What an evaluation is for
The purpose of an evaluation is simple: to prove or disprove mastery of one or more related competencies. It's not to rank people, and it's not to scare them. Done well, evaluations give learners and leaders alike confidence that a skill is real.
For many of us, evaluations bring back memories of school. We got used to "passing with a 60%." We accept that because we don't have enough confidence in the test to hold people to a higher score. But 60% of a body of knowledge, or worse, of a practical skill set, isn't good enough in almost any workplace. If someone is building on a shaky foundation, everything above it suffers.
The scalability problem
Traditional tests became the standard not because they're best, but because they scale. One professor can grade a hundred multiple-choice sheets in minutes, and one website can test millions of people. But cramming the night before is a cultural norm, and so is forgetting afterward.
The honest tension is this: the best ways to detect mastery are often the least scalable. If you need high confidence and have thousands of people to evaluate, it's a hard trade-off.
Quality at scale
Technology has opened up more options for people willing to think creatively. CDD prefers alternatives to written exams and encourages you to use any method that gives the right amount of confidence for the situation.
Methods to consider:
- Timed project: do the real task under time.
- Interview with an expert: a guided conversation about how and why.
- 360 review or team consensus: colleagues who work with the person weigh in.
- On-the-job observation: someone watches the skill in real work.
- Automated measurements from tooling: for skills that leave a trail in the tools people use.
- Community contributions: writing, videos or open-source work.
- Public speaking or demonstration: show it live.
You can offer more than one method for the same competency, so people with different strengths can choose the one that suits them.
Designing a good evaluation
For each badge or set of competencies, define:
- One or more evaluations that demonstrate the targeted level of mastery and give the confidence you need.
- Instructions for the person being evaluated: what to prepare, what to expect, how to ask for time.
- A rubric and instructions for evaluators, so different evaluators judge consistently.
- A plan for scheduling and logistics, where the evaluation needs a live person.
- Lighter options for very qualified people, so experienced employees can move through quickly.
Pass, feedback, try again
Evaluations in CDD aren't one-shot events. A person who passes is recognized right away. A person who misses something gets immediate feedback and an invitation to try again after more practice. The tone is growth, not failure.
At Egg & Co, our fictional example (see the worked example), evaluations happen weekly for some people. Frequent, small evaluations replace one big annual review.
Who evaluates?
Evaluators are often the champions: subject-matter experts inside the organization who want to mentor others. Champions usually give about five hours a week at most. When the work grows beyond what your champions can do, you can bring in additional evaluators. Some organizations hire help for this.