Competency Diagnostic by Marian H. Hartman

A reference for where a person is for a particular skill based on what they do, say and feel. Two skill acquisition models are provided to help with skill level identifications.

1. HARTMAN COMPETENCY DIAGNOSTIC
Skill Acquisition Model (Dreyfus) Skill Acquisition Model (Gery)
-FAMILIARITY-
Recognizing flows, mental models
and patterns.
-COMPREHENSION-
Discussing the patterns.
-CONSCIOUS EFFORT-
Experimenting and
learning through trying
everything.
-CONSCIOUS ACTION-
Mastering the patterns by
knowing what to try.
-PROFICIENT-
Finding and manipulating 
unseen patterns.
-UNCONSCIOUS
COMPETENCE-
The patterns are obvious!
-TRYING-
Can only get to C
through A and B.
-QUESTIONING-
Easily labelled as
negative or
somebody who slows
down the process.
-GUIDING-
Figuring out the best
of many potential
solutions.
-LEADING-
Thinking out of the
box and often uses
non-linear thinking
and intuitive leaps.
What They Do
“If it's not working, you did it
wrong.”
“You need to do this!”
They are doing most of the talking.
Feeling defensive from hearing
different perspectives.
“What’s in it for me?”
“Give me a checklist.”
“Give me the big picture.”
“What about X [obvious edge
case]?
"This could be better."
"Why doesn't this work?"
“What about x?”
“You skipped a step!” ... “Why did that
work?”
“Before we start, describe your
situation.”
Asks clear, differentiating
questions about your context.
Seeing multiple paths to the
same destination.
Uses precise, domain-specific
jargon.
“Yeah, there’s all that stuff written.
But at it’s essence, it is just X.”
Have created a meme that they
repeat constantly.
What They Say
Compiled by Marian Hartman, PhD
What They Feel
-LET’S GO-
Easy enough, give
me the keyboard!
-FIXED!-
This fixes so much,
we just need to do it!
WAIT, WAIT, WAIT...
Uh.... it isn’t that
simple; this may not
be the answer.
-DON’T WASTE
MY TIME-
Your workshop
doesn’t help me in the
real world.
-MANY OPTIONS-
Let’s see what works
for this context.
-JUST DO IT-
Everything has come
back to simple.
-WILLING-
Skeptical but open to
trying it.
-EXPERIMENTING-
Adopts data and
scientific method
ways of solving
problems.
-NOVICE-
On rails with little discernment.
-ADVANCED BEGINNER-
Can’t prioritize the most important
parts yet.
-COMPETENT-
Creating plans with deliberate
experimentation.
-PROFICIENT-
Creating flexible guidelines over rules.
-EXPERT-
You see all levels and adjust for it
without thinking,
“Have you considered “ <novel
application of core technique>
“How would I use this to solve this difficult
edge case?”