I think Holden’s framework is useful and I’m really glad he wrote the post.
I agree with Holden about the value of seeking out several different sources of advice using multiple frameworks and I hope 80k’s readers spend time engaging with his aptitude-based framing. I haven’t had a chance to think about exactly how to prioritise it relative to specific pieces of our content.
It’s a little hard to say to what extent differences between our advice and Holden’s are concrete disagreements v. different emphases. From our perspective, it’s definitely possible that we have some underlying differences of opinion (e.g. I think all else equal Holden puts more weight on personal fit) but, overall, I agree with the vast majority of what Holden says about what types of talent seem most useful to develop. Holden might have his own take on the extent to which we disagree.
The approach we take in the new planning process overlaps a bit more with Holden’s approach than some of our past content does. For example, we encourage people to think about which broad “role” is the best fit for them in the long-term, where that could be something like “communicator”, as well as something narrower like “journalist”, depending on what level of abstraction you find most useful.
I think one weakness with 80k’s advice right now is that our “five categories” are too high-level and often get overshadowed by the priority paths. Aptitudes are a different framework from our five categories conceptually, but seem to overlap a fair amount in practice (e.g. government & policy = political & bureaucratic aptitude). However, I like that Holden’s list is more specific (and he has lots of practical advice on how to assess your fit), and I could see us adapting some of this content and integrating it into our advice.
Hi Michael,
Just some very quick reactions from 80k:
I think Holden’s framework is useful and I’m really glad he wrote the post.
I agree with Holden about the value of seeking out several different sources of advice using multiple frameworks and I hope 80k’s readers spend time engaging with his aptitude-based framing. I haven’t had a chance to think about exactly how to prioritise it relative to specific pieces of our content.
It’s a little hard to say to what extent differences between our advice and Holden’s are concrete disagreements v. different emphases. From our perspective, it’s definitely possible that we have some underlying differences of opinion (e.g. I think all else equal Holden puts more weight on personal fit) but, overall, I agree with the vast majority of what Holden says about what types of talent seem most useful to develop. Holden might have his own take on the extent to which we disagree.
The approach we take in the new planning process overlaps a bit more with Holden’s approach than some of our past content does. For example, we encourage people to think about which broad “role” is the best fit for them in the long-term, where that could be something like “communicator”, as well as something narrower like “journalist”, depending on what level of abstraction you find most useful.
I think one weakness with 80k’s advice right now is that our “five categories” are too high-level and often get overshadowed by the priority paths. Aptitudes are a different framework from our five categories conceptually, but seem to overlap a fair amount in practice (e.g. government & policy = political & bureaucratic aptitude). However, I like that Holden’s list is more specific (and he has lots of practical advice on how to assess your fit), and I could see us adapting some of this content and integrating it into our advice.