---
title: Designing Designer Skill Growth
teaser: 'A self-evaluation tool that helps our Designers set their trajectory for
  growth in their careers.

  '
tags: design,continuous improvement,teams
author: Kyle Fiedler
published_on: 2019-09-06
---

![Sketch elements of skill eval](https://images.thoughtbot.com/blog-vellum-image-uploads/U5rCwTNhTsCdaTxBQ6zx_hero-image.png)

Continuous improvement is one of our core values at thoughtbot and I want to
make sure that Designers at thoughtbot continue to learn. Because our Designer
role covers a range of skills, many designers have struggled with where and how
to grow. I wanted to help our Designers not only target areas of
self-development but also show them how far they've come.
To show that progress, we needed to start tracking Designer skills.
Tracking soft skills is especially important because they are harder to
measure and improve on. When Jaclyn and I started [redesigning the
hiring process](https://thoughtbot.com/blog/redesigning-how-we-hire-designers-at-thoughtbot),
I began to think about ways that we could visualize the skill set of a
Designer, to help them see where they are now and where they want to be in the
future.

## Research, Prototype, Test

I started designing a skill chart in the same way I would tackle a product:
quick research. After searching through management blogs and asking on slack
groups, I started with a [radar chart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar_chart)
that represents each of the Designer skills as one slice. The design is based on
a similar design leadership self-evaluation that I did with [Mia Blume from
Design Dept](https://www.designdept.co/). The first versions of the chart were
hand-drawn with Sharpies and printer paper. I tested these early iterations
with our Design Directors and refined the evaluation until I felt confident in
rolling it out to the rest of the team.

![Numbers and shapes](https://images.thoughtbot.com/blog-vellum-image-uploads/Hgy8H5TS8Wp8ZWNnfd7A_numbers.png)

With the help of the Design Directors, all the Designers at thoughtbot have
now taken the evaluation. Our Design Directors have had meaningful, tailored
conversations with each Designer about their own career development.
Together they pinpoint areas of growth and how they might make that
progress and then will reevaluate at the end of the year to see what has
changed.

I would love to hear what tools you're using to track your progress in your
career on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thoughtbot/)!

## Join me for office hours to fill yours out

Want to fill
[the self-evaluation](https://images.thoughtbot.com/blog-vellum-image-uploads/EzLeNd59Q8u4saJRuVZA_self-evaluation-8-29.pdf)
out with me? I have open office hours to
work through these with you too.
**[Grab time with me on October 4th](https://calendly.com/kylefiedler/self-evaluation-office-hours)!**

![Full skill eval](https://images.thoughtbot.com/blog-vellum-image-uploads/xACYwQiRvShmZB5RignY_skill-eval.png)