E.3 Professional development
Summary
Development here means helping people do work they can get better at, with room to decide how, in service of something that matters. This page links to expectations and to the people guidance instead of repeating them. Our development commitments, our stance on staff interviewing elsewhere, and any use of a keeper test are not yet decided.
E.3.1 Mastery, autonomy, and purpose
We frame development around three ideas: mastery (getting better at the work), autonomy (having a say in how it is done) and purpose (knowing why it matters). How we support each is still being written.
E.3.2 Expectations and compensation as context
Development happens against what is expected of someone. Read E.1 Expectations for the Individual Contributor, Directly Responsible Individual and Player-Coach roles and the draft guidance on performance; the maintained rubrics live in the appendices. Compensation is covered in E.2 Compensation, which is still being written.
Performance, promotion and pay are separate questions. How development conversations relate to them is not decided yet; see E.1.
E.3.3 Development conversations and opportunities
Growth through responsibility means choosing a next step that stretches your skills while fitting your capacity; see 3.3.4 Supporting growth without assuming rapid transformation. Feedback culture is at 3.1.1.
E.1.5 proposes brief development discussions in regular 1:1s and feedback as events happen; this is not yet an established schedule.
E.3.4 Interviewing elsewhere
This section is still being written. It will set out our stance on staff exploring other jobs, given the limited growth a small organization can offer.
E.3.5 Netflix influence and the keeper test
The Netflix Culture Memo is listed in B.6.2 as an example of a high-autonomy culture. An external employer's practices are an influence, not Sapiens First policy: we have not adopted the keeper test.
E.3.6 Transitions and handoffs
Leaving well means the work continues. The existing project guidance on handoff covers sharing finished work and its limitations, organizing files and decisions, recording lessons, naming who maintains what, and updating the work record: see Finish and hand off. Handing a role over is described in Roles and circles.