Building a Complete Team: The Four Quadrants of Technology Skills

By: Rob Jordan

Ten years ago, many organizations had IT teams that handled all tech requests and issues. Today, almost every role is expected to have some degree of technology expertise in order to manage daily tasks like executing a communications plan, delegating follow-up calls to your team, updating your website, or automating processes. There are plenty of articles and posts that provide tips on building the ideal tech team, but it’s important to first recognize what that means and what skills that should include.

In this post we will review the four quadrants of tech skills your organization should cover. Big or small, when you’re organizing a team, you need to make sure you’re covering all of your bases.

Whether you’re brainstorming who to bring in on a particular project or building out your staff, working with people who meet all of your organization’s needs is essential. Rating your staff’s technical experience helps determine expectation management, training needs, internal communication, and projected HR requirements. By being honest and up-front about your staff’s skills and abilities, you’ll be able to determine who will be best for what job and what you might need to supplement.

Here’s a breakdown of these technology skill sets into four quadrants:

Four Quadrants tech skills.png

Typically no employee can span more than two quadrants (Developer, Admin, Director, or User), although rare exceptions might stretch to cover three. This is because each skill set includes a specific type of tech savvy, and subsequently provides a rough outline for personality expectations. For example, it’s rare that developers are totally comfortable communicating with users; they prefer to work with colleagues closer to their end of the technology skills spectrum. The skills that they possess provide a very specific lexicon and vocabulary and it’s natural to want to work with someone who speaks your language!

The need for proficiency with all tech skills and efficient communication between colleagues is why you need to build a great team to bridge any possible gaps. Like many things in life, building out your internal technology team can be likened to riding a bicycle:

The developer designs the bike, and knows which parts do and do not go together. The developer is involved in just 5% of the operation engagement, so should always consider the needs of the other roles while developing.
The admin facilitates the build and provides instructions for riding the bike. The admin is involved in about 10% of the engagement.
The director gives guidelines to the users, telling them where to go, how to use the bike, and how fast they should be going. The developer is involved in 15% of the engagement.
The users get to ride the bike! They typically account for 70% of the engagement so you want to make sure you are considering their needs and processes during any tech changes.

It’s not uncommon to feel as though your staff don’t have resources to cover all four quadrants of technology skills. If you’re looking into training your current employees, building out your company, or working on a project that needs these particular skills, you can always look to an outside consulting firm for guidance and assistance.

Consulting groups are especially helpful if you find gaps in your development and admin skill sets. There are typically more users and directors than admin and developers, and it’s common to outsource these jobs with a consulting firm. When this occurs, it’s essential to have someone in house that takes the reigns for a project that involves outsourced work. The director is often this person, and the users are the staff or employees that will be making use of the final product or project.

Are their missing pieces in your organization’s technology skill set? Do you need help translating your tech needs or help covering all four quadrants?

Tell us how we can help fill the gaps