> The problem with things like this is the typical engineering mindset, when shown a graphical or numerical analysis of their performance will zoom into analyse every detail and in the end it's just backed by the managers impressions and judgement.
The point of leveling frameworks is not to magically make everything objective and quantifiable—though I agree that is what many smart young people want and expect (after a decade+ in our Victorian education system)—it's to channel and provide a rubric that many different engineering leaders' (both EMs and ICs) impressions can be compared and contrasted in a structured and relatively fair way. The last thing you want to do is remove expert judgement from the equation, but in a medium to large org it shouldn't be one person.
The point of leveling frameworks is not to magically make everything objective and quantifiable—though I agree that is what many smart young people want and expect (after a decade+ in our Victorian education system)—it's to channel and provide a rubric that many different engineering leaders' (both EMs and ICs) impressions can be compared and contrasted in a structured and relatively fair way. The last thing you want to do is remove expert judgement from the equation, but in a medium to large org it shouldn't be one person.