Help your design team get the support it needs

Introducing the Skills Understanding Model: a simple, scaleable skills assessment framework for modern design teams

Photo by Jack Anstey on Unsplash

In an organisation with a strong, successful history of industrial design, there are many areas where processes or tools are not yet optimised for digital and UX teams.

One example is how designers assess and identify their skills and strengths, especially across a relatively young UX community. Our previous assessment model was heavily weighted to industrial design skills, and offered no measurement metrics. It also leaned heavily on the character of the peer or mentor, leading to an inconsistent and subjective result.

Along with improving these areas, I also wanted to devise a tool that moved away from classical T-profiles to accommodate more varied ‘broken-comb’ profiles that ensure a balanced skills landscape across the whole team. Making it simple, flexible and transparent would allow designers to assess themselves and monitor their progress.

Criteria for success

The new assessment model should…

• be concise and simple to follow
• enable both peer review and self-assessment
• offer metrics to measure progress and set development goals
• ensure consistency across teams and locations
• allow a small amount of specialisation (to cover the needs of designers, researchers, technologists etc.)

I took inspiration from a number of sources, which are listed at the bottom of this article. Let’s dive in.

The core concept

The Skills Understanding Model is designed to help designers carry out regular skills assessments, to identify which areas they can or should improve in. Working with a Development Peer (either a Senior, Lead or Principal), the process begins by carrying out an honest assessment of their current strengths, specialities and growth areas.

The Skills Understanding Model is split into two simple tools:

Skills Wheels

Segmented wheels with concentric scoring circles, which are filled out based on self-assessment or peer review.

Maturity Matrix

A guideline explaining each skill or competency, and five statements for each to help designers honestly score themselves.

The Skills Wheels

The Skills Wheels create a measurable visual map of strengths and needs. Detailed descriptions of each competency, and related skill levels, can be found in the Maturity Matrix for each Wheel.

There are two different Wheels to fill out: Foundational Skills and Design Skills.

The two Skills Wheels each contain eight skills segments, with five concentric measurement rings.

Foundational Skills

The Foundational Skills Wheel contains eight attributes that form the basis of each designer’s skillset or approach, and are relevant for all creative disciplines. These are:

• Visualisation
• Communication
• Presentation
• Creative Solutions
• Scoping
• Synthesis
• Management
• Strategy

Design Skills

The Design Skills Wheel is a role-specific set of professional skills that inform both our daily jobs and future development. It contains six Core Competencies that are pre-defined, and a further two Specialisation Skills that help individuals more accurately reflect their role and development path. The six core skills are:

• Visual Design
• Interaction Design
• Information Design
• Information Architecture
• Service Design (& Strategy)
• Design Research

The idea behind the six standard and two unique skills was to find a balance of consistency and individualisation. It allows specialists to focus on their own needs (eg. ethnography; prototyping), and even designers with the same job title can choose specialisation skills to match their strengths and passions.

Here’s an example of two filled Skills Wheels, where the designer has chosen Design Leadership and Content Strategy as their specialisation skills. A semi-opaque colour means an improvement area to focus on before the next review.

Scoring using the Maturity Matrix

The Maturity Matrix breaks down each skill or competency into what would be expected at each level, which allows every individual to make a qualified assessment of their own skills and strengths. It is also intended as a guide for all peers, mentors and managers to follow, to help remove subjectivity and make the process more transparent.

Each skill can be scored from 1 to 5, where a score of 3 represents a high level of skill or experience in that area. The descriptions are written in the first person to help the designer better identify with what is expected at each level.

1. Grounding

I have a strong basic understanding of this skill, and can apply it effectively as part of a team.
All designers should aim to achieve this level across all skills segments (although this depends on experience and maturity).

2. Independence

With more experience and aptitude, I regularly achieve positive results using this skill without supervision.
This level should be attainable for Senior Designers in most skills segments; Juniors should aim to reach this level in at least two segments.

3. Complexity

I can use this skill to solve complex problems or bring about a shared understanding of sensitive topics, as part of my broader skillset.
This level should be attainable for Lead Designers in most skills segments; Seniors should aim to reach this level in at least two segments.

4. Leadership

Thanks to a strong combination of experience, mentoring and natural ability, I am helping to redefine what this skill means for my colleagues and clients.
Lead Designers should aim to reach this level in at least two skills segments.

5. Mastery

I have reached the highest level in my discipline for this particular skill, and I am recognised and respected across the wider design community.
This level should only be considered a development goal for highly experienced or hugely talented individuals, who must be strongly supported in order to achieve it.

The Foundation Skills Maturity Matrix — eight attributes that are relevant and valuable for all creative disciplines.

The Design Skills Maturity Matrix — six attributes for all UX professionals. The remaining skills segments should be chosen by individuals and their mentor or peer.

What’s next?

With the Skills Understanding Model in place, we can start to get a more accurate picture of our holistic strengths as a UX Community, and identify skillsets or profiles that are perhaps weaker than expected. The plan will be to conduct reviews more frequently, and revisit the Model and the Matrices at the same time. Are the core competencies correct? Are two specialist skills enough? Do all the designers and peers feel confident using the tool to create development plans?

Credit and inspiration

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the models and articles that inspired me. The segment wheel comes from David Travis’ 8 competencies of User Experience and Elizabeth Bacon’s Defining UX. The scoring and measurement system is heavily based on Spencer Pitman / Undercurrent’s Skills Maturity Model (simplified to five maturity levels), with Jason Mesut’s Skittle Mapping also playing an important role.

Hopefully this acts as useful inspiration for your own assessment needs. Please feel free to download the Wheels and Matrix images to use and adapt for your own teams, and please let me know how you get on.