Capability Matrix
Assess your team's skills to identify capability gaps and risk areas. Add people/teams and skills, then rate each person's proficiency level. The heatmap scorecard highlights where you're strong and where you need to invest.
People / Teams
Skills / Technology Expertise
Advice: Pick skills that you need to deliver as a team. Think of skills that new hires might need to learn. You are planning skill development, not impressing everyone with all things people CAN do.
Assessment Matrix
| Skill | Person 1 | Person 2 | Team 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CSS | |||
| Javascript | |||
| DB Backup/Restore |
Heatmap Scorecard
| Skill | Person 1 | Person 2 | Team 1 | Teach & Create | Do & Maintain | Novice | Risk Score | Future Need | Lead Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSS | None | None | Tweak | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | Moderate need (often) | 3 mo |
| Javascript | Teach | Create | None | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | Heavy need (always) | 2 mo |
| DB Backup/Restore | Run | Tweak | Create | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | Light need (occasional) | 0.5 mo |
Risk Score Legend
The risk score is the sum of all people's skill levels for that skill. Teachers = 4 pts, Creators = 3 pts, Bug fixers = 2 pts, Runners = 1 pt, Know nothing = 0 pts. Lower score = higher risk.
Stage 1 — Getting to an Effective & Resilient Team
Stabilizing now and managing risk. Use the urgency matrix below to prioritize which skills need immediate attention.
Doer Coverage
| Doers ↓ / Teachers → | 0 | 1 | 2+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 9 | 7 | 3 |
| 1 | 8 | 5 | 2 |
| 2+ | 6 | 4 | 1 |
Novice Pipeline
If skill is growing in demand, prepare the bench strength
| Novices ↓ / Teachers → | 0 | 1 | 2+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 9 | 7 | 3 |
| 1 | 8 | 5 | 2 |
| 2+ | 6 | 4 | 1 |
Goals
- Have 2+ people who are Doer-level for each skill on the team. If creating new innovations, have at least 1 teacher for each skill.
- If a skill is in demand, have at least 1 (preferably 2) teachers on the team, and know who is willing to be a novice training to doer.
- Know what skills might be needed elsewhere in the company — your team members might be pulled off at short notice.
- Know what skills might be needed to fix incoming defects or production issues when rolling to customer usage.
- Know how long (and plan to reduce) the onboarding time from novice to doer levels, prioritized by the skills most anticipated in need for the future.
- It's not a goal to have everyone at Teacher level for every skill. Your goal is to have a resilient team given unplanned disruptions and future feature demands.
Key Questions
- How do I protect the skill sets where the team is at bare minimum (urgency > 5)?
- Will this skill be needed more in the future?
- How many people are needed to maintain the rate of production support?
- Is support for this skill needed 24/7 or just during normal hours?
- Is there a Teacher-level person in each location, or at least within the same timezone if a Doer has questions?
- Will this skill be needed by other important projects if they get into difficulty?
- How long does it take a teacher to train a novice to Doer level?
- How long as a Doer does it take to become a Teacher? Can this be accelerated?
- How much effort does it take a teacher to create a doer from a novice — do I lose the Teacher completely?
- Do we need teacher-level on-staff, or can we obtain training from an external consultant?
- Is this skill growing or decreasing in the hiring community?
- What skills might be needed in higher numbers for stabilization or initial production support? (Where will the bug load come from?)
- How can onboarding be accelerated for this skill?
Stage 2 — Growing a Team to Split, Splitting & Restabilizing
Bench Readiness
How many novices do we have ready to fill needed skills?
| Novices ↓ / Doers → | 0 | 1 | 2+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 9 | 7 | 3 |
| 1 | 8 | 5 | 2 |
| 2+ | 6 | 4 | 1 |
Goals
- Build the bench of Novices who can become Doers, and promote senior Doers to Teachers.
- Grow a team to have 1 Teacher-level for each skill, and 1 Doer-level ready to become a Teacher.
- Grow each skill to have at least 3 Doers in all needed skill areas, even if you don't need that many. You need to be plump on skills to split!
- Split the teams and revisit Stage 1 — Getting to a Stable & Resilient Team as soon as possible.
Key Questions
- Who is willing to learn an in-demand skill (become novices)?
- Which Doers are candidates to become Teacher-level for a skill?
- Can I loan a Teacher from another team to upskill my Doers or mentor a new Teacher after splitting the team?
- Is one location better than another to split?
How It Works
Skill Levels
Each person is rated from "Know nothing" (0) to "Can teach others" (4). The level determines both the heatmap color and the points that contribute to the risk score.
Risk Score
The risk score is the sum of all people's levels for a skill. Lower scores mean fewer capable people — higher organizational risk. The heatmap colors range from red (highest risk) to blue (healthy).
Future Planning
Pair the risk score with anticipated future need and training lead time. A low-risk skill that's "Not needed" may be fine, but a low-risk skill with "Critical" need demands immediate action.