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MAAP - AR3's take on Career Growth Frameworks

Summary

Growth frameworks and compensation philosophies are inextricably correlated. As such they should aspire to 10 needs.

A growth framework NEEDS to...

... Acknowledge that the demonstration of performance = growth
... Encourage frequent acknowledgement of growth
... Resist wage disparity and encourage fairness
... Decrease the pressure of promotion by making them more routine
... Help ensure some consistency while not turning into a checklist
... Have built-in clarity around accountability/responsibility so your teammates know what to expect from you
... Lend itself to specific and actionable feedback
... Embrace and respond to the uniqueness in each of us
... Be defensible (not perfect, that is impossible, but it should have a rationale)
... Be inoculated from growing stale by baking in continuous improvement

MAAP was specifically built (and continues to aspire) to being a critical piece to all 10 needs.

... heavily inspired by Medium's growth framework.
MAAP is a backwards acronym that stands for:

Position = your title and pay
Assignments = the outcomes you are accountable for / your roles / your responsibilities
Abilities = the skills, knowledge, and behaviors needed to fulfill the Assignments
Milestones = 1 - 5 rating of the trust your manager has of you demonstrating Abilities

Need more info than that? We have four things for you:

Explore CareerPlug's MAAP

Here is the source of truth is for the few functions using full MAAP and the alpha software supporting it called OurGruuv. Have questions? Ping AR3... he will talk your ear off about this stuff 😂

Videos

Slide deck

Here is a presentation that is the best depiction of how I (AR3) think about growth frameworks. I gave this presentation to my last company where I forced all of P&E to use MAAP. Here at CareerPlug, the head of your function will decide what growth framework methodology you will use. The only two requirements are:

Fair / consistent across all those within the functions
Has set ranges within the position (meaning we do not negotiate... if you are a Software Engineer 2.2 you will be paid the exact same as all other Software Engineer 2.2's)

How does this fit with compensation?

MAAP was born out of a desire for fair and equitable pay... an attempt at taking the bullshit out of advancement opportunities and the compensation that goes along with it. Check this out if you'd like to learn more about the road that led to MAAP.

Appendix

How does GWC and MAAP co-exist

GWC is a wonderful tool... in no small part to its simplicity and how clear and easy the components are to understand – Get It, Want It, and Capacity
But GWC is also inflexible and vague.
MAAP aims to assure the uniqueness within each of us shines through and seeks to present as much clarity as possible.

Video going over the text following the embed:

First... what is MAAP?

Break down the 4 parts of this reverse acronym

Second, what is GWC?

Some articles...

Third, GWC maps to MAAP!

Milestones... how should we think about them?

Summary: Ratings should NOT be an attempt to say "this is who this person is", but instead should be a statement of "based on observations I've experienced (or I've heard others experience) where the employee is demonstrating the Ability... I trust them to do X".

Cited sources:
• 9 Lies about work - lie #6
• Medium engineering growth framework - assessing

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