Skills

Become Leader

4 milestones · 12 weeks

Run a structured leadership self-assessment against real situations where you fell short, then close the gap under review from someone who has led teams.

Lead Across Functions Without Authority

4 milestones · 12 weeks

Diagnose the structural cause of a real cross-team collaboration failure, fix it, and measure the before/after change in how often it recurs.

Lead Incidents From Alert to Resolution

4 milestones · 12 weeks

Audit a real incident response process against MTTD/MTTR and post-mortem completion, fix the specific failure modes, then show the improved metrics.

Intermediate Rock Climbing Grade (IRCRA-Verified)

3 milestones · 14 weeks

Go from beginner to leading 5.10 routes outdoors.

Deliver a Major Project On Time and On Scope

0 milestones · 16 weeks

Lead a cross-functional project from scoping to launch, hitting the original timeline and scope commitments.

Lead a Company Through a Pivot

0 milestones · 24 weeks

Facilitate and execute a strategic pivot — documented with before/after strategy, team communication, and outcome metrics.

Design a Compensation Framework

0 milestones · 10 weeks

Build a job-level compensation framework with bands, review cadence, and market data — approved by leadership.

Raise Series A

0 milestones · 24 weeks

Close a Series A funding round with a lead institutional investor — signed term sheet and closing confirmation as proof.

Build a Marketing Engine from Scratch

0 milestones · 16 weeks

Build a marketing system that generates 100+ qualified leads per month on autopilot — documented with traffic and lead data.

Lead an Engineering Team for the First Time

6 milestones · 16 weeks

Transition from individual contributor to engineering manager. Your output is now your team's output — not code you wrote. This 16-week outcome maps the hardest career transition in software engineering.

Mentor Ten People Toward a Real Goal

5 milestones · 24 weeks

This is the second rung of the Community Leadership Path. Where governance-start-study-group tested leading one voluntary group, this outcome tests whether that leadership ability generalises into a repeatable practice across many different individuals — the skill that underlies community organising, teaching at scale, and eventually larger governance roles. Mentor at least 10 different people, each with an individually-defined goal, with evidence of real ongoing guidance per person and durable change after your regular involvement ends. The core risk this outcome guards against: claiming 'I mentored 10 people' based on 10 shallow one-off conversations. Each relationship must show trackable progress toward something the mentee actually wanted.

Lead a Volunteer Team for 3 Months

3 milestones · 14 weeks

Recruit, coordinate, and lead a volunteer team for at least 3 months producing measurable outcomes. Proof: team roster plus outcomes delivered.

Lead a Study Group From Zero to Sustained

5 milestones · 16 weeks

This is the entry-level GOVERNANCE outcome — the first rung of community and civic leadership. Recruit at least 4 people to a voluntary study group with a shared goal, sustain it through natural attrition, delegate real responsibility to another member, and bring the group to its defined endpoint. You have no formal authority: anyone can leave at any time with zero consequence. Retention and engagement are the proof, because there is no other leverage keeping people there.

Complete a Measurable Environmental Action

3 milestones · 10 weeks

Lead or organise an environmental action with documented, quantified impact — trees planted, waste removed, land restored. Proof: before/after documentation and impact numbers.

Take On a Leadership Role

2 milestones · 12 weeks

Step into a formal leadership role chosen by peers or appointed by adults — class representative, club officer, team captain, student council member, or committee chair. You hold real responsibility for others, not just yourself. A teacher or advisor confirms the role and your term.

Lead a Community Project

3 milestones · 16 weeks

Design and run a project that addresses a real need in your school or local community — something that didn't exist before you started it. You must involve at least 5 other people who choose to help voluntarily (no one has to be there). The project must run for at least 8 weeks and produce a visible result: a physical change, a programme that continues after you're done, or a documented impact that others can confirm. Proof: a written project plan at the start, photo or video evidence of the outcome, and at least 3 short written statements from participants or beneficiaries describing what changed.

Design a Marketing Campaign for a Real Organisation

0 milestones · 8 weeks

Design a complete marketing campaign brief for a real organisation — specifying the campaign objective, target audience, channel strategy, budget allocation, key creative direction, KPIs, and measurement plan. The brief must be for a real organisation with a real marketing challenge, not a simulation. Proof requires that the campaign brief be reviewed by a marketing practitioner before execution begins, or formally presented to the organisation's marketing leadership, with documented feedback on whether the strategy is viable.

Lead an Organisational Change Project

0 milestones · 12 weeks

Design and execute a real organisational change initiative — not a proposal — documenting the change rationale, stakeholder engagement approach, resistance encountered and how it was addressed, and measuring a defined outcome at least 90 days after implementation. The change must be real: something that materially altered how people work at a real organisation. Proof requires at least one organisational stakeholder — a manager, colleague, or direct report affected by the change — to confirm that the documented change was implemented and that the described outcomes are accurate.

Engineering Design Review

0 milestones · 4 weeks

Conduct a formal engineering design review of a real software design — either as author defending your own design, or as a reviewer leading the review of a peer's design. The review must follow a structured format: design document distributed at least 48 hours before the review, a written review checklist with specific questions prepared in advance, the review session with documented findings (issues, action items, and their severity), and a revision record showing what changed as a result of the review. Preferred proof: a design review in a professional or team context. Accessible alternative: a peer design review conducted with at least 2 qualified reviewers from an open-source project community, a university engineering programme, or a professional network — the design reviewed must be non-trivial (an architectural decision, a data model, or a protocol specification, not a single function). Proof artifacts: the review checklist and findings (analysis artifact) and the revision record documenting what changed and why (documentation artifact). Verification: one of the reviewers confirms the review was substantive — not rubber-stamping — and at least one finding resulted in a real change to the design.

Play-Based Learning Planning & Delivery

0 milestones · 5 weeks

Plan and deliver a real play-based learning activity for a small group of young children (3–8 children) based on their observed interests and developmental stage. Proof requires: (a) a written activity plan including: the observations that informed it, specific learning intentions for the group, resource list, adult role description, and anticipated play scenarios, (b) a brief post-activity reflection (minimum 300 words) on what happened versus what was planned, one specific moment of child-led learning that emerged, and what would be done differently next time, and (c) setting supervisor or lead practitioner written feedback on the activity and the student's facilitation. This proof documents the STUDENT PRACTITIONER'S planning and facilitation skills. Requires current DBS/background check clearance. No child identifying information in submission.

Early Years Environment Assessment

0 milestones · 5 weeks

Conduct a real assessment of an early years environment against a recognised quality framework (EYFS in the UK, NAEYC Accreditation Criteria in the US, National Quality Standard in Australia, or equivalent national framework). Proof requires: (a) a completed environmental assessment tool against the chosen framework, documenting specific observational evidence for each criterion assessed, (b) a written analysis identifying 3 environmental strengths and 3 areas for development — each supported by specific evidence from the assessment, and (c) the setting manager's or lead practitioner's written confirmation that the assessment was conducted with their knowledge and consent and that it is a fair representation of the environment. If any observation of children occurred during the assessment, current DBS/background check clearance is required.

Parent & Family Engagement

0 milestones · 6 weeks

Design and implement a real parent or family engagement strategy in an early years setting. Proof requires: (a) a written engagement plan with rationale, intended outcomes, and method of measuring whether engagement occurred, (b) documented evidence of the strategy implemented — a newsletter, a stay-and-play session plan with attendance record, a family meeting agenda with notes, or an equivalent real engagement artifact, (c) anonymised documentation of family response or participation (number of families engaged, not identifiable individuals), and (d) setting manager or lead practitioner written attestation that the engagement strategy was genuinely implemented and describing the student's role in planning and delivery. No family names or identifying information in submission. Requires current DBS/background check clearance.

Early Years Professional Portfolio

0 milestones · 12 weeks

Build a structured professional portfolio covering at least 4 documented early years practice experiences in a real setting. Each entry must include: a brief description of the practice experience (anonymised — no child or family names), the child-led learning moment identified and how it was supported by the student practitioner, the practitioner's response and its rationale linked to early years pedagogy or theory (e.g. Vygotsky, Froebel, Reggio Emilia, Montessori principles), and one professional development area identified as a result. Final portfolio reviewed and signed off by the placement supervisor or setting lead with a written assessment of the student's professional growth. Requires current DBS/background check clearance. All entries fully anonymised — no child or family names.

Typography Application Project

0 milestones · 6 weeks

Typographic design project demonstrating command of type hierarchy, spacing, scale, and legibility applied to a real brief. Triad: concept/ideation artifact (type selection rationale: why these typefaces for this brief, what alternatives were considered and why they were rejected — a rationale that could only be written after genuine evaluation), technical execution artifact (typographic system applied to a real brief — display, body, and caption hierarchy resolved — delivered in print or digital specification), critique/documentation artifact (type specimen with complete usage rules for the chosen system: size scales, leading values, tracking decisions, and pairing logic). Studio critique: typographer or graphic designer challenges type choices in real time and asks for justification of each decision — the documented critique exchange is submitted as proof. Proof: type rationale document, type specimen PDF, applied design deliverable, critique notes. Verifier: typographer, type designer, or graphic design tutor.