Building a skills taxonomy without drowning
Step 1 / 4·Why most projects die at the taxonomy stage
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Learning objectives — after this module you will:
- Avoid the endless-skill-list trap
- Build a taxonomy on the good-enough principle
- Collect skills data from four sources
Why most projects die at the taxonomy stage
See the trap before falling into it.
The scenario repeats: an organisation decides to go skills-based, forms a project team, and starts by listing skills. Six months later the team has a spreadsheet of 1,800 skills, nobody agrees on half the definitions, and the project quietly stops.
The cause is a sequencing mistake: starting by describing ALL of reality, rather than starting from the DECISION you want to improve. A taxonomy is not the goal — it is a tool for making one specific decision better.
Three signs you are drowning
One, the skill list is longer than the headcount. Two, project meetings have turned into debates about definitions instead of about use. Three, after three months no people decision has actually run on this data. At any of those signs, stop expanding the list and start using what you have.
Key takeaway: Start from ONE decision you want to improve, not from enumerating every skill.