Digital Team Progression Framework - PUBLIC on developers.theguardian.com


1	How can I see the actual criteria
2	Click the tabs (above) to view the other sheets in this document
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4	Why we introduced it?
5	To give people the opportunity to be recognised internally and externally
6	To provide greater transparency about what we value when appraising someone for promotion
7	For developers, to provide a career path that doesn’t require people to become a manager in order to progress
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9	What it is?
10	The personal qualities we consider important tend to be similar for different roles, so we have mapped out all roles against similar qualities
11	Each column describes for each role what we would normally expect to see, although this is a spectrum rather than a simple yes/no and people will no doubt be stronger in some areas than others
12	The roles are not intended to be hierarchical. For instance, developers don’t report to senior developers etc. and everyone’s input remains equally important
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14	How to use it?
15	It can’t be used as a simple checklist to just tick the boxes and expect promotion
16	We would expect people to be demonstrating these qualities and sustaining them, at least in most areas, before being flagged as ready for promotion
17	Other factors are also considered, for example budget, balance of the team, attitude, exhibiting Guardian values, etc
18	Can be used as a tool for conversation during PDR (or in between times) for discussions about personal development
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20	When will people be reviewed?
21	Promotions will normally be considered at the start of the financial year and 6 months from then.
22	When you think someone is nearing readiness for promotion, you should be flagging it as much as 6 months beforehand, and again as they continue to progress and the time comes closer, in order to have the best chance of securing the necessary budget.


1	Criteria	Fellowship/Associate	Developer	Senior	Lead	Principal	Manager	Senior Manager	Head of	Director

2	Innovation	Contributes ideas to the team. Finds creative and effective solutions for their own work.	Displays insight and contributes to the implementation of innovative concepts and ideas. Suggests and supports the implementation of process improvements and development of best practice.	Contributes to and implements innovative concepts and ideas. Challenges the purpose and effectiveness of existing processes within own team and helps to make them better.	Seeks out systemic problems and opportunities, promotes and considers them with other team members, and can consolidate innovative solutions. Is a go-to person when architectural choices are considered by others and can bring their experience to bear in evaluating the costs of proposed changes. Seeks to find the 80/20 solution that delivers the biggest impact on the organisation as a whole.	Encourages behaviour that challenges the purpose and effectiveness of existing processes within their own team and helps to improve them.	Encourages behaviour that challenges the purpose and effectiveness of existing processes within their own team and helps to improve them.	Creates an environment where existing decisions and processes are continually challenged. This includes both working practises and technical choices. Identify and champion innovative ideas that have a significant impact on multiple team's effectiveness or results.	• Contribute significantly to new ideas and concepts for the development teams and wider group • Challenge the purpose of existing processes across Digital	• Contribute significantly to new ideas and concepts to make the digital business more successful as a whole • Ensure engineering practices are leading the market
3	Delivery performance	Works as part of the team and is conscientious about delivery. Takes responsibility for tasks, but may require support from other team members.	Delivers quickly, reliably and consistently good quality solutions. Offers assistance to others on previously encountered problems. Is able to deal with blockers effectively - asking for support or escalating when necessary.	Plays an important role in planning and understands their teams objective/key results and whether they're being achieved. Demonstrates a strong commitment to meeting their teams objective, always delivers good quality and works hard to deliver when they said they would. Champions the importance of delivery in the team, helps to unblock obstacles and supports the team in delivering its goals. Always willing to help others. Demonstrated these capabilities across more than one team or context.	Goes beyond their individual contribution to help the whole team to deliver effectively and seeks to remove blockers before they become major issues. Inspires others in the team to do the same. Can guide delivery across team boundaries. Balances the needs of delivery with the requirement to ensure applications are stable, performant, sustainable and secure. Demonstrated these capabilities across more than one team or context.	Demonstrates a strong commitment to meeting their team's objective and ensures that the team delivers good quality. Understands the capabilities of the team and communicates that clearly to stakeholders. Champions the importance of delivery in the team, helps to unblock obstacles and supports the team in delivering its goals.	Demonstrates a strong commitment to meeting their team's objective and ensures that the team delivers good quality. Understands the capabilities of the team and communicates that clearly to stakeholders. Champions the importance of delivery in the team, helps to unblock obstacles and supports the team in delivering its goals.	Is able to prioritise the best use of their time between their immediate team's delivery and wider departmental activities in order to make the biggest impact.	Manages delivery across all development teams.	Ultimate responsibility for delivery across all disciplines and the whole engineering group.
4	Breadth of Influence	Plays a part in collaborative team activities as a valued member of the team, although influence is generally limited to own work and relatively narrow experience. May act as a point of contact for the team, but is likely to refer people to other team members.	Plays an increasingly influential role depending on the task and technology in hand and the nature of the person's experience so far. Contributes to technical discussions and decision making process within their own team. Leverages the expertise of others around the department by seeking advice and following best practices.	Plays an influential role for the team, contributing to most technical decisions and carrying significant weight in any discussions. Is an expert in their field and a go-to person for the team. Makes an impact outside of their immediate team and contributes to wider knowledge sharing.	Plays a key technical leadership role within the stream or across multiple teams. Is known and valued outside the department. Is recognised as an expert on certain topics internally and leads knowledge sharing activities in the department. Seeks to build relationships with people outside the Guardian to either learn from them, influence their direction or increase the profile of the department. Helps to manage relationships with important suppliers.	Line manages other developers and therefore influences their career and performance. Plays a decision-making role in the make-up of our team. Involved in important trade-off decisions between product, technical, delivery, etc. Represents their team with other key stakeholders.	Line manages other developers and therefore influences their career and performance. Plays a decision-making role in the make-up of our team. Involved in important trade-off decisions between product, technical, delivery, etc. Represents their team with other key stakeholders.	Has impact and influence across the Digital department. Forges effective connections between themselves, their team and members of other departments. Influences the practises of other managers in the team. Seeks to build relationships with people outside the Guardian to either learn from them, influence their direction or increase the profile of the department.	Manages and therefore influences all technical teams. Ultimately makes the call on all technical decisions and is very influential in trade-off decisions between product, technical, delivery etc. Plays an active role in influencing what we choose to build, as well as delivery and how we build everything.	Influence spans all technical teams, including the management of infrastructure & ops, QA, project management. Plays a more influential more in what we choose to build in order to ensure that the work of the teams is having an impact on the success of the digital business as a whole.
5	Role specific skills/Experience in role	No or limited professional software development experience. Has some previous programming experience, probably as a hobby, self-taught or as part of their education. Will be learning heavily on-the-job; gaining knowledge as much as adding value. May not be able to self-identify knowledge gaps.	Is able to tackle most day-to-day technical challenges within their domain autonomously. Is aware of the gaps in their knowledge and where to seek help from for challenges beyond their individual capability.	Has sufficient experience that they have previously encountered most challenges that they face in their day-to-day work, and has the skills to tackle new problems autonomously. Often provides guidance to more junior members of the team. Always seeks to expand their existing knowledge. Understands how the various technologies of their team fit together. Seniors apply the best developer principles in daily practice.	Contributes significant changes to products and systems in the stream. Can tackle the hardest problems and often provides guidance. Has a broad understanding of the various technologies that are part of the stream’s stack and has a deep understanding of particular areas. Is involved in discussions around evolving best practice for established technologies and the evaluation of emerging technologies across the department. Leads apply the best developer principles in daily practice, and influence others to do the same.	Has worked as part of a development team for several years. Demonstrates empathy and an interest in the development of other's careers.	Has worked as part of a development team for several years. Demonstrates empathy and an interest in the development of other's careers.	Has experience leading teams. Plays a part in cross-departmental mangagement activities. Has a strong engineering background and is still capable of contributing to code and leading by example.	Many years managing people and a lot of experience managing multiple development teams.	Has experience managing a large group including many teams and across multiple disciplines.
6	People	Collaborates effectively with colleagues. Understands and aligns with the culture and values of the department and the Guardian.	Provides mentoring and guidance to less experienced colleagues. Aligns with and promotes the culture and values of the department and the Guardian within their own team.	Helps to improve the knowledge and abilities of their colleagues beyond their immediate team. This may include teaching, talks, writing and recruiting. Promotes and protects the culture and values of the department and the Guardian outside their immediate team. Takes action when they observe behaviours contrary to our culture or values.	Helps to improve the knowledge and abilities of their colleagues across the department. This may include teaching, talks, writing and recruiting. Is part of the support network for engineers in their stream; collaborates with dev managers, providing a trusted feedback loop for gauging the team mood. Experienced team member who has the emotional capacity to positively influence team morale. Helps to shape and protect the culture and values of the department and the organisation across the department. Drives change when they observe behaviours contrary to our culture or values.	Manager. Demonstrates performance management and people development skills, including motivating, coaching, mentoring, and empowering. Promotes sharing knowledge and effective ways of working. Resolves conflict, persuades and negotiates. Champions individuals and teams when representing them internally. Helps their reports to plan their career progression. Always willing to help and support their team.	Manager. Demonstrates performance management and people development skills, including motivating, coaching, mentoring, and empowering. Promotes sharing knowledge and effective ways of working. Resolves conflict, persuades and negotiates. Champions individuals and teams when representing them internally. Helps their reports to plan their career progression. Always willing to help and support their team.	Manager. Actively mentors and supports other managers, particularly those new to management or the organisation. Can act as a point of escalation for issues others are unable to resolve. Plays a role in improving people development practices.	Manager. Demonstrate best practice performance management and people development skills. Actively participate in promotional career management of team. Attain goals by managing through other people managers and virtual teams.	Manager. Lead the management of people and teams across the department. Demonstrate and lead best practice in management and leadership
7	Inspiration and vision	Brings a positive attitude to work every day. Builds positive relationships and trust over time.	Demonstrates a consistently appropriate and professional attitude when dealing with challenging situations. Brings a strong sense of energy to teams which helps to motivate individuals and teams to perform.	Clearly communicates the vision behind their work, to inspire others to believe in the importance of their work.	Is able to influence the technical culture of the department by sharing experience of challenges and difficulties. Demonstrates the benefits of technical approaches to encourage wider adoption of technologies and methods that have proved successful in the department. Is aware of where new approaches are being trialled and advises on previous experience.	Understands and communicates the vision of the department and company. Inspires and pushes their team to be the best they can be.	Understands and communicates the vision of the department and company. Inspires and pushes their team to be the best they can be.	Helps to inspire not only their team, but others across the department.	Set the standard for all development teams and inspire them by helping them to understand and buy into our shared purpose.	Create and communicate an inspiring vision for the whole group.
8	Strategic contribution	Seeks out information about own team’s strategy and objectives. Asks questions to understand the context of their work. Actively gains knowledge of the Guardian’s purpose, values and strategy.	Is involved with discussions about objectives and key results, but probably not early enough in the process to make significant changes.	Contributes to direction of own team's products and technology.	Advises on where technical investment should be focused to enable the organisation’s objectives. Champions an approach to work that ensures costs and value are considered throughout the entire project lifecycle.	Contributes to direction of own team's products and technology.	Contributes to direction of own team's products and technology.	Collaborates on the direction of products and technologies.	In conjunction with head of architecture, sets the strategic direction of all products technically.	Ultimately responsible for strategic direction of all products technically and also involved in the direction of product.
9	Analytical contribution	Seeks to understand the team’s most important metrics and what they mean.	Has visibility of key metrics and helps to implement appropriate tracking to see the impact of their work.	Understands the key metrics behind their own products, and is able to see the connection between their work and improving their products' metrics. Aware of the flaws in the team’s existing metrics, and open to changing to better metrics when possible.	Is able to identify the right metrics for their products/projects and drives a strong focus on metrics driven development. Helps visualise and share the key results of the stream.	Ensures that all members of their team have a clear grasp of the metrics for their products and that they are focused on improving them.	Ensures that all members of their team have a clear grasp of the metrics for their products and that they are focused on improving them.	Helps to define the success metrics of their product and understands how that fits with the strategic aims of the company.	Understands key metrics for all products and helps teams to focus on the ones that are most important.	Understands key metrics for all products and helps to decide which ones to focus on. Has a view about what to do to improve the numbers and champions work that could have the most substantial impact on the success of the digital business as a whole.
10	Cost management	Asks questions about the cost of the thing they are currently working on.	Shows an interest in the costs of the technology stack of the stream, understands the biggest technology costs in their area of work	Understands details of costs of the technology stack of the stream. Actively works to minimize costs of new projects and reduce costs of existing projects, understanding the opportunity costs of this work.	Understands the value vs costs of the work they are involved in, champions an approach to work that ensures costs and value are considered throughout the entire project lifecycle.	Understands details of costs of their team. Actively works to understand the costs of new projects and reduce costs of existing projects, understanding the opportunity costs of this work.	Understands details of costs of their team. Actively works to understand the costs of new projects and reduce costs of existing projects, understanding the opportunity costs of this work.	Understands the value vs costs of the entire lifecycle of the products they have responsibility for in the context of the wider department. Champions an approach to work that ensures costs and value are thought about throughout.
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12	Note: The level contributions for each level build on those defined for lower levels


1	Criteria	SETI	Senior SETI	Manager	Senior Manager

2	Breadth of Influence	Plays a part in collaborative team activities as a valued member of the team Influence is dependent on experience Should interact with developers and other team members and manual QAs Influence is focussed within their immediate team but should be considering ways in which they can extend their influence to other teams	Plays an influential role for their product team and for the QA team more broadly, contributing to most technical decisions and carrying significant weight in any discussions Is an expert in their field and is a go-to person for the team May also play a lead role for the products they are assigned to Their influence and impact extends across more than one team	Line manages members of the QA team and therefore influences their career and performance. May play a decision-making role in the deployment and make-up of the team. Involved in important trade-off decisions between product, technical, delivery, and quality etc. Represents their reports with other key stakeholders.	Typically line manages a larger number of direct reports probably including other managers, or multiple teams, and therefore has wider influence Will play the key decision-making role in the deployment and make-up of the team. Represents their reports with key stakeholders across the business Has significant impact and influence on the practices of the wider department. Is a thought leader for the team and department and for the external quality/testing community in their area of expertise. Plays a strong role in making important trade-off decisions between product, technical, delivery, quality etc.
3	Role specific skills/Experience in role	This role requires the candidate to pass the Guardian's standard developer pairing test This is a wide-ranging role, from initial promotion from an associate role, right through to someone with several years experience and working with a lot of expertise and autonomy	Probably has several years experience and such expertise that they have become a go-to person for their team in their chosen area of expertise. Notably more productive and/or higher quality output due to level of experience. An advocate for best practice and innovation for the whole QA team Able to advise a wide variety of projects on appropriate tools and technologies for quality based on knowledge of current practices and of experience	Has worked as part of a development team for some years. Demonstrates empathy and an interest in the development of other's careers.	Is accomplished in the role managing engineering/and or QA teams.
4	Team/People management and leadership	Provides mentoring and guidance to less experienced employees, including automation engineers. Participates in best practice sharing across the quality team. Shares best practice around quality issues with other members of the product team including engineers	Provides mentoring and guidance to less experienced employees Participates in best practice sharing Participates in code reviews for members of the team Leads others in the product team by constantly driving forward quality best practices and influencing others to do this as well Works to improve the knowledge and focus of the QA team more broadly Collaborates effectively with engineers and others across the department to improve quality This may include teaching, talks, writing and recruiting. Not responsible for line management	Manager. Demonstrates performance management and people development skills, including motivating, coaching, mentoring, and empowering. Promotes sharing knowledge and effective ways of working. Resolves conflict, persuades and negotiates. Champions individuals and teams when representing them internally. Helps their reports to plan their career progression. Always willing to help and support their team.	Manages larger and/or multiple teams. Demonstrate best practice performance management and people development skills. Can act as a point of escalation for issues others are unable to resolve. Spends considerable time not only managing people but also improving people development practices and processes
5	Inspiration and vision	Understands the vision of the QA team and how it might be best implented for their team Is able to clearly articulate the vision to the rest of their product team	Understands the vision of the QA team and how to implement it, and communicates it to all Is able to clearly articulate the vision to the rest of their team and persuade of its appropriateness Involved in helping to set the vision for quality for the department Bring a strong sense of energy to team and motivates individuals and teams to perform	Understands and communicates the vision of the team, the department and the company Drive team practices to make them best in class Inspires and pushes their team to be the best they can be	Set the standard for own teams and challenge them to be the very best they can be. Influences wider departmental vision.
6	Innovation	Display insight and contribute to the implementation of innovative concepts and ideas Suggest and support the implementation of process improvements and development of best practice Challenges the purpose and effectiveness of existing processes within own team and helps to make them better	Drives implementation of innovative concepts and ideas Utilises new technologies to support the implementation of process improvements and development of best practice Challenges the purpose and effectiveness of existing processes within own team and helps to make them better	Encourages behaviour that challenges the purpose and effectiveness of existing processes within the QA team and helps set a culture of improvement	Creates an environment where existing decisions and processes are continually challenged. This includes both working practises and technical choices. Identify and champion innovative ideas that have a significant impact on multiple team's effectiveness or results.
7	Strategic contribution	Should be involved in discussions around strategic contribution	Is likely to contribute to direction of the quality of the department's products and technology more broadly	Helps their reports focus on making the right strategic decisions for their team	Sets the strategic tone for the whole quality team, is influential in setting objectives for whole team for the year.
8	Analytical contribution	Has visibility of key metrics and uses them for decision making	Will consistently be reminding the team of metrics associated with driving quality Will be keen on making metrics of their area much more visible to the team as a whole Knows how to measure quality improvements using metrics	Ensures that all direct reports have a clear grasp of the metrics for their products and that they are focused on improving them.	Has a clear grasp of the metrics for the team and their work, understands what drives them, and demonstrates a clear commitment to using analytics to inform the direction of the work of the team
9	Delivery performance	Delivers reliably and consistently good quality as part of the team. Understands the impact of the pace of delivery, and delivers accordingly Is mindful that although this role is generally apart from the normal rhythm of delivery that timely delivery also impacts quality Requires varying amount of support depending on the task, technology and prior experience.	Delivers reliably and consistently good quality as part of the team. Is mindful that although this role is generally apart from the normal rhythm of delivery that timely delivery also impacts quality Also supports the team in delivering its goals, and looks for ways for the team to deliver at the required pace without compromising quality. Requires little support depending on the task	Is able to prioritise the best use of their time between their own delivery, helping their direct reports achieve their delivery, and that of the whole quality team	Is able to prioritise the best use of their time in order to make the biggest impact.
10	Cost management	Understands the value vs costs of the work they are involved in, champions an approach to work that ensures costs and value are thought about through the entire lifecycle of projects. Understands that reduction in costs can impact quality and works to make the team aware of this	Understands the value vs costs of the work they are involved in, champions an approach to work that ensures costs and value are thought about through the entire lifecycle of projects. Understands that reduction in costs can impact quality and works to make the team aware of this Helps the quality team monitor and reduce costs where possible	Understands details of costs and the trade offs between costs and quality Actively works to minimize costs of new projects and reduce costs of existing projects, understanding the opportunity costs of this work	Controls the budget for the QA team in collaboration with senior staff
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12	Note: The level contributions for each level build on those defined for lower levels
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