Responsibility Ladder

I’ve used this framework to talk about increasing scope and responsiblity within a project.⊕ These steps are very similar to the Manager Tools Responsibility Ladder, but I put less emphasis on decisions and more on projects.

• Complete Deliverables: Given a clearly scoped deliverable, complete it satisfactorily and on time.
• Create Deliverables:⊕ See Deliverables
  
  Given a specific goal, convert it into a sequence of clearly scoped deliverables.
• Complete a Goal: Given a specific goal, adapt to obstacles and communicate effectively with stakeholders.
• Create a Goal:⊕ See Goals
  
  Given a defined problem area, convert it into a specific goal.
• Analyze the problem: Given a set of potential problems facing the team, understand the tradeoffs and (eventually) recommend the right path forward.
• Build Consensus: Gather support from the right coalition of stakeholders to work on this problem over others.⊕ There is some overlap between consensus building and change8 management, see the first 90 days or the change equation
  
  

These increasing/scope responsibility levels frequently correspond to levels for engineers (e.g. a SWE1 can consistently “Complete Tasks” whereas a Senior SWE can consistently do all of “Complete Deliverables,” “Create Deliverables,” and “Complete a Goal,” and “Create a Goal”).

You’ll also note there is some overlap with the 5 Phases of a Project.