Score each skill from 1 to 4. Write one example from your own work as evidence. Your coach scores the same skills. The gap between the two scores is where you learn most.
Target: level 3 on all six skills. No skill below level 2.
The six skills
| Skill | 1 Beginning | 2 Developing | 3 Competent | 4 Strong |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Whole-product view | I know my own part only. | I know most parts but miss links. | My map shows every repo, service and integration and how they connect. | I can predict how a change in one part hits the others. |
| B. Customers and personas | I describe users in general words. | Personas come from guesses. | Personas use real evidence and separate user from customer. | Personas change my priorities, and I can show the evidence. |
| C. Journeys and touch points | I list screens. | I map one journey with some touch points. | I map user and customer journeys with pain points and owners. | I find gaps nobody saw. Each gap links to a candidate epic. |
| D. Writing epics | My epics are big tasks. | Epics have a goal but no measure or scope limit. | Each epic has problem, outcome, measure, scope in and out, dependencies and risks, in my words. | My epics make others say “now I understand what we are doing and why”. |
| E. Roadmap and priorities | A list with no order. | An order with no reasons. | Ordered by value, risk and dependency, with a reason for each place. | I defend the order, say what I chose not to do, and adjust when facts change. |
| F. Hand-off to agents | Agents often ask what I mean. | Milestones are clear but epics are incomplete. | Epics, dates and labels are correct. Milestones are clear enough for agents. | Agents produce the right issues first time and I review them fast and well. |
Score sheet
| Skill | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 6 | Coach score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | |||||||
| B | |||||||
| C | |||||||
| D | |||||||
| E | |||||||
| F |
Honesty check (every week)
- Did I write every epic and roadmap sentence myself?
- Did I use AI only for allowed tasks and say so?
- Can I explain each epic out loud without notes?
Package completeness (tick each)
- Current state
- Product website
- Brand name
- Product and service catalogue
- Roadmap
- Demo
- Next-version mockups
- Evidence of complete epic management
A missing part is a gap to fix. It is not a score.
Reading the result
- Level 3 or above on all skills: pass.
- Any skill at 2: write a plan to lift it, with your coach.
- Any skill at 1: stop adding work and repair that skill first.
Self-review for the epic manager (ten questions)
Score 0 (no), 1 (partly), 2 (yes). Maximum 20.
- The top epic names a real user and a real number.
- I wrote the five core lines myself.
- The repo map was built by walking journeys.
- Every repo has an owner and an epic link.
- Each epic has acceptance lines I can check.
- Order and blocking links are set.
- Roadmap dates are true today.
- Out-of-scope items are written down.
- The weekly note went out every week.
- I talked to a user in the last two weeks.
17 to 20: strong. 12 to 16: fix the lowest three. Below 12: stop adding work and repair the plan.
