Books
    • Courses/Videos
    • Experiences